Save Salmon – IELTS Reading Answers

The Reading Module of the IELTS can be the top-scoring category with diligent practice. To achieve the best results in this section, you must understand how to approach and answer the different Question types in the Reading Module. By solving and reviewing Sample Reading Questions from past IELTS papers, you can ensure that your reading skills are up to the mark.

The Academic passage, ‘Save Salmon’, is a reading passage that appeared in an IELTS Test. Ideally, you should not spend more than 20 minutes on a passage. Let’s see how easy this passage is for you and if you’re able to make it in 20 minutes. If not, try more IELTS reading practice tests from IELTSMaterial.com.

Save Salmon is a part of an IELTS Academic reading test. The question types found in this passage are as follows:

• Short Answer Type Question (Q. 1-4)
• Summary Completion (Q. 5-8)
• Yes/No/Not Given (Q. 9-13)

Reading Passage

Save Salmon

A The Columbia River Basin is North America’s fourth largest, draining about 250,000 square miles and extending throughout the Pacific Northwest and into Canada. There are over 250 reservoirs and around 150 hydroelectric projects in the basin, including 18 main stem dams on the Columbia and its main tributary, the Snake River. The US Army Corps of Engineers operates nine of ten major federal projects on the Columbia and Snake rivers, and Dworshak Dam on the Clearwater River, Libby Dam on the Kootenai River, and Albeni Falls Dam on the Pend Oreille River. The federal projects are a major source of power in the region, and provide flood control, navigation, recreation, fish and wildlife, municipal and industrial water supply, and irrigation benefits.

B The Columbia River Basin provides habitat for five species of salmon (chinook, coho, chum, sockeye and pink), steelhead, shad, smelt and lamprey. Salmon hatch in freshwater rivers and tributaries where they rear for a year or two. They then migrate to and mature in the ocean and return to their place of origin as adults to spawn. Salmon live two to five years in the ocean before returning to spawning areas. A number of factors have contributed to the decline of salmon stocks in the Columbia and Snake River Basin. Overharvesting in the late 1800s into the early 1900s, effects on habitat from farming, cattle grazing, mining, logging, road construction, and industrial pollution, and the complex of tributary and main stem dams all have had an impact. A variety of ocean conditions including currents, pollution, temperature changes, and nutrient base affect salmon survival. Dams clearly have had a significant impact, particularly those that eliminated access to freshwater habitat (preventing adult fish from returning to spawn), and those through which fish passage is provided but at reduced levels from natural conditions.

C The dams impede juvenile and adult migrations to and from the ocean by their physical presence and by creating reservoirs. The reservoirs behind the dams slow water velocities, alter river temperatures, and increase predation potential. Reduced water velocity increases the time it takes juveniles to migrate downstream, higher water temperatures may have adverse effects on juvenile and adult behavior, and predators find prey more easily in slower moving water. The Corps operates a series of eight dams on the lower Columbia and Snake rivers that affect the habitat and migration of salmon. These dams are equipped with adult and juvenile fish passage facilities. Adult fish ladders at all eight lower Columbia and Snake dams were integrated into the design of the dams beginning with Bonneville in 1938. These ladders consist of a series of steps and which provide a gradual upward climb over the dams for returning adults. To steer the adults to the ladders, “attraction” flows at the downstream ladder entrances simulate conditions that would be found at the base of natural waterfalls. The concept has proved effective for adult fish passage.

D Currently, juvenile fish can migrate past the dams by several routes: through the turbine;through the juvenile fish bypass system; or over the dam spillway. Some fish are transported past the dams by barge and truck under the juvenile fish transportation program. At the Dalles Dam, fish are bypassed through the ice and trash sluiceway. The juvenile fish bypass systems in place at seven of the eight lower Columbia and Snake River dams guide fish away from turbines by means of submerged screens positioned in front of the turbines. The juvenile fish are directed up into a gate well, where they pass through orifices into channels that run the length of the dam. The fish are then either routed back out to the river below the dam, which is called “bypassing” or, at the four dams with fish transport facilities, fish can be routed to a holding area for loading on specially equipped barges or trucks for transport downriver. The juvenile bypass systems guide 80 to 90 percent of steelhead salmon and 60 to 70 percent of spring/summer chinook salmon away from the turbines and upward through the bypass channel. This percentage measure is called fish guidance efficiency, and the rates vary from dam to dam. The fish guidance efficiency for fall chinook salmon is about 30 percent.

E Three of the four Snake River dams, and McNary Dam on the Columbia River, have fish transport facilities. At these four dams, juvenile fish that go through the bypass systems can be routed either directly back into the river below the dam, or to holding and loading facilities for loading into barges or trucks for transport. The transport barges and trucks carry the fish past the remaining projects for release below Bonneville dam. River water circulates through the barges allowing the fish to imprint the chemicals and smells of the water during the trip downriver. The barges have a closed-circuit recirculation system which can shut off water intake in case of contamination in the river. They also have pumping systems which can help degas the water in areas where gas supersaturation is a problem.

