The king salmon population in Alaska has dropped 60% since 1984, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
A lawsuit aiming to curb the extinction of the salmon and orcas through limiting human consumption of the fish recently led to the shutdownof one of the largest fisheries in the world. The Wild Fish Conservancy, who filed the lawsuit, argued that the fate of orcas and king salmon were intertwined — the fish, known for their size and high fat content, are the whales' preferred meal — and human consumption leaves little of the food source for the 73 remaining resident orcas off the coast of Seattle.
Now, some say halting the fishing of king salmon, also known as Chinook salmon, is only the start of preventing the species' extinction. The other factor? Climate change.
Regardless whether king salmon are at risk of extinction because of human fishing or climate change, Corby Kummer, executive director of the Food and Society Policy program at the Aspen Institute, told Boston Public Radio the takeaway is the same: "We shouldn't be catching and eating king salmon, period."
Over the past 60 years, Alaska's average temperature has increased by about 3 degrees Farenheit. Ocean temperatures have hit record-breaking highs this summer, and the impact of rising sea temperatures can be seen in the salmon, and the people who have traditionally hunted them.
The New York Times reported that the famously large fish are smaller than they have ever been, and the drop in population has led to an inability to fish enough of the species to supply the Indigenous communities in Alaska that have fished Chinook calmon for hundreds of years.
"Shutting down fishing might not be the answer, because oceans are warming up, and king salmon are disappearing," said Kummer. "There's no particularly good explanation about why they're disappearing, but shutting it down might not be all that great for saving the orcas. And who knows what it's going to do for the king salmon population."
What does this mean for consumers? Here in New England, it's unlikely to make a big difference because wild-caught king salmon is not common here.
"Their meat comes at a very high premium, often $30 to $60 a pound. ... It generally appears in Boston stores only in August to October, that's the general time that it's available," Kummer explained. "Very little salmon is wild caught; 97% of the salmon you buy is farmed."
Kummer said while he prefers sockeye salmon for his own cooking — citing both flavor and price — wild salmon as a whole may not be as broadly available as the impacts of climate change continue to amass.
"Until I read that sockeye is just as endangered as king [salmon], I'll keep buying sockeye. But now it makes me very leery about wild salmon at all," said Kummer.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is expected to decide what will happen next for Alaskan fisheries and king salmon.
