B.C. First Nation concerned Ottawa not doing enough to protect salmon stocks after Big Bar landslide – The Globe and Mail

High on the Chilcotin plateau in British Columbia’s Interior, the chief of a local First Nation says the traditional diet of its members is threatened by a landslide more than 150 kilometre away.

Tl’etinqox Chief Joe Alphonse, who also represents five other local nations as tribal chairman of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, says Fraser River tributaries once teeming with salmon have shown paltry returns since the Big Bar landslide was discovered in June.

“On a good year, you can run across the river on the backs of sockeye, that’s how thick our rivers are. And bright, bright, bright almost fluorescent orange colour, it’s an awesome sight,” he said.

Alphonse estimated up to 170,000 sockeye returned to local tributaries this year where the annual average is closer to one million.

Read More: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-bc-first-nation-concerned-ottawa-not-doing-enough-to-protect-salmon/