page_title: Metro Vancouver watersheds
section_title: Salmon in Coquitlam Lake
hierarchical_section_title: Metro Vancouver watersheds / Human impacts and environmental concerns / Salmon in Coquitlam Lake
caption_attribution_description: English&#x3a;&#32; Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from the Northern Pacific Ocean.Français&#x202f;&#x3a;&#32; Un saumon rouge (Oncorhynchus nerka) originaire du Nord de l'océan Pacifique.
context_page_description: The Metro Vancouver watersheds, also known as the Greater Vancouver watersheds, supply potable water to approximately 2.4 million residents in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. They provide tap water to a land area covering more than 2,600 km², including cities such as Vancouver, Langley and Richmond. From west to east, the watersheds are the Capilano, the Seymour, and the Coquitlam. They are located in the North Shore Mountains and Coquitlam Mountain, respectively. Each watershed possesses a reservoir for water storage purposes, under the control of Metro Vancouver. The reservoirs are supplied by about 3.5 metres of rain and 4.5 metres of snowpack annually. Two additional off-catchment areas under control of Metro Vancouver contribute to the water supply. The watersheds have a long history of controversies surrounding logging, highway development, and salmon run conservation.
context_section_description: Coquitlam's original name, Kwikwetlem, translates to "red fish up the river" named after the plentiful sockeye salmon populations that historically spawned around Coquitlam Lake. The construction of the Coquitlam Dam raised concern about salmon migrational patterns for the four salmon species that frequently spawned in Coquitlam River: sockeye, coho, chum, and steelhead. Thousands of spawning salmon originally ran through Coquitlam Lake. The dam, used for the purposes of water supply and power generation, suspended salmon spawning in the upper part of the Coquitlam River. Areas in tributaries that the salmon used for spawning were destroyed when the dam raised the lake's water level by 5 feet.  By 1913, sockeye salmon became locally extinct in the area. Over the past century, the other salmon populations (coho, chum, and steelhead) also suffered but they managed to persevere, even showing some signs of improvement in later years. However, the dam was not the only factor for the low salmon populations: overfishing in the ocean and the decline in the quality of their habitat also contributed to the decrease in their populations.
  Vancouver Power Company and the City of New Westminster wanted to exterminate the salmon because they feared the salmon would ruin the quality of Coquitlam Lake's water supply. The City of New Westminster hired First Nations people, likely from the Kwikwetlem First Nation, to prevent water quality contamination by removing salmon carcasses from the water intake screens.
  Since the early 1990s, the Department of Marine and Fisheries had given priority status to protecting salmon spawning areas. The current Department of Fisheries and Oceans has spent years trying to protect the Coquitlam salmon run. The sockeye salmon returned to the Coquitlam River after 100 years and are now monitored to re-establish the run and to maintain a successful fish ladder in the dam. A mandatory fish ladder was incorporated into the original dam design, but fish ladders, which have been experimented with since the 1890s, have been gradually improved through trial and error.
  Individuals, volunteer groups, and municipalities have also made an effort to save the salmon run. Multiple plans, projects and reports have been put into place over the past two decades to understand and to increase salmon populations in the Coquitlam Watershed. In the 2011 Coquitlam/Buntzen Watershed Plan, the goal was to make an improved habitat conservation and restoration plan and to find actions that benefit all the salmon species. The priority salmon species included sockeye, coho, steelhead, pink, cutthroat, and chinook.
caption: Male sockeye salmon in spawning phase
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