The Steady Decline of Salmon Populations

For over one hundred years the salmon population in the Columbia Basin has been drastically decreasing, due to overfishing and man made obstacles. The Columbia Basin Fish Accords have given a one billion dollar grant to tribes and states for habitat restoration projects. However, the conflict still rages between the native tribes of the area, and the federal government whose roadblocks such as dams prohibit the free flowing rivers that bring salmon back to the spawning grounds. The effort to keep salmon coming back up the river while keeping the dams intact is the struggle that the federal grant hopes to solve.

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,

Prior NPRB projects have laid an important foundation outlining the effects climate change on Pink salmon in Alaska. A previous study has detailed the influence that biological, environmental and genetic factors had on the timing of Pink salmon migration (PI: Tallmon, project 1110), allowing us to support these data by testing, in a laboratory setting, the relative influence of specific climate change-related stressors on developmental rate, affecting out migration timing. Understanding environmental factors that influence overall performance of a species is critical to determining the susceptibility of that species to shifting habitat conditions. The proposed research will fill a gap of understanding regarding Pink salmon’s specific sensitivity

In this paper I will examine two diverse articles in an attempt to understand species-specific response to change. The first article focuses on species change from a broader point of view, looking at feeding ecology and trophic dynamics in a variety of Pacific salmon species. The second article presents a more in-depth analysis, researching the thermal tolerance of Sockeye Salmon specifically.

Chinook salmon (known by its scientific name as Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is the largest species out of the Pacific salmon genus, with an individual chinook measured over 120 pounds (fishwatch.gov, 2014). Often known by the name as “king salmon”, it is one of the most expensive salmons as this species of the Pacific salmon is not abundant in North America. This salmon is originated in rivers ranging from Central California to northwest Alaska, but can also be found outside the United States such as in northern Pacific countries such as Canada, Russia, and Japan. They often live in oceans, but are spawned and born in freshwater rivers and streams (fishwatch.gov, 2014). According to the NOAA Fisheries, the United States currently has more than 20 stocks within the range between Central California to northwest Alaska. Population ranges varies within region—with rates of decline, growth, and constant of Chinooks in Alaska (fishwatch.gov, 2014), while non-Alaskan Chinooks in the Pacific Northwest are currently facing rates of decline (Peery, Kavanagh, and Scott, 2003). In terms of the current status of endangerment/threatened, it varies within region in parallel with population rate. The Chinook salmon from Alaska are considered healthy and none of them have yet been listed in the Endangered Species Act (fishwatch.gov, 2014). On the other hand, those in the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers are currently face being endangered, while Chinooks living in the California Central Valley

Commercial fishing boats are pushing to catch as many Atlantic salmon as they can after a net pen broke near Washington's Cypress Island. Fishermen reported thousands of the non-native fish jumping in the water or washing ashore. The pen, in the state's northwestern San Juan Islands, contained about 305,000 Atlantic salmon. Environmentalists are concerned that the escaped Atlantic salmon could potentially mate and crossbreed with the Pacific salmon or compete with them for food but they are not completely sure what the ramifications will be. Now, owner Cooke Aquaculture and the Washington department of fish and wildlife are trying to determine how many escaped. The director of the wild fish conservancy northwest, Kurt Beardslee , called the

While it is not entirely known how salmon manage to navigate treacherous waters to return to the place they are born, research shows that changes in the water have affected the way they perceive the world around them, and could greatly impact the way that salmon

