Baby Chinook salmon from California’s Central Valley typically have a long swim downriver to the ocean to survive into the next stage of life. This year, they are getting a helping hand in the form of a fleet of tanker trucks set to carry almost 17 million of the fish to the sea. It’s all part of a flurry of steps across western US states to keep tens of millions of endangered salmon from suffering in a year of historic drought for the region. This isn’t the first time wildlife managers have trucked salmon downstream, but this year the drought is drying up rivers earlier than usual and making them too hot for the salmon to survive. That means that giant tanker trucks, traveling 50 to 100 miles downstream to the coast around San Francisco, are a lifeline. “The California department of fish and wildlife is utilizing lessons learned from the past 15 or more years of salmon releases and the last drought to maximize release success,” said Jason Julienne, north central region hatchery supervisor, in a statement . “Trucking young salmon to downstream release sites has proven to be one of the best ways to increase survival to […]
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