Fraser River Slide

KAMLOOPS — A federal fisheries official says he’s confident that improvements at a rock slide north of Lillooet will allow more salmon to reach their spawning grounds this year.

Michael Crowe says the improvements include a protected route to help salmon navigate past the Big Bar slide and a salmon ladder to help truck fish around the slide. He says chinook salmon are strong swimmers and are expected to make it through the slide zone with few problems, but early arrivals of sockeye remain vulnerable in high waters.

Crowe says up to 18-thousand early Stuart sockeye are expected in the coming weeks and up to one million sockeye are due to arrive later this summer.