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Meziadin Fishway
- North Coast
Meziadin Fishway Counts to
2011
The Meziadin Fishway
The Meziadin
River flows into the Nass River system approximately 180 km from where the
Nass flows into Portland Inlet. The known major sockeye producers in the
Nass River system include Meziadin, Bowser, Damdochax, and Fred Wright lakes. The Meziadin fishway was constructed
to bypass a series of waterfalls known as Victoria Falls. The purpose of
the fishway was to provide access to existing
spawning grounds above the falls and to provide a method of determining the
spawning escapement of sockeye salmon in the Meziadin
system. Previous studies in the late 50’s indicated high fish
mortality was occurring due to the inability of the salmon to move past
Victoria Falls.
Prior to the
construction of the Meziadin fishway
in 1966, it was thought that the Meziadin system
produced less than 40% of the total Nass sockeye return. Since the
completion of the fishway it has been discovered
that 70 to 80% of the Nass River sockeye run returns to the Meziadin system.
The Meziadin
fishway was designed either to operate unmanned
or to hold enumeration facilities, which are operated by support personnel.
Since 1966, the fishway has been manned during
each season. Operations usually begin in the first week of July. The exact
starting date is determined by water levels, which must be low enough to
allow personnel to enter the water and install trap panels at the end of
the fishway.
The personnel operating
the fishway are responsible for the daily counts
of returning salmon, biological sampling, water level measurements and camp
maintenance. The enumeration continues until early September. Sockeye
salmon are also sampled on a daily basis for biological information. The
number of fish sampled each day is determined by calculating one percent of
the total count from the previous day up to a total of one hundred fish.
The fish are dipped from the holding trap, sampled and returned alive to
the river.
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