Idaho Sockeye Salmon Success Could be Blueprint
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Fisheries biologists say strategies used to bring back from the brink of extinction a population of central Idaho sockeye salmon have been so successful they could be used as a blueprint to prevent other extinctions.
Thomas Flagg of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Paul Kline of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game published their findings last month in the journal Fisheries.
Scientists say a key strategy has been maintaining genetic diversity that has resulted in a greater number of sockeye with better survival skills, resulting in more fish returning to Redfish Lake.
About 1,400 endangered sockeye made the 900-mile journey from the Pacific Ocean to the 6,800-foot elevation lake this fall.
That’s more than in any previous year going back nearly six decades.