Fish will find it easier to swim in and out of Burnaby Lake now that Metro Vancouver has completed a new passageway at the Cariboo Dam on Brunette River.
Nick Kvenich, a volunteer with the Eagle Creek Streamkeepers, was impressed with the new structure.
"They've done it with the right rocks and the slope for the fish. It's going to be way less stressful for the fish," said Kvenich.
The $350,000 "fishway" is a 25-metre gently sloping structure, full of rocks, sand and boulders. It's designed to resemble a natural creek so it's easier for fish to pass the dam. The new structure replaces a fish ladder, where salmon had to jump from step to step to migrate upstream and into the lake.
The Brunette River empties into the Fraser and is habitat for coho, chum, pink and steelhead salmon and cutthroat and rainbow trout. The Brunette is also home to the Nooksack dace, an endangered minnow found in only handful of waterways.
For more on this story, including a video of the new fishway, see Jennifer Moreau's blog, Community Conversations, at www. burnabynow.com.
