adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

News

Massive B.C. landslide could mean new barriers for struggling salmon

Published

 on

 

VANCOUVER – An expert on British Columbia’s salmon populations says the massive landslide that blocked off part of Canada’s largest sockeye salmon run has created an unprecedented situation potentially putting the already struggling fish at even more risk.

Scott Hinch, the associate dean at the University of British Columbia’s Pacific Salmon Ecology and Conservation Laboratory, said the debris piled 30 metres high and 600 metres long blocking the Chilcotin River could cause problems for chinook and sockeye populations both while the water is being held back, and when it eventually bursts free.

“These are natural events, but what’s unusual about this event is it’s occurring at a time when the rivers are way warmer than they used to be,” he said in an interview Thursday.

“And that creates this unprecedented lack of understanding of what’s going to happen to these fish.”

The sockeye are on their way to Chilko Lake, where they will spawn. But to get there, they have to get through Farwell Canyon, close to where the dam of rock and mud is in the way.

“They would be starting to trickle through naturally now and then in about a week and a half, 10 days or so, the peak of that run will be into the Chilcotin,” he said.

“They’re coming up the Fraser right now, these fish.”

The Chilcotin is a tributary of the Fraser River and officials with the province and Cariboo Regional District say it’s uncertain if the lake building behind the dam will burst or if it will top over the debris. The B.C. government said a release could swell the Fraser River for hundreds of kilometres, potentially setting off dozens of emergency evacuations and alerts.

Hinch said the warmer Fraser River is already nearly lethal for the salmon, and if the fish get held back from entering cooler glacier-fed waters, that could be dangerous.

“So, what’s happening right now is, with the reduced water flow downstream, that water is going to be warmer as a start. It’s also going to possibly be less accessible. So, these fish are going to be holding in warmer water and low flows, either in the Chilcotin system or in the Fraser system, he said.

Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars said the situation with the salmon run is “incredibly concerning.”

He said the First Nation is worried about what will happen to the fish after the large lake pooling behind the landslide breaks loose.

“What is that going to do to every single one of those sockeye and chinook that are swimming up the Fraser River looking to spawn in those other tributaries?” he said.

Hinch said one of the problems is that there’s no way to know how the debris sent flowing down the rivers will eventually settle.

“If not full barriers, it could create partial barriers, it could create areas where it’s more difficult for the fish to get around,” Hinch said.

“Keep in mind that these fish have all stopped feeding about a month ago. And so, they’re migrating up on reserves.”

There’s also a risk that new rock and debris in the water could affect the salmon’s ability to navigate using their sense of smell, a skill imprinted on them as fry.

“They are imprinted on unique chemicals that are in their home watershed. That chemical composition is disrupted by landslides, because you now have other organic chemicals coming into the river, at high concentrations, that aren’t part of their home stream smell,” he said.

Sellars said this year was already anticipated to be a low run year.

“Maybe it’s better that something like this happened on the low year, but then it’s also pretty devastating to that run that’s going to be heading up the Chilcotin and four years from now, there is going to be no fish,” he said.

At a news conference Thursday, Nathan Cullen, the minister of water, land and resource stewardship, said the government knows that the water is critical spawning habitat for salmon and other fish and that the sockeye are on their way.

He said the government was “initiating early plans as to what we can do to make sure that those stocks remain intact.”

Hinch said there’s not much that can be done prior to the dam breaking.

“All we can do is hope that the temperatures that these fish are holding in isn’t doing irreparable damage to them for too long of a period of time. And that the fish get into the Chilcotin once the river is amenable for migration.”

In 2019, a landslide partially blocked the Fraser River and created an impassable barrier to key salmon populations that spawn in the Upper Fraser watershed.

Rescue efforts to get the trapped salmon beyond that slide included shooting them through a so-called salmon cannon, capturing the salmon, then transporting them on a truck or helicopter past the site and finally creating a permanent fishway to help them get past the slide.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2024.

Source link

Continue Reading

News

Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

Published

 on

BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

Published

 on

VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

Published

 on

The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending