aging dam

Aging dam threatens major B.C. fishery

By Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun, February 24, 2009

Port Alberni Mayor Ken McRae says the Robertson Creek salmon hatchery is a
valued economic asset, both to the community and the province. "With all
this [provincial and federal] infrastructure money coming out, this should
be one of the priorities," he said.

Photograph by: Darren Stone, CNS files

One of British Columbia's most economically vital salmon streams is
teetering at the edge of a major fish kill.

The federal salmon hatchery at Robertson Creek in the Port Alberni region is
the linchpin for high-end sport-fishing lodges from Barkley Sound to Alaska,
but its performance is contingent on water stored behind an aging dam that
is considered to be at imminent risk of failure.

The condition of the small wooden dam at Boot Lagoon on Great Central Lake
is so grave that the lake has been drawn down to 50-year lows, lest a spring
freshet causes a breach that could flood and destroy the low-lying hatchery
downstream.

The draw-down took place last October, and local conservationists say up to
200,000 coho fry were stranded and died in pools left behind as the lake
dried up, and the eggs laid by thousands of shore-spawning sockeye were also
lost.

An official with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says officials were
forced to make a difficult choice between the fish, and public safety.

DFO is now monitoring the level of Robertson Creek full-time in case eight
million salmon eggs now resting at the hatchery are dewatered in a winter
dry spell that has seen precipitation drop to 50 per cent of typical levels
on Vancouver Island.

DFO area chief Bruce Adkins said Tuesday the lake level is high enough to
support a gravity-fed pipe from Great Central Lake to Robertson, and there's
a backup system available if the lake drops below the intake.

Local conservationist Bob Cole, however, is warning that the volume of water
from the pump would be barely enough to keep the eggs oxygenated, and that
DFO lacks the financial resources to minimize the risk of a system failure.

"On the west coast of Vancouver Island we are carrying all our eggs in one
basket, and the handle is broken," Cole said in a telephone interview.

"We could lose all of Robertson Creek's production quite readily, with just
the slightest error, and there aren't substantial plans to resolve this in
the short term," Cole said. "There is no accelerated or absolute urgency.
Nobody seems to be acting in the manner I think they should."

Catalyst Paper, which operates a mill in Port Alberni, is the dam's owner of
record, but no longer has use for it, nor a larger dam at the other end of
Great Central Lake, since a technology upgrade eliminated its need for
stored water in 1993. The company no longer performs maintenance on either
dam.

Ironically, the creation of the dams in the 1920s greatly enhanced the fish
productivity of the Great Central watershed by creating more shoreline,
spawning access, and water for fisheries enhancement projects.

Catalyst spokeswoman Lyn Brown said the company was negotiating a transfer
of ownership to the Hupacasath First Nation, and the company's position is
that the dam "exists to serve multiple purposes."

The Hupacasath are willing to lead redevelopment of both dams, with an eye
to developing a micro-hydroelectric project at the larger one. But chief
executive officer Bob Duncan said no source of funding for the projects has
been identified.

Chinook are the most prized of all Pacific salmon, due to their large size
and strength, and Robertson returns typically run to about 20,000 adults -
after they've run the gauntlet of fishing lodges along the mainland coast
and the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Port Alberni Mayor Ken McRae said the hatchery is a valued economic asset to
the community, and the province.

"With all this [provincial and federal] infrastructure money coming out,
this should be one of the priorities," McRae said. "Let's rebuild that dam.
It could be a big construction project and it would prevent the threat of
damage to the hatchery."

DFO's Bruce Adkins said he was confident the backup pump will sustain the
hatchery if it's needed, but said he "would like to see resolution as
quickly as possible."

"Robertson Creek hatchery is a very significant hatchery in terms of fish
production for Alaska and the [B.C.] north coast. Without a doubt it is our
most significant hatchery for producing fish around those fisheries," Adkins
said.

"This isn't an ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination and it
needs to be monitored closely."