Trans Mountain is digging right into the bed of a British Columbia salmon river these days. The federal government, which funds the pipeline project, ensures that environmental protection measures have been put in place. Some, however, denounce this situation, because the excavators are digging when the salmonids are going up the river.
A professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Kate Tairyan has lived near the Coquihalla River for 15 years. Each year, she watches the salmon swim up this tributary of the Fraser River to spawn upstream.
This year, she says, the fish are coming up “at least three weeks” earlier than usual. The problem, according to M.me Tairyan is that the salmon are making this spawning migration just as Trans Mountain is digging, using industrial machinery, directly into the river bed. The photos sent to To have to show the work in progress very well.
The objective of this intervention is to replace a section of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, in addition to installing the new pipeline which is part of the project to transport 325 million barrels of oil each year from the oil sands of Alberta to at a port near Vancouver.
“It’s incomprehensible to do work while the fish are trying to go up the Coquihalla, laments Kate Tairyan. We saw dead salmon, some of which were laying eggs for spawning. I also fear for the ecosystem of the river, which risks suffering from these works. And all that for a new pipeline built in the midst of a climate crisis? »
Same story on the side of Greenpeace Canada, which recalls that the work in progress also requires diverting, through a network of temporarily installed pipes, a good part of the flow of the river in the sector where the two pipelines are to be installed. “This process creates a chaotic and toxic whirlwind that is directly in the salmon’s path,” according to the environmental group.
The British Columbia Ministry of Environment is also concerned about the situation. In a written response, he calls 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 wild salmon populations in the region.
Compensation
The federal ministry responsible for ensuring the protection of fish habitats wants to be reassuring. He says he has made “a visit to the construction site” in the past few days. “All work was in accordance with the conditions of the applicable authorization under the Fisheries Act,” it is argued. “There were no obstacles to fish passage despite the equipment in the water,” the ministry added.
Trans Mountain, which belongs to the Canadian government, also ensures that all necessary precautions have been taken as part of the work in progress. The excavation for the installation of the two new pipelines is carried out at the time of the lowest “risk” for the salmon. “After the pipelines are installed, the flow [de la rivière] will be back to normal and the site will return to its original state,” the company adds.
The authorization granted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to Trans Mountain nevertheless stipulates that the work is likely to result in the “permanent alteration” of 800 square meters of salmon spawning habitat due to the dispersion of sediment in the river during of the excavation. The company will therefore have to carry out compensation measures by restoring 3,000 square meters of salmon habitat in another sector of southern British Columbia.
Some salmon populations on the Canadian west coast are directly threatened by the impacts of the climate crisis on the oceans and the waterways necessary for their reproduction. These disturbances of the global climate are directly linked to our dependence on fossil fuels, including oil. The Trans Mountain expansion project, expected to cost more than $20 billion, was designed to increase Canadian oil exports.