Warming rivers threaten fly fishing industry in California, across country
California is one of the top fly-fishing destinations of the nation, especially when it comes to wild trout.
But as climate change continues to warm our rivers, the pressure is growing on California's cold-water fish.
The phenomenon is impacting freshwater streams across the country, including the nation's designated "home" for American fly fishing.
"This is ground zero, right here. You're standing in it," said fly fishing guide Brian Sheppard, as he stood with me in the historic Beaver Kill River in New York's Catskill Mountains.
"It's not really about the fish. It's actually about introducing people to a way that their life can improve, and we try to expose them to the magic of this place so that they'll save it," recounted the guide.
Rivers everywhere are in trouble. Recent research published in Nature found 87% of rivers studied across the U.S. and Europe are warming, with 70% losing oxygen.
"What climate change does is it's starving the oxygen out of the water. It's raising the water temperature. And it's killing off trout," remarked Sheppard, adding that he did not know for how much longer he would be working as a fly fishing guide.
Sheppard is part of a $100 billion U.S. fly fishing industry, but warming water means fewer fish during peak tourism season.
"When they hit mid to high 60 range, it becomes kind of fatal to the trout if you catch them, and nowadays we're hitting that for two to three months out of the year in the middle of summer," said Sheppard.
"It's a really beautiful place and a really interesting river," said Jeff Skelding. Skelding is the executive director of Friends of the Upper Delaware River.
He said fewer fish to catch is hurting the local fishing-tourism economy.
"If you go to the museums around here, you'll see pictures of people catching hundreds and hundreds of brook trout out of these streams. That has changed, you're not going to do that anymore," noted Skelding.
He says over generations, rivers here have lost flow because of sediment buildup and the construction of dams. That leads to stagnant water -- which heats up in the sun, along with the fish in it.
"The problems that these rivers are experiencing are not very different than we see in many, many other parts of the country," said Skelding.
To cool the river down, Skelding's nonprofit group is working to restore the flow – which will help more than just the fish.
"All kinds of recreational activities, increasingly, are supporting the economies of these communities," he explained.
For Sheppard, it's something worth protecting as the changing climate changes his industry.
Experts are urging anglers to take steps to protect fisheries and encourage conservation efforts, including taking steps to reduce each individual's carbon footprint.
