The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed 13 of BC’s 26 Chinook stocks and found eight to be endangered. Contributing to the demise of southern BC Chinook stocks are developments along the Lower Fraser estuary such as dykes, pump stations, dredging and infilling. Thankfully, a $2.7-million habitat connectivity project funded through The $75-million coastal restoration fund — part of the federal five-year $1.5-billion oceans protection plan – is already helping to restore crucial salmon habitat. The days of the Steveston jetty on the lower Fraser River preventing juvenile salmon from accessing the estuary zone in Sturgeon Bank may be coming to an end. The Steveston jetty project is one of many underway to restore access to vital salmon rearing habitat essential to the development of salmon smoltz prior to their entering the Pacific Ocean.
Link below to learn how Murray Manson, a restoration biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, is working with angling and conservation groups on this episode of Blue Fish Radio: