Washingtonians depend on salmon for food, recreation, jobs, cultural identity, and community. These iconic fish bring out the best Washington has to offer. They represent clean water, a healthy environment, and a thriving economy. As we look to the future, we must think about big solutions to the problems facing salmon.
What’s Hurting Salmon?
There are many things that have contributed to the decline of salmon populations. Generally, it comes down to two things:
- Humans: We have damaged their habitat, hindered their migration, and polluted their waters. We’ve overfished, forced them to compete for limited resources, and made their journey home that much harder.
- Environmental changes: On top of all this, they face fluctuating marine conditions, climate change, increases in predators, and other problems.
As Washington’s population has grown, its salmon have dwindled. In 1991, the federal government declared the first salmon in the Pacific Northwest, Snake River sockeye, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In the next few years, 16 more species of salmon were listed as either threatened or endangered.
By 1999, wild salmon had disappeared from about 40 percent of their historic breeding ranges in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California.
In Washington, the numbers had dwindled so much that salmon and bull trout were listed as threatened or endangered in nearly three-fourths of the state.
Salmon Species Listed Under the Federal Endangered Species Act
Visit the State of Salmon in Watersheds Web site to learn more about how fish are doing in your community and the problems they face. The Web site also includes data about the amount of fish, watershed health, and the implementation of salmon recovery plans.
Visit our Progress page to learn more about our efforts to restore salmon and their habitat.