Here’s yet another article highlighting the recent demise of pacific salmon The most alarming figures come form the Fraser river, where only 1.37 million sockeye returned from a predicted 10.5 million.
By EarthTalk
Dec 19, 2009 – 12:45:44 PM
(HealthNewsDigest.com) – West coast salmon runs have been in decline for decades, stemming largely from the damming of rivers and the pollution throughout the fish’s extensive range from freshwater mountain streams to deep offshore ocean currents. Analysts estimate that only 0.1 percent of the tens of millions of salmon that used to darken rivers every summer and fall up and down the West Coast before white settlement still exist.
Particularly worrisome is the accelerated downward trend in the last few years, signaling that some populations just may not be able to cope with fast-changing climatic conditions heaped on top of other existing pressures. But others suggest that the health of some of the region’s salmon populations—such as bountiful pink salmon off of Oregon and Washington and still thriving Alaskan runs—shows that with proper management we may be able to retain lively populations of both wild salmon and fishers.
via HealthNewsDigest.com.