“These cold water fish need cold water and that is going to become more limited in California’s climate future on the Valley floor.” – Dr. Rachel Johnson, research biologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center & Center for Watershed Sciences

Numbers of Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon returning from the ocean this year have fallen sharply and pose threat of extinction. This fall, Biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and NOAA Fisheries are jointly implementing emergency measures to rescue the species from this cohort collapse. In a commitment to securing the species' genetic diversity, biologists will capture juvenile fish from the 2-3 creeks in California that still house independent spring-run populations and they will use them to launch a temporary conservation hatchery program housed at the University of California Davis Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture (CABA) for the next two years until a permanent facility is determined. 

Read the join news release from CDFW and NOAA to hear from Center for Watershed Sciences researchers about this significant event.
 

“It’s a privilege to work with this species, and I’m glad we have facilities and expertise that can help. My staff, the students and our partners are all really dedicated to this work and to the goal of conserving native species.” – Nann Fangue, UC Davis professor of fish physiological ecology and director of CABA.