http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/

v 2.4.3.0

A record low number of endangered winter-run Chinook salmon fry migrated down the Sacramento River this year, according to preliminary data collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Red Bluff Diversion Dam. An estimated 158,764 fry, or baby salmon, have made it from below Keswick Dam to Red Bluff this year, compared to an average of 1.3 million winter Chinook salmon. This is the second straight year that such low numbers of Chinooks were reported. In 2021, an estimated 557,652 winter Chinook swam down the river to Red Bluff. Conditions were very difficult that year as the water was low and warm due to water being diverted to irrigators, resulting in massive fry mortality. The low numbers this year were due to fewer adult Chinooks arriving to spawn in the river, compared to 2021, and a thiamine deficiency from a diet high in anchovies. The hatchery staff processed 16 million eggs altogether with a goal of producing 7.5 million salmon smolts, including the 1.5 million additional fish allocated for the drought. Stockton Record (Calif.), Dec 6, 2022