The salmon shortage
“What happened to the mighty chinook of the Pacific Northwest? Regional fisheries officials have blamed ocean conditions for a temporary decline in the plankton and small fish that juvenile salmon feed on. But most of the problem is man-made.
Spawning salmon need gravel streambeds and cold, fast-running water to lay their eggs. Giant pumps have been piping water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to towns and farms in California’s Central Valley, degrading river habitat and even sucking up young fish before they reach the sea. Farther north, dams on the Snake River have prevented egg-bearing fish from reaching streambeds inland.
Overfishing is also a factor; too many nets have been scooping up too many fish for too long. What’s more, higher water temperatures brought on by global warming prevent the eggs of spawning females from maturing. It’s not surprising that the only consistently healthy salmon runs left are those in the cold waters of Alaska.”
NYT op ed by Taras Grescoe, the author of “Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood.”
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foodstuff reblogged this from ffffood and added:
ffffood) John cries himself...sleep over this every other night :-(
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whatonearth reblogged this from ffffood
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ffffood posted this
