For perhaps the first time ever, researchers have mapped out the true extent of habitat loss for salmon in the Lower Fraser River, one of the most important spawning and rearing grounds for Pacific salmon in B.C.
For perhaps the first time ever, researchers have mapped out the true extent of habitat loss for salmon in the Lower Fraser River, one of the most important spawning and rearing grounds for Pacific salmon in B.C.
Salmon have lost access to as much as 85 per cent of their historical floodplain habitat—the biologically rich wetlands next to a river or stream that typically harbour wildlife—due to dikes and similar infrastructure, say researchers at UBC and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.
“Only around 101 square kilometers out of an estimated 659 square kilometers of historical floodplains remain accessible to salmon,” says lead author Riley Finn, a research associate with the Conservation Decisions Lab in the faculty of forestry at UBC.
“This loss is particularly critical for populations of coho and Chinook, which rely more heavily on these habitats for rearing, compared to other types of salmon,” says Finn.
Read more at University of British Columbia
Image: Up to 85 per cent of historical salmon habitat has been lost in the Lower Fraser River in British Columbia (Credit: Photo by April Bencze / Raincoast Conservation Foundation)
