SEATTLE (AP) — Young salmon entering the ocean could see improved ocean conditions off the Washington and Oregon coasts, according to federal scientists.
Researchers said Friday the ocean is more hospitable for salmon several years after an unusually warm water event.
Surveys in 2018 confirmed that tiny animals that stoke the food web were thriving. An important forage fish, anchovies, increased in number.
Subsurface temperatures, however, continued to be warmer than average in some areas. Researchers also found numerous pyrosomes, also called sea pickles, a warm-water animal that is not supposed to be in Northwest waters.
The forecast for Columbia River chinook salmon in 2019 is for below-average returns. Extensive ocean acidification and poorly oxygenated waters also were predicted.
The warm water event, dubbed The Blob, began forming off the West Coast in late 2014 and disrupted the marine food web.