What is a fish rescue?

Every year, millions of tonnes of water are diverted from rivers in southern Alberta into irrigation canals, which provide water for Alberta’s vast agricultural fields. At the start of the irrigation season, the headgates to the canals are opened, and water from the river rushes in to fill the canals — and with it, come the fish. Most headgates in Alberta are not screened or otherwise managed to exclude fish from the canals. As a result, hundreds of thousands of fish enter the canals, too. The fish that end up in the irrigation canals may be fine throughout the summer, but in the fall, the headgates are closed, and water slowly drains out of the canals. These fish are then trapped in the emptying canals, and are highly vulnerable to predation, freezing, and becoming stranded in isolated pools. Without human intervention, many of these fish will die. <a href="https://medium.com/@AlbertaNativeTrout/what-is-a-fish-rescue-1a36283161f6">Learn More</a>