An environmental group claims the province didn’t follow proper procedures in 16 waterpower projects dating back to 2010.

The Wilderness Committee is now saying that put fish in the region in danger.

Policy Director Gwen Barlee says the government has made over 700 mistakes.

“IPP’s [Independent  Power Projects] can cause the water in the river to rise really quickly and drop quickly. That’s why there are regulations around that. So when they are violating ramping guidelines… that means you can strand fish and kill fish.”

Joy Thorkleson with the United Fisherman and Allied Workers Union says if the fry are stuck in ditches or puddles they are not able to make it out to sea.

“Small runs could be decimated by that kind of action. If our fish dry up in British Columbia, you do have to source them out from somewhere else. So it will either be farmed fish or fish from Alaska.”

She is also worried that the industry could face bankruptcy if enough fish are impacted.

“If this happens over time it just acts like a pump. You pump all of your juvenile salmon out to be trapped, then next time the event happens you pump more salmon out to be trapped. So it could end up actually bankrupting the stream.”

All the province has to say at this point is that the ministry is constantly updating its policies, guidelines and requirements.

Barlee says that’s not good enough.  “So I would expect the government to say “Okay you know what there is a problem”, they should already be aware of this problem.”

An internal report compiled by the BC Ministry of  Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations revealed:

• 300+ instances of ramping non-compliance
• 290 cases involving failure to report non-compliance incidents
• 100 cases related to inadequate mitigation (e.g. rescuing fish after ramping events)
• 46 cases of non-compliance relating to inadequate instream flow requirements

Photo: Ashlu Creek IPP during construction.