2nd straight year of low salmon returns expected: Okanagan Nation Alliance
Published 4:00 pm Friday, June 26, 2026
Members of the Okanagan Nation Alliance collect some of 2024’s record-breaking salmon run in Oliver. No community harvest is expected for the second year in a row due to low returns. (ONA)
The Okanagan Nation Alliance has issued a warning that the returning salmon population is expected to be at incredibly low levels for the second year in a row.
According to the June 23 announcement by the ONA, high water temperatures and low water levels mean that the early estimated return of scwin (sockeye salmon) will be just three to seven per cent of their spawning habitat’s capacity.
“To help protect future generations of salmon, there will be no economic, recreational, or ONA sockeye fish distribution this year,” the ONA said.
At Bonneville Dam south of the border, the current estimate is for less than 100,000 salmon to be counted in 2026. That’s about 40 per cent of the average annual return, and a further drop from the 152,000 recorded at the dam in 2025.
A thermal barrier of high temperature water in the Columbia River in 2025 contributed to the reduced return that year.
The ONA have asked again for those fishing for personal reasons to help and conserve what salmon do make their way up into local waters.
