It Takes a Channel to Raise a Family

As part of our commitment to the environment and our permitting requirements for the Mayo B project, we have constructed a salmon rearing channel in the lower Mayo River. The work has been taking place over the last couple of months and it’s now complete.

The 1,000 metre long channel was designed to provide high quality fish habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon and other fish species.

Water for the channel comes from the Mayo B plant and is available all year, even when the plant is not operating. The channel area will also include a foot trail with interpretive signage regarding the ecology and cultural history of the region. The trail should be accessible to the public starting next year.

On its first day of operation several whitefish and grayling were already observed in several upstream pools. Once bugs start to populate the area we expect many salmon fry/fingerlings will make seasonal use of the channel. 

The channel is not intended to provide habitat for spawning adult salmon, although we will monitor it for such occurrences.

Below are some photos of the channel construction.

1) Channel construction with an excavator
2) Completed channel
3) Aerial of part of the channel (seen on the right side of the photo).
Photo credit: Environmental Dynamics Inc.