Toward a Fish Habitat Decision on the Kemano Completion Project: A Discussion Paper

The Kemano Completion Project is massive. The Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) proposes a capital expenditure in excess of $2.2 billion which could increase aluminum production from its present level of 240,000 metric tonnes per year to 582,000 metric tonnes per year. It will generate 1,500 permanent jobs and several thousand man-years of temporary construction employment.

The Kemano Completion project directly threatens the salmon stocks in the Fraser River system (especially the chinook of the Nechako River, as well as the sockeye of the Stuart, Stellako and Nadina rivers). Several species (chinook, sockeye, coho and pink salmon) would be impacted in the Nanika and Morice rivers as a result of the diversion of the Nanika River. All five species of Pacific Salmon and the eulachon populations of the Kemano River would be impacted. The potential exists for significant downstream effects in the Skeena and Fraser River.