This discussion and the other related ones them past month (years) all have the common theme of making steelhead and salmon ecosystems the way they used to be, restoration. Ecosystems are dynamic, they are always changing and no management scheme can force an ecosystem into a previous state. The three broad categories of ecosystems are freshwater, ocean water, and terrestrial. North Pacific salmonids depend on all three and over a large section pf the earth. These systems are changing and at a rapid pace. Human activities causing climate change, and the introduction of persistent organic pollutants (POP’s) and plastics into the environment are drivers for the rapid pace of change.

Using steelhead as an example climate change in the freshwater environment is causing flooding and river changes on a large scale. Attempts to prevent damage from flooding does nothing to improve steelhead habitat. In the marine environment most steelhead smolts migrate directly offshore to regions of the Pacific of a particular temperature range. There is a warm water line that defines their southern range. As ocean waters warm that line move northward and a glance at a globe will show that as the southern boundary move north the total area of suitable marine habitat shrinks. Steelhead are a minor salmonid species. As their marine habitat decreases they have to compete more with pink and chum salmon and they are at a handicap.

Concerning pollution and plastics, they are everywhere in the environment. POP’s are endocrine disrupters, they can limit reproductive success and cause genetic damage. In the marine environment they are at low levels but plastics concentrate them on their surface as much as a million fold. As all of the plastics in the ocean are broken down to micro particles the surface area increases as the size of the particle decreases. The micro particles and the pollution they concentrate become part of the food chain. When we talk about marine derived nutrients cross out nutrients and substitute pollutants, not good.

We can discuss management failures, better manage schemes, or any number of other ideas but until the real cause of the change is understood little will happen. Climate change, POP’s, and plastics are all a product of the fossil fuel industry and that is going to be with us for some time.