The Weather Notebook: Not Fishy Enough

Not Fishy Enough
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Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and you're listening to The Weather Notebook. The current drought in the Northeast is the worst that residents have seen in over forty years. Some people don't have access to simple drinking water and others can't take showers. People though, are not the only ones affected.

Joan Trial is the Senior Biologist for the Atlantic Salmon Commission in the State of Maine. Most of the country's Atlantic Salmon in the U.S. spawn in the Penobscot river. Trial says that the severe shortage of rain in 2001 will likely put a dent in the Salmon population beginning with egg incubation.

JT: The Atlantic Salmon bury their eggs in the gravel and it's important that water move through that gravel to carry away the metabolic waste as the eggs are developing.

Less water means that the eggs aren't cleaned and so they die. And, low levels in streams mean less habitat for the fish.

JT: Atlantic Salmon are territorial. They each take up residence near a rock, we call it a home stone, and they defend an area around that that gives them enough space to find food. As you reduce the amount of water in the stream, you reduce the amount of area that is wetted and you reduce the number of spaces for salmon. So, they'll be more crowded, there'll be more aggressive displays and eventually you end up with just fewer fish in the area.

This makes the fish eggs more vulnerable to die off as the ice closes in. JT: As it gets cold and the water freezes it can freeze down into the gravel and obviously, that would kill the eggs as well.

That's Joan Trial, Senior Biologist for the State of Maine's Atlantic Salmon Commission., talking about the drought in that state. Special Thanks today go to Assistant Producer Doug Sanborn. The Weather Notebook is generously funded by the National Science Foundation and Subaru of America.