Salmon Reproduce In San Joaquin River For First Time In 60 Years

FRESNO (AP) -- Scientists are seeing promising signs that salmon can thrive in a restored California river.

The Fresno Bee reports Chinook salmon successfully spawned, laying eggs in the San Joaquin River that incubated and hatched into tiny fry as the sexually mature fish died, part of the species' unusual life cycle.

Biologists working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's San Joaquin River Restoration Project began catching the juvenile fish in traps in November and December.

It was the first time in 60 years that spring-run Chinook successfully reproduced in the San Joaquin, which for years has remained one of the nation's most endangered rivers.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.