SACRAMENTO — Nearly one million young salmon are being released this week into flooded rice fields near the Yolo Bypass. The project is a partnership with stakeholders from the Bridge Group and the Coleman National Fish Hatchery.
The juvenile fish, called salmon fry, will spend several weeks growing in the shallow fields. After that, they will swim into the Sacramento River and begin their trip to the Pacific Ocean.
The effort is based on scientific research showing flooded rice fields can help young Chinook salmon grow and survive. A study published in the journal PLOS ONE says much of the natural floodplain habitat salmon once used in California has been lost.
From 2013 to 2016, researchers studied young fall-run Chinook salmon raised in winter-flooded rice fields in the Yolo Bypass. They compared the fish to salmon growing in the Sacramento River. Scientists tested different conditions, including leftover rice plants, deeper water areas and how quickly the fields were drained. Most changes did not make much difference. Draining the fields quickly helped more fish survive…