The news about Pacific salmon is often confusing. The short story is that some hatchery stocks are booming, some wild stocks are fine, and far too many unique and irreplaceable stocks - from Alaska to California, are hovering on the edge of extinction. Clearcut logging destroys forested spawning streams, industrial effluent still pours into rivers and urban development means building parking lots on fish streams. The agribusiness industry, overfishing of endangered stocks, dams and the construction of marinas on top of fragile estuaries add to the damage.
Pacific salmon are under siege.
One of the most serious, and least talked about, risks is the danger posed by global warming. But increasing research is beginning to put the gravity of the threat in perspective. Pacific salmon could meet an end in thousands of streams if governments around the world do not act now to reduce fossil fuel use and commit to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. From Alaska's Bristol Bay, through the fishing towns of British Columbia to the California coast people depend on salmon. If the streams are too hot, the salmon will vanish.