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Because the California drought has had a significant impact on the salmon population throughout the state, environmentalists are taking drastic measures to save the species of fish. In a partnership between the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), 20,000 fertilized salmon eggs were injected into the Feather River’s gravel hatchery.
The experiment, which began on December 4th, is the first time biologists have utilized egg injection technology to combat the California drought that has negatively impacted a number of fish populations.
“Combined with state of the art DNA analysis currently used to select salmon for breeding at a few advanced hatcheries, injecting high quality, non-hatchery eggs could reduce harm to wild stocks in the next drought,” said John McManus, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association.
GSSA believes egg injection could offset the salmon loses associated with high summer flows and low fall flows. Whenever reservoir releases are sharply curtailed, eggs are often moved from underwater, where they thrive at low temperatures, to above water, high temperatures, which kill them.
Based on previous egg injections in Oregon and Alaska, it is estimated that between 10 to 40 percent of the injected eggs will hatch.
