Salmon reaching Okanagan Lake unfettered for first time in a century

Historic salmon run upgrade

It was a historic day at Okanagan Lake Dam in Penticton as the gates were opened on a new fish passage that will see salmon swim freely from the river channel into the lake for the first time in roughly a century.

"Our ancestors are smiling down upon us today," said Penticton Indian Band Chief Greg Gabriel.

"This is an amazing day for our nation. This is an amazing day for our brothers across the 49th parallel. This is an amazing day for our community in [Penticton]."

The new passage runs along the east side of the dam, allowing unfettered flow for any salmon seeking to spawn.

Dignitaries and members from First Nations both north and south of the Canada-U.S.A. border were in attendance Monday at the dam for the official opening of the passage.

The salmon run is important to Indigenous nations throughout the Columbia Basin waterway, a vast area that encompasses not only the Okanagan but many areas in the U.S., all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

In recent decades, salmon returning from their trip to the ocean have found no access to Okanagan Lake.

Now, that has changed.

"We were able to shoot for the stars with this project," said project team leader Zoe Eyjolfson with the Okanagan Nation Alliance, referring to collaboration with the Penticton Indian Band, the City of Penticton and the provincial government.

The passage is an upgrade from a fishway ladder on the west side of the dam, an experiment that didn't work out. It had been installed in the 1950s but never used until 2019, with lacklustre results.

"It was opened on a trial basis. It fell short on a number of reasons," Eyjolfson explained.

"It's aging infrastructure, it doesn't have an ability to operate different flows and manage different flows within the fishway. Okanagan Lake actually fluctuates by about two metres, there's times where there's no water going down that fishway, or it's a torrent of water. The design itself is very short. It doesn't have good fish attraction flows, good pools for them to jump."

All of that information was taken into account when the new passage was designed. It curves along the east side of the river and will allow dam management to respond to water levels. And, it is the way the river used to flow, many decades ago — something that the salmon seem to instinctively know.

"These salmon have been butting their heads on these dams for 100 years," said Eyjolfson.

"They just always know where to go."

Fry are released in Okanagan Lake tributaries, which then feed into the river and beyond, every year. According to Eyjolfson, a study of the fish who did make it through the dam via the ladder in recent years showed 86 per cent who made it through and stayed north of the dam sought out their birth streams.

"It's pretty incredible," Eyjolfson said.

There are no salmon in the river right now, but they are coming soon.

Indigenous dignitaries at the event Monday celebrated with a song, welcoming the salmon to their way home.