King Salmon Are Crucial For Our Future
Without salmon the southern resident orca starve - photo credit: Author (Transient Orca)
Salmon Resiliency
Have you ever seen wild salmon through a spawning migration? It’s the ultimate display of their incredible resilience. Imagine swimming hundreds of miles upstream, against the current, up rocks, falls, and boulders, until you reach the shallows to spawn, only to empower future generations of all species, and then die. That’s their natural lifecycle.
Salmon aren’t made to sit in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. They’re crucial for our entire ecosystem. They are a keystone species. After they spawn, they provide vital nourishment to wildlife, including the wolves, bears, and bald eagles that arrive at the rivers from Alaska to California to feast on them. For those of us lucky enough to experience it, the sight of hundreds of bald eagles perched around a river, taking their turn dipping for the next best catch, gets etched deep in our souls. The same when experiencing the grizzlies who masterfully hunt them in fast-running rivers with a precision rarely expected from such a beast. As they take the salmon out of the river, drag it into the forest, they feed and enable the lifespan of smaller, perhaps even wilder creatures - from frogs to insects.
Although these were common sights in the early years of our civilization, as witnessed by the Indigenous Peoples of the West Coast, they don’t happen that often in the lower 48 anymore. The consistent, abundant runs of salmon that used to draw in the bald eagles are dwindling. Most locals and local fishermen say they haven’t seen the salmon in over five years. The few salmon we see, to our excitement as we stand next to the river, don’t even count compared to the volume they’re used to seeing in these life-providing waters. The older generations and tribes tell the famous story of walking on the backs of salmon weighing over 80 pounds to cross the river. It’s a sight we have difficulty grasping. Today, seeing a single salmon weighing over 80 pounds is a story we cherish for years, without being able to find a match, especially in Western US.
The Chinook salmon, also known as the King Salmon, spawns in the rivers of the Northwest, primarily in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. They are a keystone species—over 130 species depend on them. Perhaps at the top of that list are the Southern Resident Orcas. They cannot survive without wild chinook salmon. Without it, they starve, and we witness events like Tahlequah's mourning.
King Salmon is more than a fish served smoked on expensive luxury platters. The salmon ensure a healthy ecosystem. While for us, it might be a splurge or a “nice to have,” we don’t depend on it. We must prioritize those who rely on the King Salmon to get their share if we want to maintain a healthy ecosystem. This includes tribal rights as well as wildlife.
There are also mixed messages about hatchery salmon as a replacement for the wild stocks. But most fish scientists agree that it’s just not the same. Hatchery salmon might have the muscle but lack the genetic diversity and nutrient profile the ecosystem needs. They can even be detrimental, outcompeting and even killing off some baby wild salmon.
The bottom line is we can’t afford to lose our wild salmon. They give life to so much more than just our dinner plates or happy hour platters. Without them, we’d see a ridiculous decline in the health of our coastal forests when the bears and other wildlife that feed on the salmon no longer transport their vital nutrients into the terrestrial ecosystem.
We need to listen to the experts - the fishermen, scientists, marine biologists. We need to do everything in our power to protect and restore the wild salmon runs. They’ve been adapting to our changes for decades, now it’s time for us to start adapting to a world where we can broth thrive. The future without wild salmon is too dark, dry, and lifeless to imagine.
Breaching the four Lower Snake River dams are the best big step we can and must take.
