Posted by
Average Voter on Saturday, May 03, 2008 10:20:26 AM
Although the reasons for the sudden decline of the fishery are not completely understood, NOAA scientists suggest that changes in ocean conditions, including unfavorable shifts in ocean temperature and food sources for juvenile salmon, likely caused poor survival of salmon that would have comprised this year’s fishery. Loss of freshwater habitat for salmon spawning, rearing, and migration to the ocean is a chronic problem that has made salmon populations more susceptible to the occasional poor ocean conditions. NOAA will undertake a thorough examination of the causes.
Even though the NOAA suggests nothing about global warming, an opinion in the
LA Times makes it.
Even more alarming is the uncertainty over what is to blame for this sudden collapse. This isn't an overfishing situation, where giving the fish a break will bring them back to abundance. The prevailing theory among scientists is that a change of ocean currents, perhaps brought about by global warming, is lowering nutrient levels where the salmon swim. Because salmon populations farther north are also down, but not by as much, the theory makes sense. If that's the case, the salmon may continue to disappear.
It is so easy to make the link with no proof these days. The debate is now over regarding climate change, so any unusual change in weather, temperature, or animal pattern is concern enough to make it so.