Day: February 13, 2015

Salmon Are Literally Swimming Out of Our Lives

Casey Leach 2 Comments

Due to climate change, salmon populations are decreasing because the dams are affecting upstream and downstream migrants. While attending the discussion on climate change’s impact on salmon, I found it to be really interesting because I didn’t realize how climate change and the dams were negatively impacting the salmon populations. The dams make it impossible for the fish to repopulate because they are unable to reach their unique original spawning grounds further upstream. Climate change is impacting the salmon by the warming temperatures because salmon are used to living in a cold-water habitat.

Since the temperatures are increasing, mid-watershed elevations will switch from snow dominated to rain dominated. Higher climate temperatures lead to less snow and more rain, which is a major cause for the rivers’ temperatures to be rising. The increased water temperatures will stress migrating adults, may disrupt growth and downstream migration timing of juveniles. As of right now, they are unsure of how much warming will wipe out the salmon population, but there have already been fish die offs from the rising water temperatures.

Contine reading →

As the Salmon Swim By, Stare, Take Good Care; One Day, They May Not Be There.

zbigley@uoregon.edu Leave a comment

Salmon are very important to Native American tribes all over the country. The salmon populations in the Northwest are depleting because of human activity and it is a huge issue for not only the tribes, but citizens who are used to fishing for and consuming salmon. Climate change is directly correlated to this shift in population.

Salmon are very sensitive to environmental changes in their habitat. They must migrate from the ocean back upstream to lay their eggs and a change in water temperature or surroundings could cause a change in their path home. The salmon species is in grave danger of extinction because of human activities and the EPA said, “Many salmon species are already considered threatened or endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Studies show that by 2100, one third of current habitat for Northwest salmon and other coldwater fish would be unsuitable. This is because warming temperatures are projected to pass key temperature thresholds.”

There have been many measures in place and being brought up for the future to combat this change and slow the process of habitat being unsuitable. In the talk tonight, they discussed many solutions. They ranged from restoration of the areas with increased shading or slowed flow of the rivers to using hatcheries to basically “manufacture” salmon in a controlled environment.

There was a discussion about the ethics of using hatcheries and releasing the fish into the wild because not only does it set them up for failure, but it is a short term solution for a long term problem. This meant that the fish that were released from the hatcheries would affect the natural fish because they do not know how to repopulate naturally, so they create a new environment.

The speakers highlighted that the most important thing that we can do to help the salmon is to vote. They need all the money they can get to save these sacred and good-tasting fish. Another thing we can all do is go out and help to plant trees along the sides of rivers. This creates shade, which helps to keep the water temperature cool for the salmon.

Save the salmon! They are so very important to Oregon and all the tribes as a whole. They need to stay alive.

Extra Credit: Poor Fish

hvitrano@uoregon.edu Leave a comment

On Thursday, I attended the meeting about how climate change has affected salmon. This was a great experience because it brought a lot of the community together to talk about the issue. The speakers were Ryan Bransetter and David Graves and they work for the organization Columbia River Inter- Fish Commission, in Portland. They focus on the how to improve the salmon industry with climate change. I learned there are four different tribes and they have fishing rights here in Oregon. This made me remember when I was in the lake with my brother and wanted to fish. He told me I couldn’t because I needed to have a fishing license or I could get in a lot of trouble. I am not a seafood lover at all, but it was still interesting to hear other people’s perspective on salmon. In the Northwest the temperature is increasing and our climate depends on the snow to keep the water cold. Tributary effects on the salmon and steelhead because the temperature is increasing. Overall, the population in Oregon has increased and with that the demand for water goes up. When summer comes along it is harder to fish for salmon because so many people are using the water. In the meeting people were very passionate about salmon because it is used for medicine. Salmon is a fish that has a lot of health benefits and a lot of people depend on it. Climate change has made the water temperature in rivers, oceans, and lakes warmer. This issue makes everything difficult because a lot of people work in the salmon industry and could lose their job. To fix the issue there needs to be more snow fall to help cool down the temperatures. There was been arguments between the tribes and the United States government. Both of them want control over the tribes and want the money. Money is always the reason because that’s what our world has come down to. The speakers talked about a new technology and it is a plane that flies over the ocean. When it flies over the ocean it can determine where cold water is. I really liked when one of the speakers said to fix climate change our society needs to change their values. He made an example about how a lot of people are greedy. The more people want the more climate change is going to be an issue. The government will always be fighting for power over land and want the benefits of the salmon industry. This meeting answered a lot of my questions and was nice to hear from experts. I learned something new about how climate change is a huge issue and not many people care.