An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife tanker truck crashed while carrying 102,000 captive-bred spring Chinook salmon smolt, sending 77,000 of them into the wrong waterway.
The agency raised the smolt as part of a plan to mitigate reduced salmon populations due to hydropower generation. The smolts were intended for release into the Imnaha River.
At about 10:30 a.m. Friday, the truck carrying the fish overturned on a sharp corner and went over an embankment before ultimately rolling onto its roof, according to the New York Times.
The truck and its payload of fish and water weighed around 80,000 pounds.
The crash happened alongside Lookingglass Creek, which feeds into the Grande Ronde River, officials said.
The driver suffered minor injuries but was otherwise safe. For 25,529 fish, on the other hand, the crash meant death. The dead fish were recovered from the tanker and the riverbank.
Their 77,000 siblings escaped into the creek, which means that they will ultimately return there at the end of their life cycle in 2026 and 2027. There will be about 350 to 700 additional adult salmon in Lookingglass Creek when that happens, officials said.
Conversely, there are expected to be 500 to 900 fewer adult fish returning to the Imnaha River at that time. The 102,000 lost smolts represent around 20% of the salmon that will be released into the river this year.
“We are thankful the ODFW employee driving the truck was not seriously injured. This should not impact our ability to collect future brood stock or maintain full production goals in the future,” ODFW Fish Hatchery Coordinator for Eastern Oregon Andrew Gibbs said in a statement.