Tag Archives: warm water effects Chinook

Rivers & Oceans

The past holds the key to the future for Skeena sockeye: SFU researcher

Editor’s note: This solution would not work for Chum, the principal salmon species found on Cortes Island. Unlike Coho, Chinook, and Sockeye, Chum do not reside in fresh water for an extended period. The 2022 and 2023 runs in Basil Creek were virtually wiped out because there was not enough water for them to return and spawn.

By Seth Forward, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Comparing past sockeye populations in the Skeena watershed to their present-day counterparts may hold the key to preserving the species, according to an SFU postdoctoral fellow. 

Michael Price, who resides in Smithers, found in his Ph.D. research that a warming climate is making juvenile Skeena sockeye grow larger and is changing the habitats in which the young fish can thrive. 

Price found that small, warmer and more shallow lakes that juvenile sockeye used to thrive in are now becoming less suitable for the fish, with larger, deeper and colder lakes taking their place as the optimal habitat for sockeye to grow before they make the daunting trip to the ocean. 

Continue reading The past holds the key to the future for Skeena sockeye: SFU researcher →
Animals, Rivers & Oceans

Will the heavy rains come in time for this year’s Chum run in Basil Creek?

Part 1 in a series of articles about the Fall 2023 Salmon runs; Click here for Part 2.

Very little water is trickling through Basil Creek, where Cortes Island’s principal Chum run occurs in late October. There have been few days of rain on Cortes since May, and some of the area’s shallow wells stopped producing in July. Only about 10 Chum were seen in Basil Creek during the 2022 drought. Unless water levels rise, this may be the second year in a row when there is not a significant creek for the Chum return. 

According to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, BC is going through ‘one of the most extreme periods of drought in recorded history.’ 

Continue reading Will the heavy rains come in time for this year’s Chum run in Basil Creek? →
Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Yukon River’s salmon runs likely to stay small while Indigenous Peoples’ sacrifice grows

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The collapse of wild salmon is causing a current of pain that spans the length of the Yukon River, from its mouth at Alaska’s Bering Sea to the headwaters in Canada’s Yukon territory 3,000 kilometres away.

Indigenous people on both sides of the border spoke about the devastation the loss of chinook salmon and the more recent collapse of chum stocks are having on communities while testifying at the Yukon River Panel, a bilateral commission that manages salmon stocks, during its meeting in Whitehorse this week. 

Continue reading Yukon River’s salmon runs likely to stay small while Indigenous Peoples’ sacrifice grows →
Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Tla’amin salmon hatchery manager predicts poor fish runs

qathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Two years ago qathet had a poor year for salmon, but Tla’amin salmon hatchery manager, Lee George is worried 2021 will be even worse. 

Continue reading Tla’amin salmon hatchery manager predicts poor fish runs →
Water

The Drought’s Next Victims

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California’s drought spread across most of the West Coast this year. There have been reports of record high temperatures, water shortages and increased ravages from wildfires. The Drought’s next victims could be salmon.

Continue reading The Drought’s Next Victims →