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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 1950’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 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.

Meziadin fishway counts

Count archives

Date Large sockeye Jack sockeye Coho Jack coho Large chinook Jack chinook Steelhead
22/07/01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/02 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/05 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/06 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/07 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/08 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/09 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/11 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/13 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/15 11 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/16 69 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/17 325 0 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/18 1,353 1 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/19 3,212 1 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/20 15,152 5 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/21 21,682 31 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/22 19,586 254 0 0 0 0 0
22/07/23 16,723 472 0 0 0 1 0
22/07/24 20,190 909 0 0 6 5 0
22/07/25 8,930 531 0 0 2 2 0
22/07/26 5,246 694 0 0 2 1 0
22/07/27 3,766 628 0 0 5 6 0
22/07/28 1,762 367 0 0 3 4 0
22/07/29 1,883 264 0 0 4 2 0
22/07/30 1,780 232 0 0 2 2 0
22/07/31 1,467 203 0 0 4 1 0
22/08/01 1,739 197 0 0 0 0 0
22/08/02 2,108 209 0 0 3 0 0
22/08/03 2,215 202 0 0 2 3 0
22/08/04 2,203 239 0 0 4 5 0
22/08/05 4,246 454 0 0 6 6 0
22/08/06 2,948 293 0 0 1 3 0
22/08/07 5,717 481 0 0 7 5 0
22/08/08 2,711 273 0 0 2 4 0
22/08/09 4,057 377 2 0 1 1 0
22/08/10 6,084 437 0 0 1 0 0
22/08/11 9,871 431 0 1 1 1 0
22/08/12 9,973 326 1 0 0 1 0
22/08/13 10,322 518 3 0 0 0 0
22/08/14 10,561 530 10 0 0 0 0
22/08/15 13,983 481 48 2 2 1 0
22/08/16 14,455 441 60 1 1 1 0
22/08/17 13,920 569 84 2 1 1 0
22/08/18 13,036 542 89 1 4 1 0
22/08/19 6,912 327 79 0 2 1 0
22/08/20 6,646 343 73 0 1 1 0
22/08/21 8,978 364 63 1 1 1 0
22/08/22 10,442 630 126 0 1 2 0
22/08/23 5,505 491 84 0 0 1 0
22/08/24 4,924 416 111 2 0 1 0
22/08/25 4,202 394 175 1 0 0 0
22/08/26 2,592 320 199 0 2 0 0
22/08/27 3,158 224 222 4 3 1 0
22/08/28 3,163 160 279 7 2 0 0
22/08/29 3,404 360 463 5 1 0 0
22/08/30 1,127 105 182 2 0 0 0
22/08/31 529 37 64 0 1 1 0
22/09/01 413 33 67 0 2 0 0
22/09/02 211 21 61 0 0 1 0
22/09/03 444 57 142 0 0 0 1
22/09/04 544 53 73 4 0 0 0
22/09/05 430 40 51 0 0 0 0
22/09/06 914 48 84 0 1 1 0
22/09/07 1,970 101 64 0 0 5 0
22/09/08 1,687 122 167 0 0 5 0
22/09/09 3,004 214 392 2 0 2 0
22/09/10 1,937 38 254 1 1 1 0
22/09/11 2,741 118 435 0 1 0 0
22/09/12 1,131 39 254 5 0 0 0
22/09/13 1,454 55 187 1 2 0 0
22/09/14 1,380 119 219 2 0 0 2
22/09/15 1,477 48 242 4 0 0 3
22/09/16 1,329 90 209 2 0 0 0
22/09/17 797 54 220 4 1 1 0
22/09/18 503 26 151 1 0 1 0
22/09/19 976 63 247 0 0 0 1
22/09/20 836 77 238 1 0 0 3
22/09/21 584 40 162 2 0 0 0
22/09/22 457 41 141 4 1 0 0
22/09/23 297 29 126 4 0 0 0
22/09/24 192 11 77 3 0 0 0
22/09/25 143 14 57 2 0 0 0
22/09/26 178 9 60 4 0 0 0
22/09/27 115 19 67 3 0 0 0
22/09/28 52 9 42 0 0 0 0
22/09/29 77 6 36 0 0 0 0
22/09/30 71 4 31 0 0 0 0
22/10/01 69 9 41 0 0 0 0
22/10/02 69 8 28 0 0 0 0
Total 342 063 17 378 7 040 78 83 19 10
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