In case you haven’t noticed, West Coast salmon and steelhead stocks are teetering on the brink and we need to get involved now before it’s too late. Let’s learn a little something from the plight of the Atlantic salmon in Europe and pledge not to let it happen here.
Consider this quick, but very poignant message from our European correspondent, Netherlands fish biologist, Franklin Moquette…
“You at least still have Pacific Salmon in California and the West (clinging with their fins…),” he says. “Maybe you (citizens, fishermen, government) can draw a lesson from our past experiences with the Rhine and Meuse rivers in Europe. Atlantic salmon totally disappeared here around 1950…
Not a pair of spawning salmon was left! Nothing, Nada! The Sacramento River now is in the same situation as the Rhine was in 1910 (dwindling runs in a river that had once had 700,000 adult salmon running up the river to spawn!). Now we are struggling to get an few thousand salmon back and have to invest billions of Euros to do so. Don’t let it happen to you!”
Indeed! For reasons that should be abundantly obvious by now, it’s imperative that we band together and join the fight. What can you do? Easy…
1) Visit www.water4fish.org and read and sign their petition that, in short, demands more water for anadramous fish. It’s super simple and only takes a minute of your time. The objective here is to get enough people on board that the politicians pay attention to us!
2) Join the American Fishing Foundation, an organization that’s dedicated to the preservation and restoration of West Coast anadramous fish — and the people who depend on them. For a mere $10, you’re in…what we really need here is to have as many of you signed up as possible. Again, the more people we have on board, the louder our voice in the political arena.
Please do these two simple things today…nothing less than the future of our fisheries is at stake. Thank you!
