Fish die as Alaska temperatures continue to break records

[GliderGuider]

Fish die as Alaska temperatures continue to break records

Hundreds of grayling and rainbow trout died in June after being placed in a Fairbanks lake, the department reported. An unusually cold spring caused lake ice to linger much longer than normal, before the water quickly became too warm, department biologist April Behr said.

Surface temperatures in the lake rose to about 76 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius), she said. The precise number of dead fish was not yet known. "We picked up several hundred," she said.

An estimated 1,100 hatchery king salmon died while returning to a lake to spawn, local public radio station KFSK reported. Fish and Game sport fish biologist Doug Fleming told the radio station that air temperatures were in the 80s at the time.

Wildfires have charred more than a million acres across Alaska, according to state and federal wildfire managers, more than the five-year season-total annual average of 952,113 acres. Some 75 active fires were still burning on Friday, with much of the fire season still to come.

More anyone? In Alaska you don't even need a stove to make it!

[orwell]

1. Nothing to see here citizen...

...please report to room 101.

[GliderGuider]

4. Oh god - not the rats again!

But I'm so happy with the increased chocolate ration! Really!

[adirondacker]

2. Well jees. maybe we should just stock those streams with catfish and plant some citrus orchards.

you KNOW that's what's taking pace in rightwingnuterry minds. :/

[GliderGuider]

3. Yep. It's jus' bidness, after all.

When Mother Nature gives you a lemon, set up a lemonaid stand.

[NoOneMan]

5. Fishing is going to be sad this year

Last year it was sad watching the Springs struggle in the drought, but that may be nothing. This year its the driest since the 50s and today was our first rain in about a month and a half (lasted 10-20 minutes). The Pinks are about 2 weeks late so I wonder if this is all connected. I may cry come Chinook season.

When I take my kids out to fish and watch the runs, its quite poignant; the runs will end in my lifetime. To my children, when they are my age, it will likely be a distant memory of the bounty of the earth. To me, those runs represent life and the health of our environment, which is slowly dying.

Where I am originally from, those runs have been dismal and dying since I was born.

[hatrack]

6. Never a dull Anthropocene moment!

Good thing there's been no warming since 1998, huh?