The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says it is working to repair the fishway in the Bonaparte River near Ashcroft.

DFO project engineer Lee McCabe says the fishway near the Thompson River was damaged last summer by high stream flows.

He says crews began repairs to the divider wall immediately after, and says weather-dependent, work will be finished this summer.

“In order to repair the breach, we have to de-water the river, or temporarily divert the river. And access is also a major constraint as well,” McCabe says.

“The hydrology of the Bonaparte watershed has drastically changed as a result of the Elephant Hill wildfires. So the flows that we’re experiencing in the Bonaparte are unprecedented. We’re seeing flows that are 500 per cent higher than typical annual low-flows. So it’s been extremely challenging to work with all that water moving around that structure.”

McCabe says the Bonaparte fishway was identified as being in need of improvements back in 2017, before erosion below the structure the following year led to repairs that are now taking place.

He says salmon returns up the Bonaparte were limited last year because of the fishway damage, but says the DFO did not have an accurate count, as he says it relies on the fishway to for its annual counts.

McCabe declined to comment on estimated total costs of repair work.