People who love watching fish are in for a special treat. Yukon Energy has installed a salmon cam at the Whitehorse Rapids Fishway. The camera gives the public an opportunity to view migrating Chinook salmon and other freshwater fish in real time via the Internet.
“The fishladder provides a rare opportunity for people to watch these fish at close range,” Yukon Energy spokesperson Janet Patterson said. “But we also wanted to make it possible for those who can’t visit our facility to view the salmon and other fish species.
“A couple of years ago, some money from the Department of Environment allowed us to install four underwater cameras at the fishladder,” Patterson said. “We’ve had such an overwhelmingly positive response to the cameras that we decided to take it one step further and set up a web cam.”
At this point in the season, viewers who log on to the web cam site (there’s a link from the home page at www.yukonenergy.ca) will see freshwater species such as arctic grayling, whitefish, lake and rainbow trout, and northern pike. The real treat will come in late July and early August, when the Chinook salmon will begin to arrive by the hundreds. The salmon travel 3,200 kilometres from the Bering Sea to reach their natal streams.
Apart from the salmon cam, visitors to the fishladder are enjoying a number of other new additions to the facility this year, which has become one of the principle tourism attractions in the Yukon, drawing 30,000 visitors annually. There is new interpretive signage both inside and outside the visitors’ centre. As well, the fishladder has acquired a new piece of art by Pelly Crossing carver Eugene Alfred. The cedar carved wall hanging is entitled ‘Salmon’s Journey’. Reproductions of the art work in the form of posters and post cards will be available for sale to the public very shortly.
The fishladder was built following the construction of the Whitehorse dam in 1959 to allow migrating Chinook salmon and other species to pass by the structure. It’s owned by Yukon Energy and operated by the Yukon Fish and Game Association.
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Contact:
Janet Patterson
Communications, Yukon Energy Corporation
(867) 393-5333
janet.patterson@yec.yk.ca
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