The Pacific salmon “stock” is on the verge of collapse. In a potentially drastic move, the US is considering banning all salmon fishing off the Pacific coast this year to help stocks recover:

This year, the Chinook return is expected to number some 56,000; the minimum needed to keep the salmon fishing industry sustainable is at least 122,000.

In past years, returns upwards of 200,000 salmon have been common. [link]

Here in Oregon, the fishing industry’s holding its breath:

California and Oregon, western states with considerable commercial and recreational fishing industries, are looking at the very real possibility of not being able to fish any salmon at all this year.

It could cost the local economy more than $3bn (£1.5bn). [link]

But it’s not just too much fishing:

For once, fishermen are not getting most of the blame. This is not simply a problem of over-fishing. There are a variety of factors, some natural, others man-made.

Changes in ocean conditions, perhaps brought about by global warming, mean less food for salmon to eat, so fewer make it upstream to spawn.

Those that do face risks too: river water contains pollution from agriculture and industry, a potentially toxic environment for salmon, while river levels are often low as water is increasingly diverted to irrigate crops and supply large cities such as Los Angeles. [link]

Due to that man-made toxic excretion, much marine life in and around North America is dwindling. Salmon problems are not just happening on the west coast, either; it’s a global problem.

And fish farming–which is where much of that salmon you buy in the store comes from–is helping to hasten the end of wild salmon, all the while polluting the ecosystem.

Is the US government on the case? Oh, you’d better believe it.

It’s all connected, folks: The electricity we use, the salmon we overfish, overconsume and farm to destruction, power-driven politics, utter global social and economic dependence on ever-rising consumption.

Let’s all wave goodbye to the next salmon we see swimming–it may actually be the last one.