The Mystery Behind Coho Salmon Deaths: A Tire Chemical Culprit

For decades, Coho salmon have been dying in the urban streams of the Pacific Northwest. These salmon spawn in freshwater, venture to the open seas, and return to their birthplace to spawn again. Researchers noted that many were dying before they could spawn, posing a threat to the species’ survival.

A dedicated team of experts, comprising biologists, modelers, community scientists, and environmental chemists, took on the challenge of discovering the cause. They examined various factors, ruling out obvious ones such as temperature, oxygen levels, and known toxins. Their investigation eventually pointed to chemicals in tires.

The question that remained was: Which specific chemical is responsible? Identifying this could be crucial to saving the Coho salmon from possible extinction.

Listeners interested in more environmental stories or science mysteries can reach out via email at [email protected]. The podcast Short Wave is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Support their work by subscribing to Short Wave+ for an ad-free experience.

This episode was produced by Jessica Yung. The editing was managed by showrunner Rebecca Ramirez, and the facts were verified by Tyler Jones. The audio was engineered by Kwesi Lee.