Bussanich said more than half of the sockeye on the Columbia have died.
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The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/1gkurOf ) that migration has been tough this year, thanks to high temperatures and hot rivers which have killed tens of thousands of salmon in the Columbia River.
Through July 27, 368 sockeye were counted at Lower Granite Dam.
An abundant sockeye return in 2010 allowed Fish and Game to try a pilot project where 19 sockeye were trapped and trucked from Lower Granite Dam to the Eagle Hatchery to see if the fish could survive the rigors of transport, and they did, said Roger Phillips, a Fish and Game public information specialist.
According to the ONA, the impacts of the 2015 drought in the Okanagan and British Columbia are increasingly evident, not only with wildfires and struggling crops, but also with the catastrophic loss of salmon that were expected to return this season to the Okanagan.
However, record-breaking weather conditions earlier this month have raised water temperatures to above 72 degrees Fahrenheit-roughly five degrees above the average temperature for the Columbia River in July.
The first sockeye salmon has completed its 900-mile migration to Redfish Lake Creek near Stanley.
After sockeye cross Lower Granite Dam, they still have 400 miles to travel in the Snake and Salmon rivers to reach the Sawtooth Basin.
“Fish are showing signs of physical stress”, Bussanich said. Warmer water makes fish congregate in the few available cool spots.
Efforts are underway to save one of Idaho’s most endangered species.
Ritchie Graves, a biologist at NOAA has recently predicted the deaths of up to 80% of this year’s sockeye salmon population passing through the Bonneville Dam.
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To help aid in their conservation, Oregon and Washington officials have both agreed to place a ban on commercial and recreational fishing indefinitely.
