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Royal Chinook Salmon

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With the influx of human population immigrating to Pacific Northwest Region of the United States at the end of the 19th century, extracting the natural goods of the environment quickly became an issue of sustainability and preservation. In the State of Washington Ninth Annual Report of the State Fish Commissioner of 1898, author A.C. Little illustrates how the extractive actions along many of Washington’s river systems are resulting in a major depletion of salmon species unique to the Northwest. Little’s Report aimed to bring attention to over consumption of this finite resource that was not only intrinsically valuable to many people within the region but was also a very successful economic engine too value to deplete. The booming fishing industry, …show more content…

Little claims that fish like the Royal Chinook Salmon, which found market value at about four to six cents per pound, sells better than any other salmon. However poor fishing practices can lead to this high valued commodity to be lost1. Little’s report consistently pushes for more regulation and state action on illegal fishing. Yet the fishing industry had been formulated in a system where the foundation of regulation was weak. Patrolling the local waters of the state was not sufficient enough at the end of the 19th century to truly prevent serve damage to fish populations. In Lissa Wadwitz’s article Labor, Mobility and Environment in the Transnational West, She outlines that the prominence of State Fish and Game Enforcement was limited as they only had one patrol boat with a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour prior to 19112. To produce a productive, sustainable fishing economy, this was a determent to the longevity of economy of the …show more content…

Little’s Ninth Annual Report of the State Fish Commissioner of 1898, may not have immediately propagated change in the region toward salmon fish restoration, but the argument laid out in the report provides that the recommendations provided were only to benefit all parties. From the transnational fishing industry, to the individual livelihood of the local fishermen, along with the improvement salmon spawning population, finally paired with ultimate sustainable harvest practices, would piece together to support and improve all entities of the Pacific Northwest’s salmon fishing economic engine. Little’s report sought took into account the diversity reaction that his recommendations may propagated, and worked to pair all parties to illustrate that the ultimate outcome was to support a society at the brink of developing into a major economic center of the western United States. At the end of the 19th century sustainable salmon practice held a significant share in the progress of Washington State, Little only sought to prove that salmon restoration and sustainable practices could provide a prosperous future for the

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