Food...

The March 17, 2008 New York Times article Chinook Salmon Vanish Without a Trace reveals the challenges of managing a wild food supply.Chinook salmon (wild king salmon) are born in the Sacramento River, swim to the ocean where they grow into adulthood, and, after three years, come back to the place they were born to spawn. (At which point, they die and their body gives off nutrients that feed the next generation of fish.) As a species, the Chinook had been on the upswing. But this year, to the confusion and frustration of fishermen, they’ve disappeared. Investigations take us back to 2005, the year that those fish were born and swam from their birthplace in the river into the ocean. There are a variety of theories as to why the salmon never made it out to sea: the Sacramento River was badly managed that year so the fish were killed as they made their way to the ocean, picked up by prey or stuck in a drainage pipe that takes water from the river to farms; or, 2005 was a bad year for the ocean, changes in currents meant that there were no nutrients in the water so as soon as the fish arrived, they started dying. We may never know the exact reason that the Chinook salmon has disappeared this year. But, moving into fishing season, we do know that the fisheries along the Sacramento River will be closed, which means no fishing from the Mexican border through northern Oregon. That’s a huge, $150 million business. We may catch some Chinook when the Alaskan season starts in July, but prices will be high this year (not to mention that fishermen are currently out of a livelihood). In the aftermath, we’ll have to investigate how we handle a natural system so we don’t lose more Chinook salmon in the future. And, as World Changing points out: the salmon have a huge effect on the local ecosystem. “At least 137 different species—from grizzly bear to gray wolves—depend on salmon for part of their diet,” Alex Steffen wrote in his post Seeing Through Salmon. This, then, will be something that we’ll be watching throughout the year and into 2011 when the fish that should have been born this year, spent three years in the ocean, and come back, won’t be around to spawn.

Chinook salmon image from Salmon Nation.