In Los Angeles, at least 20% of fishes died from stormwater runoff. Who’s next? Repeatedly, stormwater runoff has indicated its negative consequences. From the bacteria in feces, to the chemical waste, stormwater has been made a hazard to all life on earth. Platypi, fish, frogs, and other marine life are in an immediate danger by the pollution. The pollution consisted of fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci, which are bacterias in organism waste. In addition, there 's lawn pesticides, and motor oils that are deadly. Water inundates humankind, making this an unavoidable conflict. However, creative solutions of managing the runoff has been proved successful. The solution appears as a green infrastructure, defined as a network system that helps manage water, or in this case, stormwater runoff. On the other hand, there has been recommendations of using public awareness as a solution, but this is only a key factor to a larger concept. In her article, “Water Works” Cynthia Barnett conveys how using these creative solutions such as the green infrastructure, is considerably more beneficial than the traditional ways of reducing water all together. She suggests that living differently with water, compared to reducing water, will benefit the nation greatly in their water dilemma. In addition, she believes that the pollution of stormwater harms Pacific killer whales, coho, and salmon. In agreement, I also believe that the pollution threatens the marine life. Hence, the management of

If you are like most people, you are picturing a perfect environment where fish swim together in clear water being fed pellets by a local fish farmer in waders. This is a lie. The reality is that up to 2 million salmon are packed into tiny cages where the stressed fish desperately try to find some relief by jumping out of the water (Mercola, 2016). What is worse is that up to a quarter of the fish in any given salmon farm

Scenario: In the community of Campbell River, British Columbia (the salmon capital of the world), concerns have been raised with regards to the issue of overfishing. Some members of the community do not believe the fishing industry should continue; however, they might not fully understand the political/economic/environmental implications of this decision upon others in the community. As a result, the mayor of Campbell River has decided to hold a town hall to listen to the various viewpoints of those affected by the fishing industry. They have invited the BC Supreme Court to hold a ruling to decide whether or not salmon fishing will continue among the coastal provinces.

Salmon are semelparous animals, meaning they only spawn once in a lifetime. The fish then quickly deteriorate and die. Not being able to adapt to the freshwater after being in the saltwater ocean for so long.

Lou Gonzales, of Sonora, recently returned from a salmon fishing trip to the Kenai River in Alaska, near Soldotna. Due to low return numbers, the Kenai River had been closed to the taking of king (chinook) salmon for the past few years. Gonzales was amazed at how good the fishing was since the closure. Gonzalez and friends released over 30 kings during the trip, keeping the biggest of the allowable one per day limit, which weighed 48 and 50-pounds. Numerous silver (coho) salmon were also caught. While on the Kenai, the friend with whom he was fishing had a rule - to release kings under 30-pounds. Gonzales has been there on trips in the past, but never saw it quite this good. A few years back, he caught a huge king in the 70-pound class. The

Over the past 25 years, Atlantic salmon has become one of the endangered species among the red list. The problem first occurred at Penobscot river. Initially, 75% of the whole country’s Atlantic salmon population lived there, but now, less than 5% remain. The main reason that leads to the rapid decline of Atlantic salmon to the state of extinction is due to overfishing which begins from 1950. As the decline in salmon population became evident, farming of salmon began in 1980 and fishing stopped in 1990. Furthermore, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) decided to step in and rectify this problem when they realized the seriousness of this issue. They spent 7.3 million into American Recovery and reinvestment Act (ARRA) to rebuild

Though overfishing and lack of proper fisheries management has left much of the world in a critical situation, that’s not the case everywhere. Alaska’s fisheries are some of the most environmentally friendly and economically booming businesses in the world. Every year fishermen harvest hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of fish and shellfish from their waters. Fishery managers have created a system that successfully creates abundant annual fishing seasons that practically eliminates overfishing and environmental destruction. Under Alaska’s sustainable-fishing rules, which are some of the strictest in the world, these rules help prevent the overfishing that has brought ocean’s elsewhere to near catastrophe. Permit systems and reserves helped

The cycle starts in the upper river where the slow current allows deposition of salmon eggs below the aquatic vegetation called reeds, usually underneath small pebbles. In here, they will spend the first 5 to 6 months until they are ready to hatch into small baby salmons known as “fry.” After which, they travel to the fast flowing area of the lower river where they will stay for the next 4 years.