The Delta in Decline

The life cycle of a salmon, so the story goes, is a heroic journey. The fish emerge from fertilized eggs in a river bed, swim to the ocean where they spend most of their lives and return to give birth in the exact place where they were born.

The reality in California is more complicated. Many salmon are born in hatcheries — government fish farms. Hatchery salmon are often transported and released near the ocean to avoid the substandard water conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its tributaries.