Salmon

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

Canadian fisheries minister Fred Mifflin
on March 30 declared that the government would cut
the British Columbia salmon fishing fleet of 4,400
vessels in half over the next three years, via license
buy-backs. Fishing industry representatives said the
plan wouldn’t do much to help depleted salmon
recover, however, because 75% of the catch is taken
by the 20% of the fleet most likely to stay active.
Also to protect salmon, the Canadian
Department of Fisheries and Oceans the same day
announced the closure for this year of the commercial
sockeye fishery on the mouth of the Fraser
River, and said native and recreational fishing might
be closed there as well. This year’s Fraser River
salmon run is expected to be the lowest on record.

Global warming has cut the ocean habitat
for Atlantic salmon by 20%, says D a v e
Reddin, a Canadian government scientist stationed
in St. John’s, Nova Scotia. “Sea temperatures in the
northern part of the habitat have been getting colder,”
explains Reddin, an effect of more Arctic ice
melting, sending cold water south on the Labrador
current, “but in the south the temperatures have been
getting warmer, so the area the salmon can inhabit is
collapsing on itself.”