While historically low levels of rain and snowfall, hot and dry conditions and elevated water temperatures have created some concerns for the health of the local Salmon population in the Sacramento River, the reality paints a much more positive picture! Recent scientific discoveries are showing that these conditions have not compromised the salmon population, as previously believed.
“Based on what we’re seeing, the high mortality rate that was expected isn’t happening. If those baby fish are swimming in the Nur Pon side channel and hundreds of thousands have made it down as far as Red Bluff, they are still alive. While there is no guarantee all of them will make it to the ocean, this is a very good sign,” says Josh Watkins, Water Utility Manager with The City of Redding.
According to a recent article by the Northern California Water Association, the local salmon population isn’t just surviving - it's thriving: “It appears more than 9,500 adult winter-run Chinook salmon returned to the Sacramento River to spawn this year. This is the largest number of returning adults based on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife carcass counts in the last 15 years and follows similar returns of 8,128 in 2019 and 7,428 in 2020.”
Just a guess on numbers: 10,000 fish, half of which are moms, lay about 2,500 each or 12,500,000 eggs. Survival guess is 1% so maybe 125,000 will make back to the sea. When conditions cooperate it's amazing how fast the water's fill with catchable fish.
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