B.C. drought forces volunteers to rescue salmon from drying streams
Severe drought conditions in British Columbia are forcing volunteers to manually rescue salmon from drying streams to prevent population collapse. While these interventions are currently necessary, experts warn that they are not a sustainable long-term solution to climate-driven habitat loss.
Why it matters
It illustrates the tangible, local impacts of climate change on biodiversity and the limitations of human intervention in ecological crises.
In Bessette Creek, severe drought conditions recently prompted orders limiting water use in an effort to protect salmon populations from record-low flows.
Temporary protection orders for the Salmon River watershed were also issued at the end of July, rescinded in early August to address increased wildfire risk in the region and then reissued at the end of August.
And those are just the watersheds struggling to the point of government intervention.
Bob Crandall is treasurer of the Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society on Vancouver Island.
The society cares for 16 streams connected to Lake Cowichan, and Crandall says they are getting drier each year.
To help, the society does what they call fry salvage — manually rescuing fish from drying rivers and moving them into other waterways.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in