A salmon collapse is dangerous for grizzliesThere's a lot of protein in salmon, but that's not what grizzly bears are looking for.
They are looking for the fat in the fish, which will help the bears survive their long winter hibernation.
This spawning season, an estimated 10.4 million sockeye salmon were expected to return to the Fraser River, British Columbia's longest river.
But, according to The Economist, only 1.7 million made the journey -- a shocking 50-year low.
Scientists and environmentalists agree to the dual cause of this precipitous collapse: overfishing and the destruction of spawning ecosystems.
There is also some debate as to the detrimental effects of fish farming, which can release diseased farm fish into the open water, infected their wild brethren.
With the salmon decline, there is another cycle at risk. Bears will not be distributing as many nitrogen-rich fish carcasses throughout their habitats, lessening the fertilizing effect that the forests need to thrive.
GET INFORMED
- Watch an International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) video of orphaned bear cubs
- Sign an Alaska Wilderness League letter urging Secretary Salazar to protect the sockeye salmon stocks in Bristol Bay by not signing the plan to open up the area to destructive gold and copper mining
- Sign a National Wildlife Federation letter urging the Obama administration to restore wild salmon and steelhead to healthy fishable populations that create jobs, keep communities prosperous and promote a clean energy economy
- Download the Environmental Defense Fund's "Pocket Eco-Friendly Fish Selector" to make choices that help prevent overfishing
- Pebble Mine (November 18, 2009
- Atlantic Salmon Dying in Chile's Pacific (August 4, 2009)
- Ursus Melancholius (April 19, 2009)
- If Fish Could Talk: Get Off of Our Lawn (July 8, 2009)
- The End of An Odyssey Draws Near (May 25, 2009)
- Pick up the Fish Phone (January 20, 2009)
- Overfishing: How Supermarkets Rate (December 28, 2008)
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