8. As a nutrient recycler, the Chinook Salmon is an essential part of its ecosystems by bringing new nutrients upstream. Their important transportation of nutrients
(Mule, 2017)
(Cessati, 2016)
(Kremer, 2017).
6. 68,000 jobs in the U.S. can be attributed to the economic contribution of the national fisheries program. The total economic impact of tax dollars invested in national fisheries program is $3.6 billion (Net Worth The Economic Value of Fisheries Conservation, 2011).
7. Salmon are the only species that brings nutrients back up to the rivers and creeks. This is especially important in the Central Valley because this nutrients goes directly into the soil and the plants that grow our food. Without this nutrients, the plants would not grow as fast or be as healthy. The trees that benefit from this nutrients sequester carbon through photosynthesis which helps to fight climate change. The Central Valley is one of the most productive, fertile agricultural regions on the planet. It produces almost all the almonds, olives, walnuts, pistachios, grapes, strawberries, avocados, carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce in the county. The economic worth of the milk and cattle in the Central Valley alone is $13.1 billion. To lose the chinook salmon in this region would mean causing a detrimental decrease in crop production, rippling to all Americans and affecting our economy greatly (Sofer, 2016).
"In a pine tree behind me, an eagle waits out the rain, hunched into himself, brooding. Crows squabble, a murder chasing a raven. Seals cruise the lines of fishing nets bobbing in the water, hoping for an easy meal, the tender bellies of salmon."
-Eden Robinson
(Jones, 2014)
(Jones, 2014)
Call For Action
So Why Save the Chinook Salmon?
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The most simple, yet often overlooked reason, is that chinook salmon is a species of the earth, and have a right to life just as much as any other creature here. We need to take action on protecting this species as they are vulnerable because of our reckless actions.
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Chinook salmon are an important part of the economy and contribute in an incomparable way to our financial market. In 2013, each salmon caught in-river was worth an economic impact of approximately $1,176. This value is because of the jobs, sales, gross regional product, and ripple effects salmon has on the economy, without it, there is a great gap in economic prosperity. (The Fish Report, 2014).
Below are the top nine reasons we believe that chinook salmon should be saved before they become extinct in the Columbia River and Central Valley.
(Bhowmik, 2017)
"I always think of the Pacific Northwest as giant trees and rain and clouds and dampness, like the Native American art from that area. That all says Pacific Northwest to me. Salmon. It really only exists on the Western side of the Cascades."
-Kyle MacLachlan
3. Losing salmon would be detrimental to the economy, especially on the coasts as the regional economic impact of commercial salmon in 2013 in California alone was $244 million dollars (The Fish Report, 2014).
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4. Washington relies on wildlife for economic prosperity with $1.1 billion coming from sports fishing, and $3.8 coming from commercial fishing. Without healthy salmon populations, Washington state would suffer a great deal economically (Olsen, 2006).
5. The western U.S. reared and released 12 million chinook salmon to support fisheries in California. In the Sacramento River alone, salmon fishing is valued at over $100 million annually, and yet they are endangered here (Net Worth The Economic Value of Fisheries Conservation, 2011).
upstream feeds the surrounding trees and plants which provide us with clean air. Chinook themselves are the essential prey in many predators lives. Primary mammals such as the bald eagle and the grizzly bear depend on the return of salmon upstream to obtain food to survive. But with the population quickly decreasing, so are the dependent food sources. This rippling effect can cause entire food webs to collapse through the lack of nutrients and scarce food sources for predators.
9. Chinook salmon are a major part of the culture for tribes from the Pacific Northwest. Antone Minthorn, a member of the Umatilla tribe stated: “The importance of the first salmon ceremony has to do with the celebration of life, of the salmon as subsistence, meaning that the Indians depend upon the salmon for their living” (CRITFC, 2017). To this day the Umatilla tribe partners with the state of Oregon in egg taking, spawning, and other breeding practices that are helping salmon runs be more efficient and more prosperous. We need to save chinook salmon to preserve the culture and history of these people.
What is being done to save this incredible species?!
Currently, there are many nonprofit and government organizations working to protect and restore chinook salmon populations, as they recognize the importance of this species.
(Wikimedia, 2015)
(Badseed, 2007)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated many areas as Marine Protected Areas and although the ones along the west coast were not designated exclusively for chinook salmon, these protected areas help them a lot. One block of protected area reaches from the north of California all the way up through Oregon and to the top of Washington. This protected area is about 250 miles wide and 600 miles long; this region begins about 70 miles off of the coast itself. Another smaller protected area ranges from northern California down to northern Mexico. This region is about 100 miles wide and 650 miles long but is more spotty and inconsistent (NOAA’s MPA Inventory, 2017).
For the Sacramento River location, a recovery plan has been developed to reinstate the salmon populations and get them to thrive again in this ecosystem environment
The main goals of this recovery plan are to:
-Reintroduce populations into key watersheds
-Conduct landscape-scale restoration throughout the Central
Valley
-Meet water quality criteria established in the Central Valley
-Water Quality Control Plan for all potential pollutants
-To annually review the impacts from commercial and recreational
fisheries and modify regulations as necessary to allow for species to recover
-To implement projects to minimize predation at artificial structures (Central Valley Chinook Salmon & Steelhead Recovery Plan, 2014).
The NOAA has Implemented many plans for working to protect salmon and has made recovery plans for each location in which these chinook salmon are endangered or threatened:
(Jones, 2014)
For the Columbia River location, their recovery plan goal is “To secure long-term persistence of viable populations of naturally produced Chinook and steelhead distributed across their native range.”
The main focuses of this plan are to:
-Increase abundance and productivity of naturally produced chinook salmon
-Increase distribution of chinook salmon in the Upper Columbia Location
-Conserve genetic diversity (Upper Columbia Spring Chinook Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Plan, 2007).
-To annually review the impacts from commercial and recreational
fisheries and modify regulations as necessary to allow for species to recover
The NOAA has also developed Regional Fishery Management Councils throughout the United States which serve several different purposes all with a common goal: to protect and restore endangered fish populations.
Don't Give up Nope! There's Hope!
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) made several regional fishery management councils. They are tasked with taking care of fisheries that need protection and conservation. They have voting and nonvoting members that represent commercial and recreational fishing areas and address environmental, academic, and government interests.
The main goals of the councils are to:
(1) develop and amend fishery management plans
(2) convene committees and advisory panels and conduct public meetings
(3) develop research priorities in conjunction with a Scientific and Statistical Committee
(4) select fishery management options
(5) set annual catch limits based on best available science
(6) develop and implement rebuilding plans
(Wikimedia, 2012)
Other groups working to protect chinook salmon include:
- Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office
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Wild Salmon Center
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National Marine Fisheries
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Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
(Moser, 2017)
(Jones, 2014)