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The road ahead for diadromous fish looks grim. Water pollution, logging, damming, and other habitat destruction is steadily catching up to these animals. Without our help and environmental consciousness, they will not survive.
As we pollute diadromous fishes habitats, their numbers grow smaller
over their generations. Much of this is due to pollution from pesticides, and fertilizers, used to boost the agricultural output of farms close to water. These pollutants leek into waterways, killing the pray of diadromous fish, and/or create large bacterial buildup at deadly amounts.
Pollution
Diadromous fish are suffering from pollution that comes from companies releasing harzordous chemcical by-products into streams, rivers and lakes. Most of the chemcials will kill fish outright, but several simply seep into the skin. It seems like an obvious thing that releasling things like this into a body of water would be a bad idea, but it happens all the time. This problem occurs in all places you can find diadromous fish, other than protected areas. Read about the Clean Water Act from one our ROCK groups.
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Damming
Damming is a huge problem because it blocks the salmons' path on the way upstream or back to the sea. Most dams are too tall for the salmon to jump, causing them to parish before they can reach their birth place and spawn. Over 25% of Alvins die on their way to the sea due to dams, because they cause water flow to slow, and the temperature to rise. Supersaturation of water near dams with nitrogen gas causes a disease for the salmon called gas bubble disease. This is a huge problem for areas such as the Columbia River. Find out more from the ROCK dam group.
Global Warming Global warming has become a more pressing issue each year. The water in the oceans and rivers is starting to get warmer, due to pollution in the ozone layer. This is often reffered to as the Greenhouse effect. Salmon and other diadromous fish cannot survive during their spawning in water with warmer temperatures, therefore many have died. The longer we wait to do something about heavy pollution, the worse it's going to get for everyone.
Related Problem Topics to Diadromous Fish:
Eutrophication - dissolved oxygen levels in water The Safe Drinking Water Act - dirty water and its consequences Oxins and Anoxins - anoxic environ. deadly to fish |
