Yale Environment 360, one of the best new outlets for environmental journalism, just posted my piece on the Pacific Ocean's salmon glut. Yes, you read right--glut. Greg Ruggerone, a fisheries consultant based over at Ballard's Fishermen's Terminal, recently published a fascinating study that estimated the total abundance of salmon in the Pacific Ocean. His findings? There are twice as many salmon in the Pacific today as there were 50 years ago--and we may be reaching the limit of the Pacific's salmon carrying capacity. Good news? Not exactly. Pinks and chum salmon are thriving, thanks in part to industrial hatcheries cranking 'em out, but chinook and coho are not (that's why so many runs are endangered). To find out why salmon can be simultaneously endangered and clogging the ocean, read my piece here. Ruggerone's original study is also available online, as is the UW's page on the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which is really hard to boil down into a single paragraph. I'll put up more of the original documents and studies related to this article later today...
About Bruce
- Bruce Barcott, a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow in nonfiction, is the author of The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, named one of the best books of 2008 by Library Journal. His previous book, The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier, was a recipient of the Washington State Governor's Award and was recently re-issued in a 10th anniversary edition. Barcott is an environmental journalist whose articles on humans and wildlife appear in Outside Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. He reviews nonfiction for the New York Times Book Review, Outside, and On Earth magazine. He is currently at work on a narrative history of the battle over salmon and treaty rights in the Pacific Northwest.
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November 01, 2010
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Interesting viewpoint, however I think that sometimes endangering one part of those salmon, like in Alaska's pebble mines. This may present future problems for salmon everywhere, and could endanger them.
Posted by: Misty | September 28, 2011 at 10:07 AM