"2020 spring salmon forecast mirrors previous year’s [low returns]" -- The Columbian

Suz on a river near our house about three years ago.

Low water steelhead fishing on Oregon coast.

Suz and I got in a big fight because her veggie casserole smelled up my sandshrimps, and fish wouldn't bite. Before that, I was scolded for being too fat, and scolded for not eating enough. I guess I'm still learning about married life.

The coho run was a bust in area rivers and fall chinook season closed early so hopefully winter steelhead fishing will be better. Oddly, coho jack counts last year were good (year-early smaller fish) but, Terry Otto of The Columbian reported Dec. 18, 2019, "Staff from [Washington and Oregon] expressed concern about the fact that the big jack return of 2018, which should have been a sign of a very strong return in 2019, [. . .] did not pan out. [par break] The fact that there were so many jacks that did not survive to spawn means something happened to adult coho in the ocean. Managers can only speculate about the reason. [. . . .] 'Certainly, the ocean has turned a little bit (poor) again in 2019.' said Tucker Jones, the ODFW manager of ocean salmon and Columbia River. 'Climate change is going to make everything more variable and dynamic, so for sure it’s a real possibility.'"  In 2016 The Columbian posted my letter about the climate/salmon issue noting "[In 2015] the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife trucked salmon up low rivers to spawn, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife trucked salmon out of Central Oregon due to warm waters, and California trucked smolts to the ocean."

I will speculate 2019 low runs were due to return of the "blob" impacting ocean feeding, increasing weakened fish' vulnerability to marine predators, and killing more fish from river disease. Specifically, I wrote in a previous post September 1, 2019 about return of the Pacific fish-killing "blob." Scott Sistek's linked katu.com news article reported "Research scientists with NOAA Fisheries note that a new expanse of unusually warm water has quickly grown in much the same way [as in 2014-15], in the same area, to almost the same size -- again [in 2019] stretching from Alaska to California."

Similarly, the Statesman Journal reported "To help the remaining [fall] Chinook spawn, officials have closed the entire North [Oregon] Coast to all salmon angling effective Dec. 13 to 31. [. . . .] [ODFW Biologist Robert] Bradley blamed abnormally dry conditions in Oregon for the spread of the [cryptobia] parasite, which has caused fish deaths in the past but never on this scale."  

In my December 8, 2013 post Dr. David Welch, a world expert on salmon migratory patterns, whom sent maps on coho, chinook, sockeye, and steelhead Pacific Ocean migrations, claimed "global warming" was one of the biggest threats to long-term survival of the Pacific Northwest's iconic fish. This fit what Bob Lackey, Professor of Fisheries at Oregon State University, emailed me: "In a 100 years wild salmon runs south of Canada will be reduced to remnant runs."

A similar nightmare is unfolding in Tasmania. 

One of my Native friends of many years told me in June some tribal elders said this may be the last human generation on Earth so it's time for gratitude for many gifts received, and time to help young people as we can.