January 10, 2022 — Fish swimming out to sea over the past year have lucked into some of the best water temperatures and food abundance along the West Coast in the last 24 years, according to an analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began monitoring ocean conditions.
That could be good news for salmon and steelhead over the next few years, biologists said.
The welcoming waters in 2021 appear to be the second most favorable for fish since scientists with NOAA began monitoring ocean conditions, said Brian Burke, research fisheries biologist at NOAA Fisheries.
“It’s sort of been this growing picture of, ‘Wow, things are really looking good right now across the board,’” Burke said.
“The upwelling created a really productive coastal system,” Burke said.
That productivity has built slowly over several years, Burke said, after a string of hard years for ocean-dwelling fish.
Read the full story at Oregon Public Broadcasting