These Are Harmful to Salmon

These are Harmful to Salmon

Wasting Electricity

Riding your bike in

The river

Horse in the Stream

Roads too near the water

Driving in the water

Pollution from lawns and roads Letting your dog play in the water

There are eggs and fish.

Cut Out 3 of the Human Behaviors that Harm Salmon

Paste them on the left

Draw a picture of how you would reduce these harms

Why are the Salmon in Trouble?

The salmon is in danger of becoming extinct. We all must pitch in and help save this fish.

Pollution in the rivers can harm salmon. The natural smell of the river is hidden and replaced with many unnatural smells. The fish are then unable to find their way back to their birth place as a result. The pollution can also decrease the amount of oxygen in the water. The salmon end up suffocating and dying. This pollution comes from things put down storm drains, oil and gas on the streets from cars and trucks and even the chemicals that some people put on their lawns. Washing a car can mean soap will go directly into the river (down the storm drain). The cleaners we use in our homes can also end up in the river.

Trees cut down near streams can be dangerous to salmon. Waterside logging takes away the shade from the streams. Streams can get very hot in direct sunlight. If the water becomes too hot the salmon will die. When too many trees are cut down around a stream the topsoil washes into the stream bed and covers the gravel. Some fish eggs die as a result.

People camping too near the river or driving vehicles into the river can destroy salmon eggs and the habitat the salmon need to grow in. Even riding your bike through the river can hurt the habitat.

Irrigation systems used for pumping water can sometimes sweep up fish and leave them stranded on dry land to die. While dams are good for making electric power they put the salmon at risk. Dams cause a huge backup of water that turns the river into warm, slow moving reservoir lakes. The warm temperatures cause the fish to die. Also, over fishing is causing the salmon numbers to drop.

It is not surprising the salmon is in danger. But there are ways in which we can help the salmon.

Our government can limit the amount of fish that may be caught. Rivers can be being cleaned up. Salmon ladders are built to help fish climb dams. Hopefully, as we become more aware of the salmon’s troubles we can all change the way we live so salmon can live too.

We all need to shrink our footprint.