The Price of Power: Turbines Decimate Salmon Fry
Early experiments at the University of Washington reveal the deadly toll of hydroelectric turbines on young Columbia River salmon.
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Experiments made at the College of Fisheries at the University of Washington to ascertain the effect of a trip through a turbine wheel on salmon fry showed that about 60 percent of the tiny fish were killed, according to Dr. John N. Cobb, dean of the college. The experiment, which was witnessed by a number of power plant engineers and representatives of the State Department of Fisheries, was the first of a series that Dr. Cobb will conduct to ascertain the effects of hydroelectric power plant operations on the salmon fisheries of the Columbia River and on the proposed Priest River projects. One hundred and fifty-eight of the young salmon, about an inch and a half long, were sent through a miniature turbine wheel erected by the college students. This summer and next fall the college will make similar experiments with real turbines and also will send young salmon over power dams to ascertain how they stand the rough treatment.
“Experiments... showed that about 60 per cent of the tiny fish were killed.”
This 1924 experiment foreshadowed the century-long struggle to balance Columbia River hydroelectric power with the survival of Pacific salmon. Decades later, the environmental cost of these dams remains a defining political and ecological crisis for the Pacific Northwest.
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