Home / Siskiyou News / Nearly Half Million Salmon Fry Released into Klamath River as Dam Removal Stirs Controversy

Nearly Half Million Salmon Fry Released into Klamath River as Dam Removal Stirs Controversy

On Tuesday, April 16, joined by leaders from the Karuk, Yurok, Shasta Indian Nation and the Quartz Valley Indian tribes, CDFW released about 90,000 yearling coho salmon.

The following day, April 17, CDFW released more than 400,000 fall-run Chinook salmon fry from the same location below Iron Gate. A total of approximately 500,000 juvenile salmon into the Klamath River just below the Iron Gate Dam were successfully released, It was the first major release of coho salmon, a state and federally listed threatened species, into the Klamath River since dam removal began in earnest late last year.

As the Klamath enters a new era, all eyes will be on the salmon, and whether they can navigate a river still recovering from a century of human impacts. The next few years will be critical in determining if the Klamath can reclaim its legacy as a major salmon-producing waterway and whether the salmon fry released will beat the odds and find their way back to their native waters.

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