How sensitive are wild salmon to climate change?

 

Restoration at Sal Creek on Prince of Wales Island in 2006.
By restoring altered salmon habitat, such as this Harris River tributary on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska, the Conservancy is helping wild salmon populations become more resilient to climate change.
© U.S. Forest Service

Wild salmon are especially sensitive to changes in stream temperature. As temperatures rise, salmon become more vulnerable to pollution, predation and disease. Already, evidence shows some streams are warming. Current climate models show that stream temperatures and stream flows are changing throughout the range of wild Pacific salmon.

Wild salmon are better able to resist disease in cooler waters. Temperature also affects salmon egg and fry incubation, fish metabolism, and the availability of oxygen and nutrients.  

At the same time, wild salmon are also very resilient. They have evolved to survive in a dynamic natural world. But the facts show humans are accelerating the rate of change in the earth’s natural systems. If these changes occur more quickly than salmon have evolved to be able to adapt, changes in conditions – such as stream temperature – can overwhelm their robust capacity to deal with environmental change.  

Read the Climate Change Fact Sheet.