What Happened To The Wild Salmon?

So Few Salmon Spawning Near Sacramento, It Could Collapse $150M Area Industry

(CBS)  There's a crisis along the Pacific coast. Wild salmon have vanished.

For seafood lovers, that means salmon may be very expensive this spring and summer - if you can find it at all.

It could also mean the collapse of a $150 million group of fisheries. And no one's sure what happened.

At fishing docks in California, the news is hitting fisherman like a tidal wave, CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports.

"I would say it's the worst disaster ever in the history of salmon fishing," said Don Hansen of the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Salmon have almost disappeared from the most important river system on the West Coast. So virtually all salmon fishing there will be banned this year.

"Pretty astounding," said Fisherman Ernie Koepf. "It's never happened before."

Most salmon caught on the California and Oregon coast begin their lives in the Sacramento River - and return there to spawn.

But for the past three years the number of returning salmon has plunged more than 75 percent, from more than 800,000 to less than 200,000.

Hansen heads the advisory council that has decided the only way to save the salmon is to leave them in the ocean.

"There's a lot of finger-pointing, but nobody can really put their arms around what caused the disaster," Hansen said.

Among the suspected causes are huge amounts of water pumped from the Sacramento River to irrigate farms. Fisherman say all the water taken from the river means many young salmon never make it to the ocean.

"As it gets worse and worse and worse, more and more and more pumped, then you're going to see less and less and less salmon," said Fisherman Larry Collins. "It's that simple."

Others say growing populations of sea lions get part of the blame ... they have a huge appetite for salmon.

Researchers cite as many as 46 different factors that could be hurting the salmon. But for fishermen, it comes down to one big problem: Jobs.

"We don't know what we're going to do," Collins said. "We don't know what we're gonna do."

For consumers, it means higher prices and possible shortages of wild salmon. But most salmon we buy now is farm-raised and won't be affected.

[guysdigdirt]

It is a sad day when a man made problem ruins one of God''s great creations. Seems it is always about money too, and those who are causing the problem and making the money never see the mess they make or the beauty they ruin.

[feelfree1]

Re: "What Happened To The Wild Salmon?"

Gill-netting, irrigation, and dams.

Killing sea lions will serve no purpose other than to present the appearance of addressing this problem.

The majority of the big fish in our oceans are already gone.

The root causes boil down to human incompetence and greed.

[fstop100]

this is just the beginning, we are destroying all ocean life. the greedy don''t seem to realize they are destroying things for their own children.

[olebd]

I don''t understand why they can''t ban all fishing of wild salmon for a few years and increase the number of farm raised salmon to sell at market instead.

I used to enjoy boneless salmon steaks from the local supermarket but haven''t seen them for sale there for more than 2 months.

It''s just neglectful nonsense that the fishing industry can''t regulate itself more effectively and efficiently.

[rudy654-2009]

I am not up on the numbers but this article is completely wrong about the Sacramento river being the place where most of the salmon spawn, thus putting the whole system in danger. The Sacramento river has not been the prime river for salmon, not for years. Do they think the Columbia just sits there? Good grief. I like to agree with environmentalists when there is good reason, but this story takes the cake.

[rudy654-2009]

Not too long ago, the department of fish and game was deliberately going out and killing salmon in the rivers. The reason? Because they didn''t want fishery salmon to be mixing with the wild. I only wanted to know just how the heck these people were going to tell the difference.

[jftarcata]

For a fuller perspective of the Salmon situation, I recommend the Econews Report at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 20,
Specifically, an interview with Glen Spain, attorney and the Northwest Regional Director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen%u2019s Associations (PCFFA), and Program Director for the Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR).
Discussion will be of the collapsing Sacramento River Salmon fishery, as well as the declining health of the Klamath River fishery and the ongoing negotiations over the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement.


Econews Report
Thursday, March 20, 2008
1:30 p.m.
KHSU/KHSR
90.5 Arcata-Eureka
91.9 Crescent City-Brookings
89.1 FM Ferndale-Fortuna
89.7 FM Garberville
99.7 FM Willow Creek
Streaming live and now archived at http://www.khsu.org

[jftarcata]

I apologize for the multiple postings.

[brianbwb-2009]

"What Happened To The Wild Salmon?"

You polluted, dammed, and otherwise altered the ecosystem, in spite of common sense warnings from biologists for decades, now you ask such a stupid question?

Come on CBS, if your contributors are this dumb, hire me, I can do much better. So also could your average 12 year old.

[feelfree1]

rudy654,

Re: "I only wanted to know just how the heck these people were going to tell the difference."

They clip fins on farmed salmon to identify them from the wild.

[oeangus]

What''s the big deal? Don''t eat meat of fish, simple as that.

[griking]

So the salmon are almost completely gone yet the only thing people are upset about is the loss of jobs? How selfish and pathetic.

[extremophil]

Maybe the Honeybees ate yo salmon.

[rf35]

The root causes boil down to human incompetence and greed.
Posted by FeelFree1

Actually, the root cause boils down to human overpopulation. The demand outweighed the ability of salmon populations to recover from the decades of mass "harvest" by the commercial fishing industry.

"We don''t know what we''re going to do," Collins said.

What do people expect when they base their livelihood on an unsustainable business model? These people made their bed, now let them lay in it.

[dogband]

After our years of continuing,escalating excess consumption and pollution .... this is a SUPRISE?

Looks like humans are nearing the end of our reign and evolution on earth.

As a species .. we suck.

[libsrweak]

save the sacramento salmons..collect the whole set

[beehive21-2009]

Poor Salmon and bees.No shortage of Deer, eat more Deer. Amazing how much food the USA has walking around everywhere,Garden of Eden.

[rf35]

No shortage of humans, either. Maybe cannibalism has its place. I understand babies are quite tasty and tender.

[gunownerdan]

Bees are dying off, now Salmon.
Thousands of other plants and animals will be greatly effected just by the loss of these two species.
If we aren''t more careful we will certainly be next!