Good News for Salmon Leaving Coastal Streams Entering the Ocean

According to a story in NW News Network the NOAA Fisheries are reporting some of the best conditions for young salmon leaving coastal rivers and streams and entering the Pacific Ocean. That’s because of a strong upwelling bringing nutrients up from the deeper parts of the Ocean and making nutrients available for the organisms young salmon eat.

Upwelling is a process in which deep, cold water rises to the surface due to wind blowing across the ocean surface near the coast, and allowing deeper waters to replace the water that was pushed away. The colder water is rich in nutrients producing higher biological productivity.

NOAA staff reported that conditions in 2021 was the second-best year recorded since the federal agency began monitoring ocean conditions.

“The great ocean conditions are especially good news for endangered coho salmon and may bode well for adult salmon returning over the next couple of years,” said Todd Steiner, Executive Director of Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) and its Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN) program that works to protect and restore Marin’s coho salmon and steelhead population.

Steiner continued, “But only if the salmon return to healthy stream ecosystems. Right now, coho salmon are returning to spawn in Marin and thousands of people from throughout the Bay Area are coming out to see these amazing fish jump through the waterfalls to reach their natal spawning grounds to complete their life. To ensure this continues into the future, we need to enact science-based regulations to protect streams in Marin.”

Read the story from the NW News Network here: https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/2022-01-04/good-ocean-conditions-could-be-good-news-for-salmon-noaa-says

Learn where to see spawning salmon in the Bay Area here: https://seaturtles.org/witness-greatness-on-a-creekwalk-tour/