Chilcotin landslide presents new barriers for struggling salmon [Video]

An expert on British Columbia’s salmon populations says the massive landslide that blocked off part of Canada’s largest sockeye salmon run has created an unprecedented situation, potentially putting the already struggling fish at even more risk.

Scott Hinch, associate dean at the University of British Columbia’s Pacific Salmon Ecology and Conservation Laboratory, said the debris piled 30 metres high and 600 metres long that’s blocking the Chilcotin River in B.C.’s Cariboo region could cause problems for chinook and sockeye populations — both while the water is being held back, and when it eventually bursts free.

“These are natural events, but what’s unusual about this event is it’s occurring at a time when the rivers are way warmer than they used to be,” he said in an interview Thursday.

“And that creates this unprecedented lack of understanding of what’s going to happen to these fish.”

The sockeye are on their way …