Wild Salmon Shortage

[jamiemaw]

Where did all the salmon go?

Warmer ocean temperatures are being blamed for the extraordinarily low sockeye returns. And that's having a profound effect on

restaurant supply as this article from The Sun proclaims.

[kontemporary]

And for people who don't subscribe or normally read the Sun (like me), I did also manage to bump into quite a good article on the same subject today while reading the Termainal City.

Click Here

Edited August 26, 2005 by rêvasser (log)

[winegeek]

Thanks for the link Jamie. I've been reading alot of articles the past few weeks and have read alot of the same thing. There also seems to be ALOT of tension once again between native and commercial fisheries.

Of coarse, anyone can drop into (shameless plug) Joe Fortes for a great piece of fresh, wild, king (spring, chinook), sockeye, coho or silverbrite. We are probably selling about 150 portions of salmon a day (maybe that's where it's all going )

[Daddy-A]

And it's only going to get worse ...

Sockeye fishery closed.

Waiting for Sam Salmon to chime in ....

A.

[Sam Salmon]

And it's only going to get worse ...

Sockeye fishery closed.

Waiting for Sam Salmon to chime in ....

A.

←

As requested.

It's important to remember that we live in a land overflowing with wealth-both natural and man made.

The absence of a certain fish from the menus of restaurants catering to a wealthy clientèle means little-my local Sushi Bar has Spring and Sockeye both on the menu-be they from BC or Alaska.

What's Good News is that those charged with the responsibility for conservation have decided to proceed with caution in the face of unusual conditions.

The fact that those 'unusual conditions' may have been at least in part caused by the activities associated with creating 'man made wealth' is a topic for another Forum.

[bigdaddy]

And it's only going to get worse ...

Sockeye fishery closed.

Waiting for Sam Salmon to chime in ....

A.

←

As requested.

It's important to remember that we live in a land overflowing with wealth-both natural and man made.

The absence of a certain fish from the menus of restaurants catering to a wealthy clientèle means little-my local Sushi Bar has Spring and Sockeye both on the menu-be they from BC or Alaska.

←

Unfortunately, there are very definite limits to our abundance of "natural" wealth (as per the insufficient number of sockeye for a commercial opening).

The law of supply and demand dictates that the price of wild salmon will eventually increase if the commercial catch is significantly reduced...thereby making wild salmon more likely to be found mainly in "restaurants catering to a wealthy clientele" (as is already the case in many countries).

Edited August 28, 2005 by bigdaddy (log)

[Andrew Morrison]

The law of supply and demand dictates that the price of wild salmon will eventually increase if the commercial catch is significantly reduced...thereby making wild salmon more likely to be found mainly in "restaurants catering to a wealthy clientele" (as is already the case in many countries).

Sam, please excuse my ignorances on this, but is the low run an anomaly, or are we going to find this on the list of Oceanwise "don'ts" in the near future?

Edited August 28, 2005 by editor@waiterblog (log)

[Sam Salmon]

Sam, please excuse my ignorances on this, but is the low run an anomaly, or are we going to find this on the list of Oceanwise "don'ts" in the near future?

←

If scientists are correct and global warming a fact then Yes the future is bleak for many runs.

We've seen what an 'occasional' warming event can do-imagine centuries of same.

[Andrew Morrison]

Thank you, Sam.

Interesting article here.

[bigdaddy]

I think the moral of the story is that we cannot afford take our natural resources for granted, and that scientists are not nearly as adept at predicting or controlling "nature"as we like to think! (One only has to look at the collapse of the eastern cod fishery as an example). There is a constant battle between commerce (of many kinds) and preserving wild fish.

The Alaskans will harvest "only" 24 million fish because they "believe" that 39 million will return this year. What if their predictions are wrong ? (keeping in mind that Canadian estimates had to be reduced this year by more than half). Fish have adapted to naturally-occurring disasters for thousands of years. Aren't we ultimately the biggest threat to their survival ?

The current problem is being blamed on higher water temperatures...but even under ideal circumstances the oceans cannot be expected to automatically manufacture enough fish to meet increasing world demand.

Edited August 28, 2005 by bigdaddy (log)