File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds)

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Watching spawning salmon may soon be a thing of the past

Aug 29, 2024 | 6:00 AM

I HAVE SPENT MANY OCTOBERS out at the Adams River watching the salmon spawn, watching them as they come to the end of their journey. I don’t expect this annual event to continue too much longer.

The reason? Salmon stocks are depleting at an alarming rate. So many changes have combined to make the salmon’s journey so much more difficult.

Climate change is a major problem. Oceans are warming up, disrupting the fish’s supply of food, and unbalancing their life cycle. Fewer fish return home to spawn. Droughts, creeks drying up, habitats damaged by wildfires — all of these contribute to increased challenges for fish.

And so little attention has been paid to the problem that the death of the salmon has crept up on us to the point that it’s too late for some species. You might as well say that chinook salmon are almost extinct.

Back in 2015, 200 million Pacific cod just disappeared, and birds died, apparently disappearing into a huge pool of warmer water that became known as The Blob. While the warm water pool has since cooled, the ecosystems it destroyed are still recovering.

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Indigenous people will tell with sadness, the tragic depletion of all these stocks. And yet few want to attack the problem. The task must seem impossible but if we want to keep the fish alive, we have to act, and act forcefully. This is not the dominant year for the Salute to the Sockeye. that occurs only every fourth year, and the next dominant run isn’t until 2026. But if we keep polluting the oceans and kill the salmon as fast as we are, there may be only a few salmon for us to salute in 2026.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.