Public notice 

Iona North Arm Jetty Breach No. 2– Public comments invited 

December 13, 2022– The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, as part of its Project and Environmental Review process, and Transport Canada must determine whether the proposed Iona North Arm Jetty Breach No. 2 , located in the Fraser River Estuary, Richmond, B.C., is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects. Written comments must be received by January 11, 2023. 

To help inform this determination, and to assist the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority in making a decision on whether or not to approve the proposed project, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Transport Canada are inviting comments from the public. All comments received will be considered public and may be posted online. For more information, individuals should consult the Privacy Notice on the Registry website. In addition, your contact information may be shared with third parties, e.g., the tenant, other relevant agencies, to help respond to your questions and inform possible mitigations. 

Written comments must be submitted by January 11, 2023 to: 

Vancouver Fraser Port Authority 
Project and Environmental Review 
100 The Pointe, 999 Canada Place 
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6C 3T4  
per@portvancouver.com 

Transport Canada 
Impact Assessment Pacific Region 
820 - 800 Burrard Street 
Vancouver, British Columbia V6Z 2J8 
PACEnvironment-environnement@tc.gc.ca 

The proposed project 

Raincoast Conservation Foundation (Raincoast, a charitable, non-profit conservation science organization) is proposing to construct a linear breach, i.e., channel, across the Iona Island North Arm Jetty in the Fraser River estuary, Richmond, B.C. The North Arm Jetty is a human-made structure that was constructed in 1916 to aid in navigation. The goal of this project is to restore natural migration pathways for juvenile salmon and other fish species, and to restore the natural movement of freshwater and fine sediments in the estuary. This breach will be located east of the jetty breach Raincoast built in early 2022. 

The proposed Project works include: 

• Removal of rocks, soil, and sediment to construct a second breach approximately 120 meters (m) long and 30 m wide at the bottom and 55 m wide at the top, including the slide slopes. The breach will be excavated to an elevation of -1.35 m Geodetic Datum (GD), and lined with filter rock and riprap to a final elevation of -0.5 m GD. 
• Construction equipment and materials will be transported to the site by barge.  
• The excavated material (approximately 17,000 m³) will be placed adjacent to the breach above the high-water mark of 1.9 m GD. 

Construction of the jetty breach is anticipated to require 4 to 6 weeks.