Actually, the commercial argument is complicated. You may find this hard to believe, but world wide, pinks and chum are the largest part of the commercial salmon catch. Apparently they are much more popular in Asia and Russia than they are here (also, chums and pinks are about all they have left in Asia outside of Kamchatka).

Now that doesn't mean that our local pinks might not have been spared harvest pressures. Most of the pink catch is in Alaskan and Asian waters. I don't know, but it's possible that WA pink runs are not heavily impacted by those fisheries.

Historically, pinks have always been the most abundant of the Pacific salmon, by a long shot. So from a fishing standpoint, it would take longer to notice even a significant decline. They certainly have lost some of their native range. Pinks used to be found in rivers on both sides of the Pacific, as far south as the Sacramento River in North America. In North America, I think you're pretty hard pressed to find them south of Puget Sound anymore. (Interestingly, WA has the least abundant pink runs in N. America; central and SE Alaskan runs are almost ten times larger.)

But it is true that their simple life history makes them much more resilient to both habitat declines and overharvest. I don't want to come off as a one-trick pony, but we should also probably consider that at least in North America, pink salmon have by and large been spared the impacts of large-scale hatchery programs.

Ironically, pinks would be a good candidate for hatchery production (except that there's no need for it). Because of their simple life history, and the fact that they do not rear at all in fresh water, they are less susceptible to the domestication pressures and competition impacts that are at the root of the problems with chinook, coho, and steelhead hatchery programs. One very big caveat however, is that some studies looking at some very large pink hatcheries in Alaska suggest that survival of hatchery pink juveniles may be high enough to actually start taxing the habitat capacity of the north Pacific, which could lead to negative impacts on all marine stocks, not just salmon. That's a lot of hatchery fish.

Ramon Vanden Brulle
Washington Trout