Marchsa国际传媒檚 drawdown of the Okanagan Lake may have left thousands of unhatched kokanee salmon eggs and fry out of water.
The annual drawdown, a process in which a body of watersa国际传媒檚 level is reduced to prevent flooding, took place despite members of the B.C. Wildlife Federation saying that it was too early.
As a result, 75 per cent of kokanee eggs and fry were stranded out of water and left to dry up.
The premature drawdown could result in a serious undermining of a nearly three-decade-long recovery effort for local kokanee salmon populations, said B.C. Wildlife Federation (BCWF.)
BCWFsa国际传媒檚 Okanagan president Patrick Whittingham said that millions of dollars and countless volunteer hours have been spent since 1990 to refresh the population, adding sa国际传媒渂y drying these eggs up we may have just set ourselves back decades.sa国际传媒�
The drawdown is important to maintain safe water levels along the lake, as there isnsa国际传媒檛 proper infrastructure in place to adapt to rising levels in the spring.
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The Penticton dam is only capable of releasing one and three-quarter centimetres of water daily, while spring runoff can raise the level of the lake up to eight centimetres each day.
Additionally, a large release of water downstream of Penticton and into the Okanagan River could be detrimental to the sockeye salmon that lay their eggs in the river.
In order to prevent the lakesa国际传媒檚 water level from rising to dangerous heights, threatening to flood homes and businesses, the B.C. government begins releasing water from the lake before runoff can re-fill it.
According to the Okanagan Nation Alliance, the governmentsa国际传媒檚 estimated kokanee emergence date was March 21, which the alliance says was too early.
Fish and Wildlife Restoration project director Jesse Zeman said that the governmentsa国际传媒檚 inflow water monitoring tools arensa国际传媒檛 able to keep up with climate change and its effect on runoff and the lake.
Zeman suggested that drawing down the lake before October would be an interim solution to the problem, forcing the kokanee to lay their eggs further down the shoreline and reducing the risk of becoming stranded during the spring drawdown.
sa国际传媒淚n the short-term, B.C. needs a watershed security fund and strategy to deal with the earlier and more intense spring runoff followed by the dry summers wesa国际传媒檙e currently experiencing,sa国际传媒� Zeman said.
Zeman added that a long-term solution may involve moving sa国际传媒渉omes and buildings sa国际传媒� further from the lake and stream edgessa国际传媒� to prevent flooding and the need for annual runoffs potentially affecting future kokanee populations.
sa国际传媒淭hat sounds like a radical solution, I know, but the climate is changing and we have to adapt to a new reality,sa国际传媒� Zeman concluded.
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