Salmon Recovery Dependent on Actions of Next Administration?

The West Coast’s ongoing salmon crisis isn’t exactly a secret to regular Underground readers, and it’s safe to say we’ve seen more salmon-related stories in major media channels in the last three years than in the prior 30.

This time, the New York Times Op-Ed lays it out: the next president will have to focus on rebuilding our commercially valuable salmon stocks, or find out what coastal economic collapse really looks like:

Chinook salmon runs in the Sacramento River in California’s Central Valley have collapsed. The numbers of salmon returning to spawn, which had held steady at about 475,000 for several years, dropped to 90,000 last year and were expected to be half that this year.

Two factors are suspected. The federal government yielded to the demands of big agricultural interests and diverted so much of the Sacramento’s normal river flow to farmers that many baby salmon — who need free-flowing water to push them downstream — could not make it to the ocean. Scientists also believe that abnormalities in ocean temperatures, possibly related to global warming, could have deprived the fish who managed to get downstream of their food supply.

Two other coastal systems, historically rich in salmon, are in trouble. The Klamath River Basin experienced devastating collapses in 2005 and 2006. In the huge Columbia-Snake River Basin, a dozen different varieties of wild salmon are listed as endangered or threatened. In both cases, federal policy that disproportionately favors energy interests and agricultural users is a major factor. Karl Rove himself intervened in the Klamath to make sure the farmers prevailed.

I’m still trying to sort out the Klamath Basin Mess for the Undergrounders, though it’s a complex story and my time is limited.

One thing is clear; the economic value of healthy salmon runs is enormous.

Taxpayers are footing the bill for “emergency” economic aid to coastal communities as well as subsidizing the dams and agriculture responsible for water and habitat loss, so your dollars are supporting both sides.

Salmon; it’s not what’s for dinner anymore. TC

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