Saving the salmon

If we are going to continue fishing the waters of this planet then we need to do it in sustainable ways. This much is obvious but what is not so obvious is how to achieve that sustainability. A new study has shed some light on how this might be achieved in the case of salmon and therefore perhaps in other heavily fished species. This study looked at the commercial salmon fishery off North America’s Pacific coast. Salmon species swimming the waters of the Pacific include sockeye, pink, coho, Chinook, and chum. This study examined 50 years of data on the sockeye salmon in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. The analysis revealed that diversity within this fishery was why it was doing well compared to salmon fisheries in Washington state and California. The reason for the need for diversity is that some salmon will do well in cold, wet years while others thrive in hot, dry years. This variation can occur even within a salmon species. For salmon (and any) populations to survive they need diversity so that they are able to adapt to the changing seasons. The problem with some fisheries is that they have large hatcheries which they use to replenish the fish populations but this provides a largely homogenous population with a lack of variation. This is the ground breaking part of this study; it does not matter so much the numbers of fish that are put back into a fishery but what is important is the diversity within that population. A non-diverse population is much more vulnerable to challenges like disease and climate change. It is a great lesson in life: out of diversity comes stability.Meanwhile if you visit Meijer Ad that contains mostly likewise discounts with Winn Dixie Ad you surely have a range like ALDI Ad.