No sockeye used Penticton dam's new fish ladder this year

The newly-installed fish ladder at the Penticton dam, intended to allow returning sockeye salmon to Okanagan Lake for the first time in over 50 years, did not see any takers this year. 

No salmon used the ladder in the 2019 return season, and the Okanagan Nation Alliance fisheries manager said he thinks it might be because the ladder — allowing fish access through the concrete dam through a series of steps — was installed too late in the season. 

Howie Wright said he saw over 100 sockeye in the pooled areas south of the dam in early October, looking for a way through, in the weeks before the ladder installation.

But by the time final approvals and administrative checklists had been completed and construction began, the numbers had dwindled. 

"When they wanted to come up, they couldn't, and they hit a point where they all fall down and just spawn downstream," Wright said. 

Overall, the run saw low numbers, but that was expected. Sockeye return to their spawning grounds every four years, and 2015 saw mass deaths of the fish in the Columbia River en route to the ocean. 

"We had about 15,000 to 20,000 in the Oliver area above Osoyoos Lake," Wright said of this year. 

The ladder installation is a learning opportunity, and Wright said he isn't disappointed by the fact no salmon made it through this fall. The ONA is looking forward to next year.

"I think long-term it will be very positive, we will be able to monitor and tag the fish and see where they go," Wright said. 

"Get a better understanding of them moving to their historical habitat."