Climate Fix: How California Can Help Salmon Survive Severe Weather...And Other Existential Threats

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Salmon need cold water to hatch and grow strong enough to embark on migrations that stretch hundreds of miles from their places of birth. In California, dams constructed along various rivers have disrupted traditional salmon runs and are one reason the species has been in decline for decades. And, as climate change makes everything hotter, including the rivers, salmon spawning sites are at risk. This year, the situation became especially dire with numbers reaching near-record lows. In response, the Pacific Fishery Management Council made the drastic decision to cancel the salmon fishing season for 2023. But salmon advocates say that stopping the fishing season won’t fix state water management policies that have favored agriculture over fish habitats. For our next installment of Climate Fix, our monthly series examining global warming and solutions, we’ll talk about how climate change, severe weather and human behavior are exacerbating the challenges California salmon face. Guests: John McManus, Golden State Salmon Association Danielle Venton, science reporter, KQED News Jonathan Rosenfield Ph.D., senior scientist, San Francisco Baykeeper Kasil Willie, staff attorney, Save California Salmon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for KQWED Podcasts comes from Landmark College, holding their annual summer
0:04.9	Institute for educators from June 24 through 26th. More information at landmark.edu slash LCSI.
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0:30.1	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:46.9	Salmon fishing is canceled this year, all of it.
0:49.7	From Northern Oregon down to the Mexico border, That was the decision that the Pacific Fishery
0:54.9	Management Council handed down after seeing the brutally low levels of the fish population.
1:00.5	The situation has been dire, but we're learning that there are levels to dire.
1:05.7	Salmon have long and varied lives, so they're good indicators for both our river and ocean ecosystems.
1:11.4	If the salmon are in this much trouble, what's that mean we need to do to ensure the future
1:15.9	of this biosphere? We know climate change is a piece of the puzzle, but so is the management
1:20.4	of our scarce water resources. We're talking salmon, climate, the fishing industry, and big ag,
1:25.5	after this news.
1:41.9	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. There are many fish in the waters inside and off the coast of California,
1:45.5	but few have the commercial and cultural value of salmon.
1:50.2	So we decided to take this moment when all salmon fishing has been forbidden for the year to look at how climate change, severe weather, and human behavior are exacerbating the challenges
1:55.6	California salmon face. This is our latest installment of Climate Fix, our monthly collaboration
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