Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing-related Issues & News => Topic started by: chris gadsden on May 13, 2012, 01:11:34 PM
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I have been told only 3 spots will be mined this year on the Vedder, all below the Hydro Bridge. If this is true it is good news as of course this work disturbs the gravel where the 2012 run of salmon will be spawning.
It is a known any gravel removal in any river is bad for fish habitat as well all the machinery working in the wetted area is also determental due to oil leaks etc..
The Coquitam is an example where gravel removal in the river and on land along the watershed has cause the fish stocks to suffer there.
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I went for a stroll on the dairy run on the Seymour. A guy was there loading a pickup with river rocks. I politely asked him if he had been issued a permit. He told me to go f(*& myself, it was his right to take rocks by the truckload if he wanted to. I suggested he needed a permit and I made note of his license number. He wasn't very happy, but he left. I contacted the district office, gave them the info- no interest.
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Wow, the "dairy run" - I don't think I've heard that for about 30 years. Seems that area was called the Smithrite run the last I heard. Anyway, I see people loading up their vehicles by hand with river rocks from time to time. It is illegal but the authorities don't have the wherewithal to pursue them - stuff like unauthorized machine works are more likely to raise their interest. Simply advising the people politely that they might be in the wrong is about all you can do.
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Wow, the "dairy run" - I don't think I've heard that for about 30 years. Seems that area was called the Smithrite run the last I heard. Anyway, I see people loading up their vehicles by hand with river rocks from time to time. It is illegal but the authorities don't have the wherewithal to pursue them - stuff like unauthorized machine works are more likely to raise their interest. Simply advising the people politely that they might be in the wrong is about all you can do.
You nailed it. I've had a lot of fun fishing there with my little boy when he was quite young and teaching him how to fish. Now he's got 2 kids of his own so I feel a sense of needing to try and keep the area for them to enjoy. I know all I can do is report, but at least he left, albeit with a load.
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Good for you for informing the guy... but tis a shame he was rude and shortsighted/did not care.
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They have been removing gravel from the lower vedder regularly since 1976. They don't have to get into the river . Gravel is removed from the islands that are formed when river is high or flooding. As you know the lower vedder narrows like a siphon from peach rd down to the hydro bridge. In December 1975 a log jam formed at the hydro bridge causing the water to back up and breech the railroad and flood yarrow. Below the hydro bridge the river is narrow also, and periodically needs the islands scalped. The set back dykes were built in 1976 to reduce the threat of secondary flooding . As for machines leaking oil into the water, they are inspected by the fisheries and if they are leaking oil are not allowed near the river. Removing these islands actually creates more spawning areas , removing finer scandal and gravel and exposing coarser gravel, that is better for spawning. More concern to pollutants . ( sewage , manure, and chemicals) that get into the rivers , than gravel removal. Look at the town of hope that removes the solids from sewage , and airates the liquids and then discharges it right into the Fraser. Theres lots of other towns up and down the Fraser that dump sewage into the Fraser also.
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The Fraser river is a mile deep in gravel . They can't even keep up with the gravel that washes into the lower Fraser during a freshet.