Dead juvenile Chinook salmon have been found on sections of the lower Klamath River and near the Oregon-California border. Scientists believe the deaths are caused by parasites that are proliferating because of the low winter snowpack and warm spring temperatures. “We’re seeing dead and dying fish,” Sascha Hallett, a fish parasitologist and associate professor at Oregon State University’s Department of Microbiology, said. … Hallett said studies indicate the die-offs are being caused by a parasite, Ceratonova shasta. She said OSU researchers, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, tribes, and other agencies, believe the low winter snowpack and warmer than average spring temperatures accelerated the proliferation of the parasites, which thrive in warm, slow-moving water and attack the intestinal lining of young salmon.

Other anadromous fish news:

• Karuk Tribe: News release: Klamath River recovery is underway, but the river still needs time, water, and healing
• Law360: Legal alert: Tribe says Klamath water plan shorted salmon for irrigation
• The Daily Journal (San Mateo, Calif.): Pillar Point Harbor fishers say salmon harvests are slow
• Center for Biological Diversity: News release: ​Court upholds Southern California steelhead protections