August 2, 2008
Fairbanks, Alaska
Photographer states :: Chena River flooding August 2008
Interior Alaska floods' effect on salmon spawning is unknown (Click on title to entry, thank you.)
By Tim Mowry
Published Monday, August 4, 2008
State fisheries biologists don’t know what kind of effect this week’s flood will have on spawning king salmon in the Chena and Salcha rivers. The flood coincided with the peak of spawning in both rivers.
“Most times when we’ve had floods, they happened later on, after the fish were done spawning,” Dan Bergstrom, the Department of Fish and Game’s regional supervisor for the Yukon River, said. “This year is different because it’s right on top of when they should be spawning.”...
...Female salmon dig holes called reads in the gravel river bottom to lay their eggs in before male fish fertilize them.
Virgil Umphenour, owner of Alaska Interior Fish Processors Inc. in Fairbanks, is worried the eggs will be carried away in the current.
“If you have high water and super fast current, the eggs will just go down the river as she’s laying them,” Umphenour speculated....
Lat/Lon :: 58.8° N 137.0° W
Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m
Time :: 5:05 AM AKDT
Temperature :: 52 °F / 11 °C
Conditions :: Overcast
Humidity :: 88%
Dew Point :: 48 F/ 9 C
Wind :: Calm
Pressure :: 30.25 in / 1024 hPa (Steady)
Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV :: 0 out of 16
Clouds :: Mostly Cloudy 2400 ft / 731 m
Overcast 4400 ft / 1341 m
(Above Ground Level)
Flight Rule:
MVFR (PAGS)
Wind Speed :: 4 mph / 6 km/h / 1.5 m/s
Wind Direction :: 140° (SE)
Ceiling :: 2200 ft / 670 m
