Golden State Salmon Association On Importance Of Salmon To Californians
Good blog post from the Golden State Salmon Association about the importance of salmon during a time when these anadromous fish are under fire from dwindling stocks, Governor Gavin Newsom’s water policies and even President Donald Trump.
Here’s a sample from William O’Neal:
Every piece of wild-caught California salmon tells an extraordinary story. It begins high in the Sierra Nevada, where cold, clean rivers flow to the Central Valley and give life to tiny fry (or baby salmon) that will make their way downstream, passing farms, towns, and reservoirs before entering the Pacific Ocean. After years of feeding and growing at sea, they make the long journey home, guided by scent and instinct, to the very waters where they were born.
That round trip can cover more than 2,000 miles. It’s one of nature’s most impressive migrations, and it’s what connects communities hundreds of miles apart. Anglers in San Francisco Bay rely on the same fish that begin their lives in the Mokelumne or Feather River. Chefs in Monterey prepare meals that often start with hatchery-born fish from near Sacramento. When we talk about “from river to table,” it’s not a metaphor; it’s a literal journey of survival and return.
Long before the first dam was built, California’s Indigenous tribes — from the Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa in the Klamath and Trinity basins to Central Valley tribes such as the Winnemem Wintu, Miwok, and Maidu — lived in partnership with salmon. These fish sustained their diets, shaped their calendars, and played a central role in their ceremonies and creation stories.
GSSA board member and member of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Gary Mulcahy states, “For the Winnemem Wintu and many other tribes, salmon are part of who we are, our history, our food, and our future. When the salmon can’t make their way home, it means something in our world is out of balance. Restoring those runs isn’t just about bringing back a fish; it’s about restoring a relationship that sustained California long before the dams, and one that still sustains us today.”
