07-24 REELLIFE print single digital - Flipbook - Page 14
fishing
Holding Onto Hope
The Complicated State of Salmon in the Pacific
Northwest
By Josh DeBruler
Well before the Pacific
Fur Company set up
their first trading post in
Astoria, Oregon, Before
the earliest fish canneries
on the Columbia River
began popping up in the
mid-1800s, the Pacific
Northwest and its people
have been defined by a
culture of sustenance and
heritage that is deeply
steeped in the very
existence of the pacific
salmon.
The rich abundance
of salmon didn’t just
sustain the indigenous
communities of the
northwest, it allowed
them to thrive and aided
in developing rich cultures
over the millennia. It was,
and is, the cornerstone
of art, sustenance, ritual,
and community within
nearly all of the Pacific
Northwest First Nations
people. This history
of Northwest salmon
harvesting dates so far
back (an estimated 10,000
years) that it forces us
to consider salmon as a
sport and commercial
fishery, as something that
exists only as a small blip
in time—200 years, to be
exact. Furthermore, it's
within that 200 years that
many northwest salmon
populations have been
pushed to the brink of
extinction. So, where did
we go wrong? And is there
any fixing a fishery that has
changed so dramatically
over the years? To look at
the details within context
may be a good place to
start, and perhaps this
article can help us navigate
through the weeds of a
topic that has historically
sown divisions between
anglers, commercial
fishermen, tribes, and fish
and wildlife agencies.
HISTORICAL DECLINE OF
SALMON
It’s no secret that salmon
runs were once much
healthier than they are
today. Though the state
of Washington didn’t
start record keeping on
fisheries until 1935, we
have plenty of scientific
and anecdotal evidence
that depicts a long history
of vibrant salmon runs
which looked significantly
different than they do
today. Lewis and Clark
noted the great abundance
of salmon observed by
their party on the Columbia
River, early settlers took
advantage of the fish
for sustenance use, and
soon, savvy entrepreneurs
seized what was viewed