Washington state has a governor that understands the value of salmon – California has Governor Newsom pushing them to extinction.
Saving our struggling salmon: Governor Jay Inslee of Washington proposes new strategy and major investments to protect and restore salmon populations across the state.
More than 30 years ago, the Snake River’s sockeye salmon was declared endangered. Since then, the federal government has listed 13 additional salmon species in Washington as endangered or threatened. Dwindling Chinook salmon populations, meanwhile, are pushing Southern Resident orcas closer to extinction.
People across the region have been working tirelessly to bring salmon back from the brink, and those efforts have restored thousands of acres of fish habitat. Still, salmon and other species are losing more habitat than they are gaining. Over 70% of our endangered or threatened salmon and steelhead populations are not keeping pace with recovery goals, are still in crisis or require immediate action.
Climate change has increased wildfires and droughts, worsened ocean conditions, warmed streams, shifted food webs, intensified pollutants, thrown predator populations out of balance, and brought ecosystems that support salmon and people to a tipping point.
Drawing from decades of work by numerous experts, stakeholders and tribes, Inslee has put forward an update to the state’s salmon recovery strategy.
It builds on the work of the State of Salmon in Watersheds report that the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office completes every two years.
The governor’s updated salmon strategy calls for several actions:
- Protect and restore vital salmon habitat.
- Invest in clean water infrastructure for salmon and people.
- Correct fish passage barriers and restore salmon access to historical habitat.
- Build climate resiliency.
- Align harvest, hatcheries and hydropower with salmon recovery.
- Address predation and food web issues for salmon.
- Enhance commitments and coordination across agencies and programs.
- Strengthen science, monitoring and accountability.
Given the condition of our salmon, these actions will be urgently pursued starting in the coming legislative session, and over the next few years.
Read the Full Policy Brief:
https://governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-01/Salmon_PolicyBrief_12-13-21_2.pdf