Shelly Leary prepares salmon for smoking in Napaimute, Alaksa. “I was taught to always be ready, to have food for the winter. When the smokehouse is filled, I feel good because I know I have enough,” Leary said. (Amy Gulick)

Shelly Leary prepares salmon for smoking in Napaimute, Alaksa. “I was taught to always be ready, to have food for the winter. When the smokehouse is filled, I feel good because I know I have enough,” Leary said. (Amy Gulick)

Viewpoints: Our cultural survival is tied to salmon’s survival

We now rely heavily on Alaska for our salmon. We must work harder to sustain a species vital to us.

By Amy Gulick / For the Herald

When the first Alaska Airlines flight carrying Copper River salmon arrives at SeaTac airport in May, the press clambers to greet them.

The door of the plane swings open and two uniformed pilots escort a hefty chinook salmon — the king of fish — onto a red carpet rolled out on the tarmac. The crowd cheers, cameras click, and celebrity chefs pose with the silver-scaled honoree. What other region gives a fish the royal treatment?

This celebration of wild salmon, the icon of the Pacific Northwest, is an annual ritual. We would be remiss, however, if we didn’t also celebrate where the salmon that grace our restaurants, backyard grills, and Pike Place Market seafood stalls originate.

There was a time when the salmon we ate came from our home rivers: the Skagit, Columbia, even the Duwamish. But today, more than 90 percent of all wild salmon we eat comes from Alaska; places like the Copper River, Taku River, and Bristol Bay. Alaska is the salmon state, the last best place in North America where wild Pacific salmon still support ecosystems, communities, cultures, economies, and valued ways of life.

What does this mean for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, northern California, and southern British Columbia where many salmon populations are less than 10 percent of their historical abundance? Where some populations have gone extinct? And what does it mean for Alaska, whose salmon are not immune to the impacts of logging, mining, urbanization and climate change?

Just as salmon know no borders, neither should we. From Alaska to British Columbia to northern California, we are one nation under salmon and ought to act like it. The needs of salmon in Alaska may be different than those in the Lower 48 or Canada, but regardless of whether salmon need to be protected, maintained, recovered or restored, it is imperative we unite and do right by the fish. Our elected leaders must reach across party, state and country lines to swim in the same salmon stream. Commercial fishermen, sport anglers, and Indigenous Tribes will have to come together to fight for the fish, not over the fish.

The current challenges and future uncertainties facing our wild salmon demand nothing less of us. We know what salmon need; clean cool fresh water to spawn and rear and a healthy ocean to mature; and the choice is ours to give it to them.

We would do well to learn from and follow the lead of Indigenous peoples throughout salmon country whose cultures have been built, nourished and sustained by salmon since time immemorial. We can start by acknowledging that wild salmon are a gift: to the land, water, animals, plants and people. We give thanks for this gift and give back by taking care of salmon and their habitat. We live in relationship with salmon by seeing them as the gift that they are, not treating them solely as resources for the taking.

A Dena’ina Athabascan woman from the Bristol Bay region of Alaska shared her people’s salmon way of being with me: “When we catch the first salmon of the season, we make a chowder so that everyone can have a taste. By sharing salmon, we show respect for the fish and share our gratitude with everybody. We return the bones of the fish to the water and ask the salmon to tell their relatives to come back and give themselves to the people.”

This season, when the Alaska Airlines plane touches down and bestows the first fish on our region of the salmon nation, let’s gather, give thanks, and give back by taking care of wild salmon everywhere.

Amy Gulick is the author and photographer of “The Salmon Way: An Alaska State of Mind.” A photographic exhibit based on her book is on display at the Seattle Aquarium through August. She lives in Clinton. See more photos from Guick’s book and the Seattle Aquarium exhibit online with this story at HeraldNet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Sunday, Feb. 9

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

bar graph, pie chart and diagrams isolated on white, 3d illustration
Editorial: Don’t let state’s budget numbers intimidate you

With budget discussions starting soon, a new website explains the basics of state’s budget crisis.

A young man carries water past the destroyed buildings of a neighborhood in the Gaza Strip, Feb. 2, 2025. President Donald Trump’s proposal to “own” the Gaza Strip and transfer its population elsewhere has stirred condemnation and sarcasm, but it addresses a real and serious challenge: the future of Gaza as a secure, peaceful, even prosperous place. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times)
Comment: ‘Homeland’ means exactly that to Gazans

Palestinians have long resisted resettlement. Trump’s plan to ‘clean out’ Gaza changes nothing.

Rent stabilization can keep more from losing homes

Thank you to The Herald Editorial Board for its editorial, regarding rent… Continue reading

Don’t pamper young criminals with lenient sentences

I want to give a shout out to Todd Welch for his… Continue reading

Comment: Democracy depends on support of local journalism

A state bill provides funding to support local news outlets through a modest tax on tech businesses.

Comment: Love is intoxicating; romance doesn’t have to be

Navigating sobriety while dating, with Valentine’s Day coming up, is possible and fulfilling.

Comment: State attempt at single-payer health care bound to fail

Other states have tried, but balked when confronted with the immense cost to state taxpayers.

Curtains act as doors for a handful of classrooms at Glenwood Elementary on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Schools’ building needs point to election reform

Construction funding requests in Arlington and Lake Stevens show need for a change to bond elections.

FILE- In this Nov. 14, 2017, file photo Jaìme Ceja operates a forklift while loading boxes of Red Delicious apples on to a trailer during his shift in an orchard in Tieton, Wash. Cherry and apple growers in Washington state are worried their exports to China will be hurt by a trade war that escalated on Monday when that country raised import duties on a $3 billion list of products. (Shawn Gust/Yakima Herald-Republic via AP, File)
Editorial: Trade war would harm state’s consumers, jobs

Trump’s threat of tariffs to win non-trade concessions complicates talks, says a state trade advocate.

A press operator grabs a Herald newspaper to check over as the papers roll off the press in March 2022 in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald file photo)
Editorial: Push back news desert with journalism support

A bill in the state Senate would tax big tech to support a hiring fund for local news outlets.

Forum: Requiem for a lost heavyweight: Sports Illustrated

SI, with Time and NatGeo, were a holy trinity for me and my dad. Now, it’s a world of AI clickbait.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.