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+--- Thread: The West’s megadrought has ruined some of the most iconic trout fishing (sports) (/thread-10680.html)
The West’s megadrought has ruined some of the most iconic trout fishing (sports) - C C - Jul 24, 2021
https://gizmodo.com/the-west-s-megadrought-has-ruined-some-of-the-most-icon-1847352465
EXCERPTS: . . . In a statement, park officials said temperatures in some of Yellowstone creeks’ and rivers have surpassed 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) and that water levels are approaching “approaching historic lows.” Since things aren’t expected to exactly get chilly any time soon—highs in the park could be in the mid-80s this weekend and another heat dome is building—these circumstances are probably not going to improve much for the time being.
Yellowstone National Park has a catch and release regulations for all native fish, meaning the fish must be returned to the streams unharmed. But this, officials say, can still put the already stressed-out fish under even more duress, so it’s best to avoid removing them from the water during the hottest part of the day.
[...] This isn’t just bad news for the fish themselves. It can also throw off food chains. Studies show that as cutthroat trout populations in the park dwindled, populations of river otters, which eat cutthroat trout, declined as well.
It’s not just Yellowstone’s fish populations that have been having a hard time in the West this summer. This week, Montana instated new fishing restrictions [...] In California, officials hatched a plan to drive 17 million chinook salmon from hatcheries in the Central Valley to the sea because the hot and dry conditions made it untenable for them to swim downstream. ... nearly every young chinook along the Sacramento River could perish anyway. The state of Colorado has asked that people refrain from fishing along a 120-mile (193-kilometer) stretch of the Colorado River ... In Utah, lawmakers have taken the opposite and much bleaker approach, doubling the catch limit for trout since many are expected to die due to low water levels anyway. The West’s sad state of fishing affairs is a reminder that climate change’s impacts are manifold... (MORE - details)