Celebrating a Revolution in Fish Passage, KVEW TV, July 15, 2015
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
At Ice Harbor Dam in Burbank the community celebrated the ten year anniversary of a specialized route helping fish make their way through the dam to the ocean.
It’s all thanks to the installation of a piece of equipment known as a Spillway Weir which essentially is a fish slide.
About ten years ago salmon struggled to survive Ice Harbor Dam.
But since the installation much has changed for the better.
“This fish slide has allowed young salmon migrating down the stream to survive at very high levels,” says Director Terry Flores of Northwest River Partners.
So instead of the salmon running into the dam trying to find their way through in their journey to the ocean, “This allows the young fish coming down the river to the ocean to ride over the top of the spillway,” explains Spokesman Michael Milstein of National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
Depending on the salmon species, when they’re migrating, and other related factors survival rates can vary.
But overall the change in the rate due to the equipment at Ice Harbor is dramatic.
“96 to 99 percent, and you can’t get much better than that. We invested $2 billion in terms of modifying the eight large dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers to make them salmon friendly,” says Flores.
An investment which is now paying off for some of the dam’s most frequent and fragile visitors.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]