Salmon at the Brink: A Fight for Survival in the Heart of the Pacific Northwest
Breaking Political Gridlock to Save an Iconic Species and Our Ecosystem's Future
I’ve been writing about the Pacific Northwest lately. And since I got here, one of the undeniable truths is the presence of salmon in everyday life. There’s salmon insignia from cars to bridges to buildings to house doors. I visited somebody’s home one time, and they had salmon tile through the one wall of their kitchen and orca tile in their bathroom! An ordinary PNW local couple decorating their home with what’s meaningful to them.
Salmon is life here. From the tribes to the locals, salmon has always been a reason to get together. On one corner, you see a salmon fly-fishing weekend; on another, you see a cookout over salmon runs, and on the other hand, you see salmon celebrations and ceremonies.
The salmon are going extinct.
44% of wild salmon populations in the PNW have already crossed NOAA’s extinction threshold. According to scientists and tribes, that number is expected to rise to 78% in three to four years. That is the evident and tragic reality of what we are witnessing.
78% of wild salmon populations in the PNW are expected to cross the extinction threshold in less than five years.
The breaching of the Lower Snake River Dams has been a topic in this area since at least 1994, when a still-ongoing litigation to remove the dams to save the salmon was filed. Thirty years of discussions, talks, and considerations. Unfortunately, it’s also become a political issue.
The Snake River salmon including Chinook, Sockeye, Steelhead, were listed in the Endangered Species List in 1999. 25 years later, there’s still no plan to make a bold move, and their numbers are tragic.
We shamelessly politicized the essence of our sustenance. We rationalized and normalized profits to the point of erasing entire species from existence.
The salmon are stuck between politics and reality. Politicians don’t want to make the “tough” and right call - as they never do- because they’ll lose votes and voters. But they also lose votes when they stand by and allow species to disappear. Only the voters on one side have deeper pockets, although the other side is much larger in volume.
There are many proven reasons to bring down the dams if preventing the extinction of keystone species is not enough of one. The dams directly violate Tribal rights and their treaties, making it a social justice issue. They pollute the Snake River, warm up the waters, destroy the natural balance in its mainstream and tributaries, and decimate the ecosystem, qualifying it as an environmental issue. The dams violate the United States Endangered Species Act for at least 13 salmon populations and the Southern Resident orca listed since 1999 and 2005, respectively, effectively making it a criminal and an existential issue. The dams have even contributed to the loss of Idaho’s forests due to the cascading effects of the devastating loss of salmon populations. It’s a man vs. nature issue.
Partisan politics has turned environmental protection into a battleground, deepening the divide rather than fostering collaboration. Shouldn't clean air, water, and a healthy planet be fundamental human rights? Instead of parroting tired political rhetoric, strong leaders should seize this opportunity to find common ground and unite to avert an impending ecological catastrophe. Isn't everyone weary of the old, ineffective ways?
The threat to salmon isn’t confined to the Snake River. Our reach extends deep. We entangle them in trawlers across open oceans, decimate them with overfishing, and subject them to pollution in rivers, sounds, tributaries, and estuaries. Politicians further deepen the divide by evading responsibility with juvenile blame games instead of a mature collaborative stance that sounds utopian in the current state of our politics.
Politicians in Idaho are calling on Washington State representatives to clean up their waters before removing the Snake River Dams. Meanwhile, politicians in Washington call on Idaho representatives to collaborate on breaching the dams.
Taking immediate and comprehensive action to address the salmon crisis is imperative. Prioritizing clean water in one region over another is not an option, as pollution from all rivers and tributaries ultimately flows into the Puget Sound. While other fish species in the Salish Sea are showing better numbers, the salmon populations in the Lower Snake River have been in steep decline since the 1990s. Their numbers have dwindled to the point where they cannot sustain themselves, let alone support the Southern Resident Orca population that depends on them for food. These salmon have teetered on the brink of extinction for over three decades. We now have a narrow window of opportunity, around five years, to avert extinction.
How can we prioritize the existence of one species over another?
Of course, the Lower Snake River Dams are just one tragic act in the heart-wrenching theatrics of power and politics, keeping endangered species hostage for their gains and blatantly violating our own laws. Grey wolves are struggling in the Rockies, pitted against the deep pockets of ranchers and trophy hunters. The plight of spotted owls and the PNW old-growth forests against the logging profits dates back to 1988. And then there are the polar bears standing alone against the big black oil and gas giants in their battle for survival in the Arctic.
It’s time for all politicians and caring citizens to stop playing games and begin fighting this battle together as if it’s a national war. Our salmon, orca, water quality, climate, and future generations are under attack, and we’re all standing at ground zero.
