Salmon and the Pacific Northwest

--> Salmon are a Pacific Northwest symbol, and the Coho is a brilliant red reminder of how heavily people of the Pacific Northwest and the natural resources they value rely on one another. People and Coho salmon support each other in a relationship where the give and take of each ensures the continued subsistence of the other. This is the Pacific Northwest way of life.

Migrating adult spawning coho salmon [1].

Salmon are an important part of the PNW fishing industry and thus support the regional economy. The people of the PNW, in turn, promote the ability of salmon to thrive by preserving the shared resources of the Puget Sound, its waterways, and lakes and rivers that are vital to the salmon life cycle. Commercial PNW water life revolves around ensuring safe salmon migration and spawning by keeping migration paths open and spawning grounds intact. Hatcheries even exist for the sole purpose of hatching and raising young salmon through the dangerous first stages of life!

With a relationship this strong and co-dependant, both salmon and people alike are influenced by changes that affect the other. Global climate change, a human consequence, is altering environmental conditions in which organisms such as salmon live. The ability of salmon to physically cope with these changes, namely in how they survive and reproduce, will determine how their species populations and the linked PNW fishing industry respond. If we are aware of changing climate conditions, however, and can make predictions about their future status, as well as their probable impact on salmon, we can do something with that knowledge. As PNW residents sharing an environment with other vulnerable PNW natives, it is our responsibility to organize a preemptive response to minimize and manage the risk to an invaluable resource.