As California breaks new temperature records each year and the drought wears on, the state becomes a very dangerous place for young salmon.
However, an ambitious pilot program to truck the fish around the Central Valley has been stalled for years now.
The plan, formed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, would involve using a water tank truck to transport winter-run Chinook salmon twice in their life cycle: Once as they when they are young salmon headed out to sea, and once when they head upstream to spawn.
"We're not an advocate for trucking fish," Jon Ambrose, Reintroduction Coordinator with the National Marine Fisheries Service, told KCBS Radio. "We would prefer volitional passage for fish to be able to do it on their own, but extinction is not an option."
They have created a planned pilot program to shuttle the fish for a roughly 45-minute trip around Shasta Reservoir, which has many predatory species. Because of the drought and climate change, the water is now too warm for baby fish.
Ambrose said they expect around 88% of the fish to die without intervention.
The program, first approved during Barack Obama's presidency, was almost off the ground in 2019 when it was abruptly halted by officials from the Trump administration.
"There's a lot of conjecture for the reasons why the project stopped," Ambrose demurred.
The support is there, but the funding is not. Ambrose estimated the project is “a little less” than $1 million short of its goals, with the equipment sitting under a tarp in Red Bluff until it can be used next month.
The agency, however, might need to wait until next year. Ambrose said the National Marine Fisheries Service is doing everything it can to secure more funding now because there is no time to waste.
"We need to take these steps because droughts will keep happening," he said. "Drought frequency will likely increase due to the advent of a warming climate. So we need to look at a long-term solution, and not just react in a panic every time the drought hits."
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