| Sockeye swim back to Northwest in record-high numbers |
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| Written by Greenwire | |
| Thursday, 24 July 2008 | |
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Sockeye salmon are swimming up the Columbia River this summer in the highest numbers in five decades.
Experts have been surprised by the high fish counts, which included nearly 215,000 red salmon at the Bonneville dam through Tuesday, the biggest number of returning adults since 1955. Some credit the historic post-dam-construction highs to a federal court order to release extra water over key hydropower dams when the fish returning today were migrating to the ocean as juveniles. Others attribute it to improved ocean conditions with more nutrient-rich upwelling. Most of the fish followed the Columbia River to Washington's Wenatchee and Osoyoos lakes, while a much smaller number of the system's most endangered run went on to the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. More than 800 adult sockeye were counted at the Lower Granite Dam through Tuesday -- a tiny number in relative terms but still nearly 25 times the average return of the last 10 years (Scott Learn, Portland Oregonian, July 24). -- RB
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 July 2008 ) |
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