Fraser River sockeye salmon populations recommended for listing under COSEWIC

(Globe and Mail, December 4th, 2017, by Ivan Semeniuk)

For centuries, sockeye salmon have raced up British Columbia’s Fraser River to spawn in the millions, completing an astonishing life cycle that spans four years and thousands of kilometres.

Now, scientists have determined that many populations of Fraser River sockeye are in such alarming decline that they should be listed under Canada’s Species at Risk Act.

The recommendation, announced Monday by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, an independent scientific body that advises the federal government, is the most significant acknowledgment to date of the jeopardy facing the iconic red-bodied fish that was once the mainstay of British Columbia’s salmon industry.

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