July 9, 2015 — (AP) — Drought and record hot weather are producing lethal conditions for salmon and trout in rivers across the West.
A recent survey released Wednesday of the lower reaches of 54 rivers in Oregon, California and Washington by the conservation group Wild Fish Conservancy showed nearly three-quarters had temperatures higher than 70 degrees, considered potentially deadly for salmon and trout.
Low river flows from the record low winter snowpack, which normally feeds rivers through the summer, combined with record hot weather have created a perfect storm of bad conditions for salmon and trout, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supervisory fisheries biologist Rich Johnson.
Oregon Climate Center Associate Director Kathie Dello said the entire West Coast saw record low snowpack last winter, leading to low rivers this summer. All three states had record high temperatures for June, with Oregon breaking the record by 3 degrees, and the three-month outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is for continued warmer and drier-than-normal weather made worse by the ocean-warming condition known as El Niño, she added.
Read the full story from Al Jazeera with The Associated Press