Ocean Conditions Favor Return of West Coast Salmon Fishery

A flush of chilly water from the Gulf of Alaska is nurturing a dramatic turnaround in ocean conditions off the Oregon coast this year, according to a report in yesterday's Oregonian.

That's good news for the West Coast salmon fishery, which was subject to an unprecedented closure this year due to the collapse of the Sacramento River salmon population.

Unusually warm ocean conditions, especially off Northern California in 2005, delayed the upwelling of nutrients, and the ocean food chain collapsed, leaving young salmon little to eat.

"This will be the year that saves a lot of fisheries," Bill Peterson, an oceanographer based at the National Marine Fisheries Service's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore., told the newspaper yesterday.

However, scientists cautioned that it will take some time for the Sacramento River salmon population to rebound. Because salmon live at sea for more than a year, fish benefiting from this year's resurgence won't return to their home rivers in California and Oregon right away, Peterson said. Next year, though, coho returns should be strong, followed by chinook returns in 2010.

"All the signs are there for a recovery of salmon stocks," he said, describing his outlook as "guardedly optimistic."

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