LUMMI NATION, Wash. – The Lummi Nation says 2500 mature chinook salmon were killed by high water temperatures and low water flows in the Nooksack River basin in recent weeks.
Lummi Chairman Lawrence Solomon says in a statement that habitat destruction coupled with climate change caused the fish die-off.
The tribe says water temperatures are consistently above the lethal level for chinook, especially in the river’s South Fork.
And water flows are often far below levels needed for fish to survive.
Solomon is demanding immediate action to restore habitat and save salmon runs.
He says treaties with the federal government mean nothing if there aren’t fish to harvest.
Meanwhile, new research makes a surprising finding on the ailing Southern Resident Orca population and the chinook salmon which they rely on for food.
The Seattle Times reports researchers looked at chinook salmon populations available to both the Southern Residents and the robust Northern Residents of British Columbia.
They found chinook were four to six times more plentiful in parts of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where the Southern Residents feed, than in areas the Northern Residents frequent.
An author of the study says they need to look at other factors that may be impacting the Puget Sound orcas’ health like ship noise or pollution.
But other whale researchers say the study was flawed or too narrowly focused to give an accurate picture of how stressed salmon populations are.