Spokesman Jason Card said salmon thrive in water temperatures between 5 and 15 C, but for a stretch of nearly two weeks in late August, he said, temperatures hovered between 18 and 21 C. "Temperature spikes are not abnormal, but for that length of time they are," Card said Wednesday morning. No viruses. No threat to human health. Sea lice aren't to blame, said Card, with the dead fish to be rendered into pet food instead of being served in restaurants and at dinner tables — no different than a farmer whose crops are damaged by frost or drought, he said.