F The Corps runs the Juvenile Fish Transportation Program in cooperation with National Marine Fisheries Service, and in accordance with the National Marine Fisheries Service hydropower Biological Opinion for salmon. Fifteen to 20 million salmon and steelhead have typically been transported each year over the past several years. The program has come under criticism in recent years from state and tribal fishery agencies and environmental groups, who believe that rather than putting fish in barges, efforts should concentrate on improving in-river migration conditions. Hydropower operations can be modified to improve in-river migration conditions for fish. During the juvenile fish migration seasons, from late March until fall, flows in the river are augmented, and water is spilled at the dams, to aid juvenile migration.

Questions 1- 4

1 How many rivers are mentioned in the first paragraph?

2 How many different kinds of fish are mentioned in the second paragraph?

3 How old are salmon when they return to their place of origin?

4 Apart from ocean conditions and dams, how many factors have contributed to the decline of salmon stocks?

Questions 5- 8

Reservoirs slow down the rate of 5………………… increase 6………………… and encourage predators. Eight dams on the lower Columbia and Snake rivers have 7………………… to cope with these problems. Fish ladders began in 8………………… for the returning adult fish.

Questions 9- 13

9 There are now juvenile fish bypass systems at all of the lower Columbia and Snake River dams.

10 Summer is a better time than autumn for returning Chinook salmon.

11 There are more barges than trucks for juvenile fish.

12 The Juvenile Fish Transport Program has been criticized by three distinct groups lately.

13 Enlarged river flows from late March to fall can help juvenile migration.

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Answers to Save Salmon Reading Answer with Location and Explanations 

1 Answer: five/5

Question type: Short Answer Type Question

Answer location: Paragraph A

Answer explanation: In the first paragraph, it is given that “The Columbia River Basin is North America’s fourth largest… its main tributary, the Snake River…Dworshak Dam on the Clearwater River, Libby Dam on the Kootenai River, and Albeni Falls Dam on the Pend Oreille River.”. This section points out the name of five rivers, namely the Columbia, the Snake, the Clearwater, the Kootenai and the Pend Oreille. Hence, the answer is five/5.

2 Answer: five/5

Question type: Short Answer Type Question

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 1

Answer explanation: In the specified paragraph, it is given that “The Columbia River Basin provides habitat for five species of salmon (chinook, coho, chum, sockeye and pink), steelhead, shad, smelt and lamprey.”. It can be seen that other than the five species of salmon, the writer has included five different types of fishes – salmon, steelhead, shad, smelt and lamprey. Hence, the answer is five/5.

3 Answer: 3 to 7

Question type: Short Answer Type Question

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 2-line 4

Answer explanation: In the mentioned lines, it is specified that “Salmon hatch in freshwater rivers and tributaries where they rear for a year or two. They then migrate to and mature in the ocean and return to their place of origin as adults to spawn. Salmon live two to five years in the ocean before returning to spawning areas.”. From this reference, It can be concluded that when salmon return to their place of origin to spawn they are about 3 to 7 years old as they rear in the rivers for 1-2 years and live in the ocean for 2-5 years. Hence, the answer is 3 to 7.

4 Answer: seven/7

Question type: Short Answer Type Question

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 6

Answer explanation: In the cited line, it is stated that “Overharvesting in the late 1800s into the early 1900s, effects on habitat from farming, cattle grazing, mining, logging, road construction, and industrial pollution, and the complex of tributary and main stem dams all have had an impact.”. Based on this statement, it can be commented that apart from dams and ocean conditions, there are seven factors that contributed to the decline of salmon stocks. They are overharvesting in the late 1800s into the early 1900s, effects on habitat from farming, cattle grazing, mining, logging, road construction, and industrial pollution. Hence, the answer is seven/7.

Tips for Answering the Question Types in the Save Salmon IELTS Reading Passage 

Since now you know the Save Salmon reading answers with its explanation, let us check out some quick tips to answer the 3 question types in the IELTS Reading Answers of Save Salmon.

Short-Answer Questions

Short-answer questions are typically used to test your understanding of the main ideas and supporting details in the passage. They can also be used to test your ability to identify specific information in the passage. To answer short-answer questions correctly, you need to be able to:

• Read the question carefully and understand what it is asking for.
• Identify the keywords in the question.
• Scan the passage for the keywords.
• Read the relevant section of the passage carefully and find the answer.
• Make sure that the answer is one to three words long and is taken directly from the passage.

Summary Completion

IELTS Reading summary completion questions are a type of question that requires you to fill in the gaps in a summary of a passage. The summary is usually provided at the beginning of the question, and the gaps are typically filled in with words or phrases taken directly from the passage. Here are some tips to ace this type of question:

• Understand the task. Read the instructions carefully to make sure you know what you need to do.
• Get a feel for the summary. Skim through the summary to get a general idea of what it is about.
• Predict the type of answer. Read the summary more closely to try to figure out what kind of word or phrase is needed to fill in each blank.
• Eliminate wrong answers. If you are given a list of words or phrases, cross out any that you know are not correct.
• Find the information you need. Scan the text to locate the information that will help you fill in the blanks.

Yes/ No/ Not Given

IELTS Reading Yes/No/Not Given questions are a type of question that requires you to read a passage and then decide whether each statement is true (Yes), false (No), or not mentioned in the passage (Not Given). To answer Yes/No/Not Given questions correctly, you need to be able to:

• Read the statement carefully and understand what it is asking.

• Identify the keywords in the statement.

• Scan the passage for the keywords.

• Read the relevant section of the passage carefully and find the answer.

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