Canada’s largest salmon fishery, on the Fraser River, could become the first tangible casualty of climate change, according to a new report prepared for the Canadian government by a group of scientists, academics, and bureaucrats. Temperatures in the Fraser River have been gradually rising for years, and if temperatures rise even a degree or two more, most spawning fish could be killed, the report predicts. The Fraser River fishery, which accounts for 60 percent of commercial fishing revenue in British Columbia, was closed for the first time last summer after only 3 million salmon made the run, down from an expected 8.2 million. Auditor-General Denis Desautels warned in a separate report last month that the Fraser fishery may have to be shut down to ensure its long-term survival, and he cited global warming as one of the factors threatening the fishery.
