Canada: Record breaking return of sockeye salmon to Okanagan spawning grounds

Hundreds of thousands of sockeye salmon returned to spawning grounds in Osoyoos Lake and Skaha Lake after swimming up the Columbia River all summer, an incredible 1,000-kilometre journey. “It’s the biggest return of Okanagan sockeye on record, it’s really exciting,” Okanagan Nation Alliance fisheries biologist Elinor McGrath said. The Pacific sockeye salmon in the Columbia River basin have been declining over the past century due to pressures from development including hydroelectric dam construction, irrigation, over fishing and agricultural developments. Thanks to the conservation work done by the alliance, in collaboration with the federal and provincial governments over the last few decades, Okanagan sockeye are making a big comeback. “The run size through the lower portions of the route was roughly 550,000, and just shy of an estimated 300,000 of them made it to the lakes," McGrath said. The Okanagan River is one of the major tributaries of the Columbia River in a basin ...