Earlier this month, Fresno welcomed 448 members of the Salmonidae family to town. … The 448 adult salmon represent a milestone for the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, marking the highest number of captured returns since spring-run juveniles were reintroduced to the river system in 2014 following the 2008 legal settlement that modified the operations of Friant Dam to provide minimum flows for native fish. … Most of this year’s bumper crop were trapped in fyke nets placed downstream of the Eastside Bypass Control Structure in Merced County. (Some made their way upstream to Sack Dam until being captured.) After being placed into tanks with oxygenated, temperature-controlled water, the salmon were trucked 120 miles then examined and measured before being released back into the river in northwest Fresno. … What measures are taken to ensure nearly 450 adult salmon residing on the outskirts of a city of 547,000 people remain undisturbed until they can reproduce? The short answer is enforcement and education.
–Written by Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski.

Other salmon news:

• The Hill: Trump rejects Biden-era agreement on Pacific Northwest salmon restoration
• Outdoor Life: Blog: We had a workable plan to recover the Northwest’s salmon runs. The Trump administration just shut it down