Salmon in Washington’s Columbia River nearly died when water temperatures rose during a heat wave, a conservation group that documented the sight said.
In a video released on Tuesday by non-profit organization Columbia Riverkeeper, a group of sockeye salmon swimming in a tributary of the river can be seen covered in red lesions and white fungus, the results of stress and exposure to extreme temperatures.
The salmon had been traveling upstream in the Columbia River from the ocean to return to their natal spawning areas, when they unexpectedly changed course, Columbia Riverkeeper executive director Brett VandenHeuvel said.
He described the sockeye as veering off to the Little White Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia River where the video was recorded, in an effort to essentially “escape a burning building.”
On the day the video was recorded, the river had hit just over 21°C, a lethal temperature for the anadromous fish if they are exposed to it for long periods.
The US Clean Water Act prohibits the Columbia River from rising over 20°C.
VandenHeuvel compared the situation to a person trying to run a marathon in temperatures above 38°C.
“The difference is that this isn’t recreation for the salmon,” he said. “They have no choice. They either make it or they die.”
The salmon in the video will not be able to spawn in the tributary, and are expected to die from disease and heat stress.
The scene is an example of the toll taken by the recent heat wave, which killed hundreds of people across Canada and the US’ Pacific northwest, probably caused more than 1 billion marine animals to perish and contributed to fires across the region.
However, VandenHeuvel said that the incident went beyond the heat wave and was exacerbated by the many dams that for decades have held up the flow of water across Washington state and beyond, and thus increased water temperature.
A videographer captured the scene for the Columbia Riverkeeper earlier this month as part of the organization’s effort to keep track of the salmon’s progress in the heat.
VandenHeuvel said it was too early to say exactly how many salmon have died as a result of the hot water.
VandenHeuvel said that he traveled to the area in the days after the video was recorded and said he saw salmon suffering in a similar way in other tributaries.
He even spotted several sockeye carcasses downstream.
“It’s heartbreaking to watch animals dying unnaturally,” he said. “And worse, thinking about the cause of it. This is a human caused problem, and it really makes me think about the future.”
In the video, the salmon can be seen with what looks to be fuzzy white patches, which is likely a fungal infection that appears when salmon become stressed from hot water.
Don Sampson, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and an advisory board member for the Northwest Tribal Salmon Alliance, described watching the video as akin to seeing his relatives die.
“That’s how bad I felt,” said Sampson, who is also hereditary chief of the Walla Walla tribe. “I mean I was near in tears when I saw it.”
He compared it to 2015, when about 250,000 sockeye died in the Columbia River and its tributaries after an especially hot summer.
Sampson said that the situation was only going to get worse and it was vital to move forward with a proposal of breaching four dams in eastern Washington.
“It’s really appalling that we have solutions to save salmon, but we’re not doing it,” Sampson said. “We don’t have the political will, our members of Congress in the northwest don’t have the political strength or will to stand up to protect salmon for future generations.”
VandenHeuvel said that these types of scenes would continue to play out if officials do not take action.
“I see this as a deeply sad vision for our future, but I also see it as a call to action. There’s mitigation measures we can take to save the salmon, to cool our rivers,” he said. “And if this video doesn’t inspire some serious reflection, then I don’t know what will.”
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