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Salmon
Maia Janz
Geography 12
Mrs. Hayter
What are Salmon?
• Salmon are anadromous fish which
means they breed and spawn in
freshwater but spend most of their
adult lives in saltwater
• There are 5 species of Salmon in our
Pacific waters: Chinook or King
Salmon, Coho Salmon, Sockeye
Salmon, Pink Salmon and Chum
Salmon
Lifecycle of a Salmon
Why are Salmon important in
BC?
• Salmon play a vital role in the ecosystems
of BC. They are food for animals who reside
around the rivers and oceans they live in,
and when they die they provide the
surrounding areas with essential nutrients
from their bodies as they decompose.
• Another reason for why Salmon are
important in BC is that they generate a
large revenue in the fishing industry
• Salmon are also very important in the
culture and history of the aboriginal people
Problems involving Salmon
• BC is home to the best
salmon fishing in the
world! But due to the
extensive fishing of
salmon, their stocks in
BC have been declining
at an alarming rate since
the late 1980’s
• Climate change has also
contributed to the
decrease of Salmon in
our rivers
• Pollution and damming
of rivers is another cause
in the depletion of
Salmon stocks
Fishing
• Salmon are increasingly being over fished in our
oceans and rivers
• Is recent years over 50% of adult salmon were killed
by fisherman in our region
• As our world population grows, the need for food
also grows and this is not good news for salmon
• Fishing of salmon is not only an industry, it is a
sport. People come from all over the world to fish our
salmon and there are hundreds of fishing lodges in
BC. Sport fishing does not account for much of the
depletion of the species but it does contribute
• The last salmon spawning season had the lowest
recorded return – 1 million of 10 million salmon
returned to the ocean
Fish Farming
• Not only are salmon fished
in open water, due to their
high demand, fish farms are
becoming increasingly
popular
• Fish farming is the practice
of raising salmon in cages
in embayment at sea, or in
ponds on land
• Fish farming has helped the
decreasing salmon
population because it uses
chemicals which help to
prevent diseases and the
build-up of organic sludge
in fish-cages
• There are many people
against fish farming due to
the need of chemical use
Fishing
• A good example of an over fishing tragedy was
the rapid decline and near disappearance of
the Atlantic Cod fishing industry
• Here fish have been caught in such high
quantity that there is no way they can spawn
back to normal numbers
• If moderation in fishing was practiced here
fishing would still be a way of livelihood in the
Atlantic regions
• Regulations need to be put on our fishing
industry in the Pacific before a devastation like
this happens here
Climate Change
• Increase of heating and cooling in river temperatures and
more regular warm temperatures will most likely change
the Salmon’s habits for these reasons:
• Young Salmon are more likely to die in warmer water
• Salmon may not grow to their full size because of an
increased competition for food and a faster metabolic
rate
• Water temperatures above 15ºC stresses out fish
which can lead to them being more susceptible to
disease (this same stress may lead the fish’s
production of sperm and egg to decrease)
• Energy levels may become lower which would
decrease spawning success because smaller weaker
fish may not be able to reach the spawning grounds
Climate Change
• Climate change will also alter
salmon’s habits for these reasons:
• As the temperature increases
the fish will want to find
colder more northern waters
which will increase their
migrating distances
• Variable river flows with
lower minimum water levels
will be more common which
may harm salmon trying to
swim upstream for spawning,
which would decrease future
generations of salmon
Climate Change
• Marine
environments are
considered to be
resilient (flexible)
ecosystems which
means they can
adapt to changing
conditions, but not
at such a fast pace!
Pollution
• A lot of pollution
makes it into our
oceans and rivers
from mining,
forestry and
urbanization
• Pollution accounts
for many salmon
deaths each year
Damming
• Hydroelectric power is a very large industry in BC
even though it causes a lot of damage to the
salmon. These large scale dams that are being built
on rivers in BC obstruct the historic natural routes
of the salmon which lead them to their spawning
grounds.
• Many salmon exhaust themselves to death trying
to jump these dams
• To help this problem, communities surrounding
these dams have put in requests to build salmon
“ladders” beside these big dams so the salmon
safely proceed through the dams upstream to their
spawning grounds
What are we doing to help?
• Fishery biologists are attempting to
stem the salmon declines by
enhancing wild stocks. An example of
this is releasing large numbers of
captive-raised, young fish.
• Fisherman and conservationists are
uniting together to save the salmon
population
How can you help?
• If you enjoy eating fish or using products that
contain fish oils or other nutrients, integrate other
fish than salmon into your diet
• Clean up streams in your area
• Don’t dump chemicals into drains in your home, at
school, or outside in your community
(antifreeze/bleach)
• If you own a pool, don’t drain it! Dispose of the
chlorine-filled water elsewhere
• Encourage your government to regulate fishing in
our oceans, lakes and rivers
• Raise awareness!! People won’t know about the
Salmon if we don’t tell them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
0NcJ_63z-mA
Our salmon ecosystem is really
one of the last great fish
habitats in the world! So we
should all do what we can to
conserve it – before it’s too late!
Thanks for
listening!
Bibliography
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http://cciarnbc.ubc.ca/key_salmon.php
http://science.jrank.org/pages/5942/Salmon-Water-pollutionfishing-fish-farming.html
http://www.salmonnation.com/
http://www.vanaqua.org/salmontales/english/learningcentre/hum
animpact.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon
http://wczope.emergence.com:8080/WildernessCommittee_Org/campaigns/w
ildpacific/salmon_farms/reports/Vol21No05
http://www.psc.org/
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Images: http://www.google.ca
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