I read Maximum Salmon by DC Reid a few years back and that book made me question the authors understanding of salmon. It also made me realize that I didn't know nearly enough about the salmon I wanted to catch. I also had a very short chronological perspective and was pointing fingers at others growing up, while watching my dad drain his used oil filters over the storm drain. I been trying to get more active and have read quite a few books since then, thanks to that one lame book that was offering to help me maximize my salmon kill. Some of the better books have been "salmon without rivers" and the "king of fish: the ten thousand year run". Those were eye openers because of the species info but also, and this was key for me, the historical information pertaining to mans dealings with the resource starting with the Atlantic salmon in Europe and then east coast and how those same people eventually came to California, Oregon and Washington. Alaska may be what it is because it took so long for cannery men to get there. Kamchatka may be a time machine...
I am beginning to feel that if people keep shifting the baseline fwd and only look at how we are doing in comparison to a few years back, people can make anything look like a good decision. I am most concerned about the species and health of the oceans because my 4 year old son might not be able to even imagine what I had growing up on a beach on Whidbey in the 70s/80s. What I didn't know then was how much the resource had diminished from 70 (even 40) years earlier. I am no expert and never will be, but it looks to me that education (with historical perspective) is going to be one of the major keys to preserving these amazingly resistant animals. Hatcheries at the base of the dams? Splash dams? Snag clearing? Holy cow we have done a nice number on fish that symbolize the NW.
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