Scientists are scratching their heads over the mysterious dropoff of fall run Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River. Things are so bad that a federal advisory panel is looking at putting a complete ban on California salmon fishing.
There are several possible environmental factors that may be to blame; ultimately it’s evidence that our oceans are a complicated ecological web, and that mismanaging a river (one possible cause), or building diversion dams (another possible factor) can have serious effects, sometimes several years later.
March 18th addition: Sea lions pay the price for human foul-ups. Now greenlight has been given to killing sea lions in order to protect the few remaining salmon.
