Chinook Salmon :: essays research papers

s instantly eater SalmonEnvironmental Science Wednesday, February 26, 1997Among the many kinds of tip harvested each year by moneymaking(prenominal) seekeries is theOncorhynchus tshawytscha or king pink-orange salmon. The unite States catches anaverages of about three hundred one thousand thousand thrums of salmon each year. as yetsome Chinook salmon have been recently listed as threatened. spell has been themain cause for the decline in Chinook salmon populations.The populations of Chinook salmon have declined for several reasons. Hydropowerand its destructiveness to the environment, pollution, and overfishing are thethree main causes for the decline. The Chinook salmon is known for travelingthe greatest distance back to its spawning grounds, frequently traveling one to twothousand miles inland. This long journey is now often interrupted byhydroelectric plants. Hydropower is a very effectual alternative resource for power,however it is very damaging to our salmon populat ions. The dams break off offrivers, which block the salmons path back to their breeding grounds. Thesalmon go back to the same areas, just as their ancestors did, to lay their eggs.The hydropower plants turbines are as well very dangerous to young salmon. Manyof them are hideed by the lusus naturae turbines on their way back to the ocean.Killing off many of the salmons sassy generation. contaminant is also a killer ofmany Chinook salmon. Pollution caused by sewage, farming, grazing, logging andmining find its way into our waters. These harmful substances kill manyspecies of fish and other marine life. The Chinook salmon is no exception. Thechemicals are dumped into the rivers and streams and eventually these chemicalsfind their way to the ocean, polluting and effecting each area they come through.The largest contributor to the decline in the Chinook salmon population is the mercantile fishing industry. From a period of 1990-1992 815,000 Chinook salmonwere caught by commercial fisheries. This does not include the 354,000recreational catches. Commercial fishing is a long industry. Commercial fishersuse nets, which they pull by boats. Some nets are designed so the holes in thenets are large enough for the head of the fish to fit through, and then the meshgets caught in the fishs gills. Others are designed to roach around a schoolof fish and then is drawn shut. invigorated technologies have developed factory sterntrawlers which easily haul netloads of up to 100 metric tons of fish. However,when catching the salmon, fisherman use pound nets to catch the fish on theirway to their spawning grounds. The average annual salmon catch in just theUnited States is about 300 million pounds, of that about 60 percent is canned.