Friday, January 14, 2011

Good morning,

Sometimes the signs of an ecological disaster in the making
are subtle, and sometimes they are obvious! Wild salmon runs,
for example. For decades over-fishing has slowly erroded the
size of wild salmon runs. Add the stress to the population
caused by pollution and you start to get some distressing
results.

In California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and southern
British Columbia, many runs are reduced to less than 10
percent of their historical numbers.

The tipping point may already have been reached. The great
sockeye salmon run from the Pacific Ocean to Canada's
Fraser River was for decades an example of nature's bounty.
Some 60 million fish returned annually to spawn. But
starting in the 1990s, the sockeye's productivity declined
precipitously?and in 2009 only 1 million fish returned to
the run.

But with a disaster of this proportion staring us in the face,
steps are finally being taken.

Thanks for reading,

Your Living Green editor

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For the first time in at least a century, U.S. fishermen
won't take too much of any species from the sea, one of
the nation's top fishery scientists says.

The projected end of overfishing comes during a turbulent
fishing year that's seen New England fishermen switch to
a radically new management system. But scientist Steve
Murawski said that for the first time in written fishing
history, which goes back to 1900, "As far as we know,
we've hit the right levels, which is a milestone."

"And this isn't just a decadal milestone, this is a
century phenomenon," said Murawski.

An end to overfishing doesn't mean all stocks are healthy,
but scientists believe it's a crucial step to getting
there.