It’s only the second time in history that the ocean salmon fishery has been closed in California, and the decision reflects a major decline in fish populations after the state’s driest three-year period on record.
Local officials and scientists have yet to nail down how many fish have died, but the reports have been coming in non-stop since Friday.
As temperatures near and surpass triple digits, many reservoirs in California's Central Valley have diverted more water to cities and farmers during the drought, making rivers shallower and too hot for the fish to develop from eggs, a process which can take at least 60 days to complete. To combat the poor river conditions in the Central Valley, some fish preservation organizations have tried to save the salmon population by launching large scale trucking operations to transport millions of salmon to the San Pablo Bay, San Francisco Bay and other fish farms where they are more likely to survive.
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