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Recent high tides and brief mid-September rains gave some Eel River salmon a fleeting chance to move closer to their spawning grounds. But a lack of adequate flows on the river is causing many fish to fall ill as they crowd within small pools for weeks at a time, according to a recent survey by the Eel River Recovery Project.

In an email to the Times-Standard, Wiyot Tribe Natural Resources Director Stephen Kullmann said the low-flow conditions on the Eel River are exposing these salmon to disease, predation, and poor quality water as they await adequate flows to move upriver.

“Agencies need to emphasize restoration projects in the estuary to ensure quality holding habitat,” he wrote. “Furthermore, water diversions of all types urgently need to be addressed to return Eel River flows to natural levels.”

Eel River Recovery Project board member and local kayak guide Eric Stockwell had surveyed these small pools near Fernbridge earlier last week where he saw about 200 fish harboring in an algae-filled pool that was only four feet deep — almost four times shallower than their normal cold-pool refuges.

Read the full story at Eureka Times-Standard >>

Read more about West Coast salmon >>

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