Trans Mountain is digging right into the bed of a salmon river in British Columbia these days. The federal government, which finances the pipeline project, ensures that environmental protection measures have been taken. However, some denounce this situation because the dredgers are digging while the salmon are going up the river.
Kate Tairyan, a professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, has lived near the Coquihalla River for 15 years. Every year she watches the salmon swim up this tributary of the Fraser River to spawn upstream.
This year, she says, the fish are coming back “at least three weeks” earlier than usual. The problem, Ms Tairyan says, is that the salmon are making this spawning migration while Trans Mountain uses industrial machinery to dig straight into the riverbed. The photos sent to Le Devoir show the work in progress very well.
The goal of this intervention is to replace a section of the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline and install the new pipeline which is part of the project to transport 325 million barrels of oil each year from the Alberta tar sands to a nearby port of Vancouver.
We saw dead salmon some laying eggs to spawn.
“It’s incomprehensible to work while the fish are trying to climb the Coquihalla,” laments Kate Tairyan. We saw dead salmon some laying eggs to spawn. I also fear for the river’s ecosystem, which risks suffering from these works. And all for a new pipeline built in the middle of the climate crisis? »
The same story on the side of Greenpeace Canada, which reminds that the work in progress also requires the rerouting of a large part of the river through a network of temporarily installed pipes in the sector where the two pipelines are to be installed. “This process creates a chaotic and toxic cyclone that gets in the way of the salmon,” according to the environmental group.
British Columbia’s Department of the Environment is also concerned about the situation. In a written response, he called for an investigation by Fisheries and Oceans Canada into the complaints filed in recent days. The provincial ministry is also calling for all measures to be taken to protect the wild salmon populations in the region.
compensation
The federal ministry responsible for protecting the habitats of the fish wants to calm things down. In the past few days, he has “visited a construction site,” he says. “All work was carried out in accordance with the terms of the applicable permit under the Fisheries Act,” it argues. “Despite the equipment in the water, there were no obstacles to the fishway,” the ministry added.
Trans Mountain, owned by the Government of Canada, is also ensuring that all necessary precautions are taken as part of the ongoing work. The excavation for the laying of the two new pipelines will take place at the time of least “risk” to the salmon. “After the pipelines are installed, the river will [de la rivière] will return to normal and the site will return to its original state,” the company adds.
However, the permit issued to Trans Mountain by Fisheries and Oceans Canada states that the works will likely result in a “permanent change” of 800 square meters of spawning habitat for salmon due to the spread of sediment in the river during the excavation. As a result, the company is required to take compensatory action by restoring 3,000 square meters of salmon habitat in another sector in southern British Columbia.
Some salmon populations on Canada’s west coast are under immediate threat from the effects of the climate crisis on the oceans and the waterways necessary for their reproduction. These disruptions to global climate are directly related to our dependence on fossil fuels, including oil. The Trans Mountain expansion project, expected to cost more than $20 billion, should boost Canadian oil exports.