A coalition of conservation groups is calling on the federal and provincial governments to stop gravel extraction from a creek near Mission, B.C., saying it’s destroying salmon habitats.
The groups say gravel mining has lowered the level of Norrish Creek and its tributaries.
Retired biologist John Werring said it was the sight of dead salmon dried up in the creekbed last December that spurred him and others to try and figure out what was going on.
Werring said he noticed the water level had been intentionally lowered by gravel extraction, work completed by the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railroad to protect a bridge there.
He suspects that caused the neighbouring creek to dry out, damaging the fish habitat. Over the past six months he’s been pushing the government to reveal what it knows about the situation.
He said he’s received “absolutely nothing” in the way of answers since then.
Get breaking National news
Normally, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the provincial government would be involved in any activity that could affect fish habitat and involved the mining of a public resource.
After months of frustration, Werring and his colleagues have turned to the lawyers at Ecojustice for help.
This week, they sent demand letters to Victoria and Ottawa, alleging that the digging is being done without a provincial permit and goes beyond the scope of work authorized by the federal government.
They say that’s destroying the spawning habitat of tens of thousands of salmon, and drastically altering water levels that are vital to the survival of wild chum and coho.
They accuse the company of expanding its operations without provincial approval and beyond the scope of its federal permission.
“Massive amounts of gravel have been extracted, hundreds of metres upstream and hundreds of metres downstream of the bridges that are supposed to be protected,” Werring said.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada wasn’t able to respond in time for this report.
The provincial Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said it had not given any permits for gravel removal on Norrish Creek, and that it had forwarded complaints to the federal agency.
Werring said given that his group involves professional biologists, getting answers will be a daunting task for anyone else.
“If we’re facing that, one has to wonder, like, what about the public if they want to get involved in something like this?” he asked.
Comments