In California, Salmon Hitch a Ride to the Sea

摘要

California is suffering from one of its worst droughts on record. The state's reservoirs are one-third below normal, and farmers are allowing thousands of arid acres to go unplanted. More than 800 wildfires have broken out since Jan. 1, three times more than usual, and smog in Los Angeles is increasing without winter rains to clear the air. It's also a terrible time to be a fish. The dearth of rain has left long stretches of the Sacramento River too shallow to sustain the millions of young Chinook salmon that usually make the annual 200- to 300-mile swim to the Pacific Ocean. The fish that migrate each spring through the river delta to the sea are key to the state's $1.5 billion commercial and recreational fishing industry. In two years they will be mature enough for harvest-unless they die along the way. "Depending on how far those fish have to go, the longer they must travel through the system, the higher the losses," says Harry Morse, a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.