EWU Professor Making Migration Music

Story by Kevin Davenport of the Idaho Statesman.

What if you could compose music to understand how salmon migrate through rivers? A team of researchers from the University of Idaho and Eastern Washington University have found a way to do just that.

Chinook salmon, such as those that migrate to and from Idaho up the Snake and Columbia rivers, are one of Idaho’s most popular sports fish and integral to the region’s economy, ecology and identity. Understanding in detail their migratory habits is key to understanding how dams and other man-made influences affect their survival and the river ecosystem writ large.