(Portland, OR) -- Officials say warmer waters are having a major effect on the sockeye salmon population in the Columbia River. It's estimated that more than a quarter-million sockeye returning to the Columbia and its tributaries from the ocean to spawn are either dead or dying. Federal and state fisheries biologists told KOIN-TV that at least half of this year's returning sockeye population is being wiped out, because of water that's five to six degrees warmer than normal.