Dead Sturgeon & AFBF Hopefuls

Dead Sturgeon & AFBF Hopefuls

Dead Sturgeon & AFBF Hopefuls. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

With the announcement earlier this week that AFBF President Bob Stallman would be stepping down there are now reports of candidates that will be seeking his post including, Georgia Farm Bureau President  Debbie Duvall, Indiana Farm Bureau President Don Villwock , Arizona Farm Bureau President Kevin Rogers and current AFBF Vice President Barry Bushue of Oregon. The new AFBF President will be elected to a two year term at the 97th annual meeting of voting delegates during the group's convention in January.

I mentioned the other day that water temps in rivers may be causing stress and potential deadly conditions for fish. Well that seems to be the likely cause in the Columbia where wildlife officials have counted at least 66 dead sturgeon.Olaf Langness, a state fish and wildlife biologist says there are a number of other factors to look at.

LANGNESS: There's been a failure to spawn. That's one stressor. In addition to that abnormally high temperatures, especially for this time of year combined with low flows, probably lower dissolved oxygen levels are other stressors that are affecting them.

Plus Langness says there is an abundance of food so the dead fish have been found to have full stomachs of salmon. All combined it has been a deadly combination for sturgeon who can live up to 100 years.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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