Millions of salmon being trucked to cooler waters amid California drought

Millions of young salmon are being trucked more than 100 miles to the San Francisco Bay to reach chillier waters, as severe drought engulfs much of California.

Ordinarily, the silver salmon are sent to the American River before heading toward the Pacific Ocean, but the river's heat is dangerous for the finned swimmers, Reuters reported. The high water temperatures and low water levels are a result of the ongoing drought plaguing the Golden State.

Surrounded by dry hillsides, a houseboat floats on Lake Oroville on Saturday, May 22, 2021, in Oroville, Calif. At the time of this photo, the reservoir was at 39 percent of capacity and 46 percent of its historical average. California officials say the drought gripping the U.S. West is so severe it could cause one of the state's most important reservoirs to reach historic lows by late August, closing most boat ramps and shutting down a hydroelectric power plant during the peak demand of the hottest part of the summer. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

"We don't have any rain, so the water temperatures are going to be a little bit higher," Feather River Hatchery manager Anna Kastner told AFP. "We're trying to give them the best chance possible."

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in 41 of 58 counties in May as the drought parched much of the state and sent several major reservoirs well below normal capacity. The salmon haven't embarked on a trip quite like this one since the 2014 drought.

The U.S. Drought Monitor estimates that more than 37 million people are living in drought-affected areas throughout the state. Conditions in about 94 percent of the state are considered severe, extreme or exceptional, according to the monitor.

FILE - In this April 24, 2014, file photo, young salmon that have been transported by tanker truck from the Coleman National Fish hatchery are loaded into a floating net suspended on a pontoon barge at Mare Island, Calif. California officials will again truck millions of young salmon raised at fish hatcheries in the state's Central Valley agricultural region to the Pacific Ocean because projected river conditions show that the waterways the fish use to travel downstream will be historically low and warm due to increasing drought. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

In Sacramento, residents were urged to cut water use by 10% last month. Residents along the Russian River in Northern California were asked to reduce consumption by 20%.

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Farmers in the state are fallowing their land, and government agencies are warning of fish kills on the Sacramento River. State regulators also started drafting an order to prevent farmers from pulling water from nearby rivers.

In 2014, researchers identified California's drought as the worst in more than 1,000 years. That year, about 30 million Chinook salmon made their way from five fish hatcheries to waters that could lead them to the ocean, NPR reported.

FILE - In this May 13, 2015, file photo, Rich Cain of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, prepares a tanker truck filled with young salmon, called "smolts" to be unloaded into a floating net suspended on a barge at Mare Island, Calif. California officials will again truck millions of young salmon raised at fish hatcheries in the state's Central Valley agricultural region to the Pacific Ocean because projected river conditions show that the waterways the fish use to travel downstream will be historically low and warm due to increasing drought. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

Still, these trips could disrupt their natural behavior. Fish have an innate ability to "imprint," or learn over time to identify their home water, so that they can return years later to spawn, NPR reported. A trip to new waters can be risky, but the last time these measures were enacted, an official in California's department of fish and wildlife told NPR that the journey was worth it.

Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, told Reuters that he is most concerned with the ramifications of the warming waters. He worries that every egg could die because of the rising temperatures.

For Kastner, there's still lingering uncertainty.

"We want to make sure that we have the best available chance for this fish because we don't know what's going to happen," Kastner said.

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