Province to replace blocked, aging culvert

An aging culvert that became blocked toward the end of this year's salmon spawn at Spanish Bank Creek will be replaced in 2023, according to the B.C. Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry.

Passersby began noticing several chum salmon trying to enter the culvert in late November after those salmon had made their way up the 50-metre stretch of creek from Burrard Inlet to NW Marine Drive, below which the 15-metre wooden culvert runs. The creek flows for about a kilometre upstream from the culvert in a steep ravine in Pacific Spirit Park.

Some salmon passed through the culvert earlier in the month as the spawn began, but after a heavy rainfall, the downstream end of the culvert was almost completely blocked by silt and sand.

By the end of November, there were around 25 dead salmon in the creek and on the bank below the culvert.

Metro Vancouver is responsible for the creek in the park, the Vancouver park board is responsible for the creek from the culvert to the inlet and the ministry is responsible for the culvert. The DFO is the agency responsible for the overall scheme.

On Nov. 17 a DFO biologist visited the site and “found that not all the dead chum found downstream of the culvert had successfully spawned.”

In a statement, the DFO said it had been a challenging year to spawn in the Spanish Banks' system. A park board spokesperson said that work this summer to improve the lower portion of the creek stopped at the culvert due to “the risk to the stability of the road should all the sediment be removed.”