Wildlife officials announced on Monday that they may take millions of California salmon out of the Sacramento River and move them into the ocean due to the current drought.
The officials proposed a plan to move hatchery-raised salmon by truck if the Sacramento River becomes inhabitable for the fish. They are concerned that the river could become too warm or shallow for salmon who are trying to migrate to sea by themselves, according to the Sacramento Bee.
The Coleman National Fish Hatchery, a stream on Battle Creek that leads into the river, usually releases salmon in April and May, the Huffington Post reported. The hatchery produces approximately 12 million fall-run Chinook salmon, and is the largest hatchery in California. Salmon such as the Chinook are important for salmon populations in the West Coast since it produces most of the wild-caught salmon in California restaurants and markets.
John McManus, executive director of the Golden Gate Salmon Association, talked about the salmon's importance for sport fishing in California, the Huffington Post reported.
"What this means is we'll likely have a much better salmon fishing season in 2016, when these fish reach adulthood, than we would have otherwise gotten," McManus said.
California is going through one of its driest winters to date, and the Sierra snowpack, which usually revitalizes the state's reservoirs, is still depleted. Officials are worried that without a lot of rain in March, rivers will be in such a bad condition in April and May that the salmon will not survive their migration to the ocean, the Sacramento Bee reported.
For the trucking plan, salmon would be carried in tanker trucks from Red Bluff to San Pablo Bay, the Sacramento Bee reported. Once they arrive, the salmon would be released into floating net pens to warm up to the new saltiness and temperature conditions. They would then be set free to swim in the ocean.
Bob Clarke, fisheries program supervisor at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the plan will be scrapped if California receives enough rain, the Huffington Post reported.
"We don't want to truck them down if conditions aren't going to be as bad as we think they're going to be," Clarke said.
