News

Chinook salmon

Over the last week of July, scuba divers performed an annual survey of spring-run Chinook salmon populations over an 80 mile stretch of the Salmon River—and the results were alarming. The survey has been conducted for the past 20 years and the 110 salmon the divers counted this year is the second lowest on record. Over the past few years fish diseases have had a tremendous impact on juvenile fish.

In past years hundreds of thousands of Chinook salmon made their way from the Pacific Ocean up the Salmon River. Scientists are claiming that climate change is to blame as the water is warmer during the summer months. While climate change may be the culprit, environmentalists believe if the spring-run Chinook could be listed under the Endangered Species Act a recovery plan would be initiated and prevent the fish from becoming extinct. Protection has been stalled as there is an ongoing debate as to whether the spring-run fish are genetically different from the autumn-run salmon. 

Read more here.