A chinook being tagged in Big Bar, B.C. Fisheries and Oceans Canada photo
For the past two summers, Fraser River salmon have needed to take a helicopter ride in order to procreate.
The salmon were cut off from reaching their spawning grounds by a massive landslide into the river near Big Bar, B.C. But those aerial migrations a last-ditch effort to save the stocks will soon be over.
On Wednesday, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) announced plans to build a $176.3-million fish ladder, or fishway, to help the salmon move up and down the river at the site in the traditional territory of the High Bar and Stswecem c Xgat tem First Nations.