As temperatures rise every year, the climate change debate continues to heat up as it affects many areas of life around the world—even fishing.

Jeff Renner, the former meteorologist for KING 5, came to Bainbridge Island Jan. 30 to discuss how climate change affects the Pacific Northwest and fly fishers. “The major impacts we see here are hotter, drier summers, wetter, autumns and winters, increased erosion, and also pollution impacts,” said Renner, who retired in 2016 after 39 years at that TV station.

Renner said a study shows that by 2041, average temperatures could rise six degrees. Therefore, summers that have reached up to 90 degrees can be pushing triple digits in another 20 years. Salmon and other fish will not be able to withstand that.

“They’re less likely to fight off parasites disease. They’re less likely to be able to escape predation. And their reproductive success is also going to be diminished,” Renner said. “You’re going to be looking at favorable temperatures shrink considerably over the Cascades and also over the Olympics and disappear almost entirely along the Washington coast.”

In addition, salmon will begin to deposit eggs into the mid-channel of rivers since it would be more oxygenated cold water. However, laying them mid-channel will have side effects that can affect their population. “You got heavy flows and the atmospheric rivers are just playing heavy rainfall,” Renner said. “The velocity is greatest at mid-channel so it’s going to be scouring those redds.”

Also, there will be droughts, and rivers will diminish. Renner discussed how rivers have become “irrigation ditches. That concerns me in terms of the humanitarian impact, in terms of people needing water.”

If rivers diminish, fish will lose their homes and migrate elsewhere, he said. The ripple effect will continue as fires begin to grow across the Northwest too. In recent years, this area has seen its largest wildfires and was ranked as having the worst air quality in the world at one point last summer.

The issues continue to pile up as the weather tries to make up for its dry spells. Atmospheric rivers, which are large regions that transport moist air from the tropics to higher altitudes, will become more common. Although the Northwest could use rainfall to combat droughts and wildfires, Renner said the cost of atmospheric rivers and the amount of them are worrisome.

“Climate change is projected to increase atmospheric river flood damages in the United States,” Renner said. “It’s going to increase the severity of them and as a result, increased flood damage from it.”

The damage from atmospheric rivers has cost the Northwest billions of dollars and is expected to have significant financial damage from the heavy rainfall that recently hit California. Projections show the damage can be around $2 billion by 2090.

Even though climate change has affected wildlife, Renner believes it is not too late to help fight climate change. He stated that science has not officially backed climate change is incurable but it gets closer every year.

However, he did explain a few quick ways to combat the rise of climate change and keep fly fishing alive in the Northwest., “We can preserve floodplains and restore floodplains,” Renner said. “We can have a lot of influence on reducing runoff from impervious sources and know better urban or non-urban planning.“