Sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. (Photo: DFO)
Warmer water could reduce expected abundant sockeye return to the Fraser
CANADA
Thursday, July 19, 2018, 02:50 (GMT + 9)
The threat of high water temperatures and several years of low fish survival is putting the expected 14 million sockeye return to the Fraser River in 2018 at risk.
This bumper year for the resource had been forecast by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and is on par with the big runs that return to the river every four years, CBC News reported.
But, alongside that forecast, DFO warns that the fish returning in 2018 will have experienced the same "unusually warm" freshwater and ocean conditions that have coincided with low sockeye survival the past three years.
If those survival trends persist, the DFO report states the river might see as few as 5.3 million sockeye.
For his part, Mike Lapointe, chief biologist of the Pacific Salmon Commission stated that the earliest of the Fraser River's many sockeye populations have already begun their gruelling swim upstream to spawn, and conditions are still "favourable" for the Early Stuart run.
But fisheries managers will be watching conditions closely as the much larger sockeye runs — including the spectacular Adams River run, which can boast millions of fish — arrive later in the summer.
Lapointe explains that warmer water is trouble for salmon as it can delay their migration and accelerate disease in fish that are already "on their last legs" and "swimming probably about the equivalent of a marathon a day."
Already, the Fraser's water level is about 20 per cent lower than average for the date, as measured Monday near Hope, B.C., likely due to early spring flooding.
Lapointe clarifies that sockeye return will depend on conditions and how many fish show up in the late runs, which will not be known until August.
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