One of the amazing and sad aspects of a salmon’s life is that it dies in the same river that it was born in. Unfortunately, these beautiful salmon are going to extinction because of many problems. First, salmon farming is one of the issues that cause extinction for the salmon. CAAR (n.d.a, para.1) says “Salmon farming is the practice of rearing hatchery-origin salmon from smelt to adult size in a net-cage, pond or contained system. As currently practiced on a commercial scale, salmon farming in most regions involves the use of large floating open net-cage pens, usually located in sheltered bays along the coast.” Furthermore, they started to commercially farm it in 1970. Many people sell salmon, so some companies tend to make fish farms. Because of the benefits from selling salmon, many companies tend to increase the number of salmon farms. Now, wild salmon has become one of the fish endangered to extinction for many reasons, such as trading in big quantities. In addition, climate change and global warming have one of the greatest effects on the ecosystem and on all kinds of creatures, especially salmon (World Wild Life, n.d.). The National Wildlife Federation (2008, para.7) writes, “global warming will harm salmon and steelhead at each stage of their life cycle, exacerbating other conditions that have led to the species’ threatened or endangered status.” Global warming is a big issue that will affect the life of salmon and other species. As a result, we have two reasons that cause extinction for the salmon.
Moreover, many wild salmon are threatened with extinction because of pollution and the causes of it. In addition, the pollution caused by human activities is another reason which leads to extinction of the salmon. Shavelson (2004, para.1) writes, “governor Murkowski and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) have proposed new rules to increase pollution in Alaska's wild salmon streams. Currently, state law rightly prohibits ‘mixing zones’ in salmon spawning areas. The Governor's proposal will rollback these safeguards, and allows mining, sewage, oil and gas and other pollution to be dumped into our fish streams.” Also, many threats and diseases are because of using the salmon farms. Truly, several of the scientists are against the salmon farms. CAAR (n.d.b, para. 3) writes, “Salmon farming is one of the most harmful aquaculture production systems. The industry uses open net-cages placed directly in the ocean, where farm waste, chemicals, disease and parasites are released directly into the surrounding waters, harming other marine life. Escapes of thousands of farmed fish are common in the industry, as are the death of natural predators like sea lions and seals who are attracted to the pens of fish.” Many threats and diseases are because of using the salmon farms.
People should try to save salmon from extinction by following these three ways: traders should avoid selling salmon in big quantities, governments should support the scientists in their experiences in genetic engineering, and people have to raise the number of salmon farms in the entire world.
Salmon are one kind of fish that has a variety of colors and environments. The two famous kinds of salmon are pink and silver salmon. They spend most of their lives in the ocean and sea, but once they want to spawn, they go to the same river or stream where they were born. Dictionary.com (2006, para. 1) calls salmon, “a marine and freshwater food fish, Salmo salar, of the family Salmonidae, having pink flesh, inhabiting waters off the North Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America near the mouths of large rivers, which it enters to spawn.” Moreover, the salmon has a particular life cycle (FishEx, n.d.). It is different than any fish in the world. They started as eggs in the bottom of stream in gravel nests. The eggs usually get the spherical shape and pink or red color. The eggs take around 3 months to spawn. In addition, the salmon gets different stages; these are egg, alevin, fry, parr, smolt, and adult. The alevin period is starting after they break the eggs. They hide in the gravel nests from the enemies and they feed on food in the gravel such as nutrient-rich yolk sac. After that, the fry stage is in turn. In this period they try to feed themselves, start swimming in the stream and take the shape of the fish. In fry stage, there are a lot of threats that make their life endangered and another organism such as insect, birds, and fish. When the salmon spawn they stay for a few years in the river, then they start the voyage to the ocean immediately. After they are born, they are called alevin and move on to juvenile. After a while, the salmon grows up and became adult. Before that, the salmon started the trip to the ocean after some changes in their bodies in order to adapt with the ocean and salt water. Parr is the next stage, in which the salmon grow and feed from the stream. There are some changes in their bodies, especially in their length --it will be six inches long. They get special vertical marking in this stage. The parr stage takes from 1 to 3 years after the parr shift to the next stage. The smolt stage is the time that fish have to change their skin from vertical marking to the silver color. This silver skin will help them to adapt with the saltwater. Moreover, the smolt start staying in groups and move in large groups to the ocean. The last stage is an adult stage; in this period the salmon spend from 1 to 4 years in the ocean. There are some exceptions like Jacks or Jennies salmon, which live in Alaska and return to the river before they develop and become mature. The salmon journey is more than 2000 miles, and they return to the river or stream. The trip from the river to the ocean and reverse makes the salmon’s life endangered from many enemies, such as bears, wolf, seals, orca whales and fisherman.
The salmon have many benefits to the human. Salmon have been considered one of the important foods for humans from the beginning of prehistoric times (World wild life, n.d.). There were some paintings in France and North America that prove that. Also, Native Americans in the United States were fishing salmon and using it in different ways, such as eating and trading. Also, salmon occur in some places like the west coast of the United States in California. Salmon have proven to have many medical benefits to the human such as salmon oil. Lad (2007, para. 4) writes, “Salmon oil is used for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Researchers believe that it is very useful as a measure of protection against heart attack.” Thus, this brief about the salmon recycle life and the benefits of used salmon oil.
First of all, opponents of eliminating selling salmon in big quantities claim that fish farms produce a huge number of salmon and they can make more fish farms to feed the market if there is a decrease. Truly, increasing the number of the fish farms over limits are causing imbalance in the ecosystem and increasing new kinds of diseases. Traders have to eliminate selling salmon in big quantities to protect salmon from becoming endangered. Traders decline this view because they earn millions of dollars from selling salmon. There are really serious collapses in the ground fish fisheries because of the intensive commercial fishing in the entire, world especially in New England. The collapse is estimated in the world as by 25%. There is a simple attempt to restrict the commercial fishing for one year in New England by the Judge Gladys Kessler. Most fishermen and people who work in this field care about themselves and try to have all the benefits from aggressive fishing, so that every fisherman blames another (Stavins, 2002). Governments have to regulate selling salmon in huge amounts. There are many ways to solve this problem. Governments have to make bound limits for each industry in every year. Also, governments must increase taxes for selling the rare fish. Moreover, many people in the world like to eat salmon, which makes the demand high. In addition, governments have to make laws that prevent the random selling of salmon in the entire world.
Moreover, governments must enforce fishermen’s legal selling. Also, they should make penalties for illegal selling. Prohibiting illegal selling is an example of a way that would help to save salmon from extinction.Moreover, opponents of supporting the scientists in their experiences in genetic engineering claim that will produce a new generation which may have a lot of illnesses. Also, this experience will lead to extinction of salmon. However, governments spend a lot of money and time looking for solutions to clean up the sea’s life. This solution is temporary and not efficient. Governments should spend this money in the proper places, in the genetic engineering world. According to Rebecca Clarren’s article (2003), “Tinkering with the DNA of salmon is a relatively simple task in today’s genetics labs. In order to create fast-growing salmon, geneticists insert an additional gene, taken from a different species, such as an ocean pout, into a newly fertilized egg. If all goes smoothly, the foreign gene integrates into a long strand of native DNA, and a healthy fish — containing the combined genes — grows up. Geneticists then breed these modified fish for several generations, until the offspring consistently carry the additional gene” (para. 6).
The genetic engineering is a revolution these days, so we should use it to solve our problems completely. By using this invention, we will have more fish. In addition, we can control the DNA and change it to have new living beings. Genetic engineering can support the fish farm and produce a new generation of salmon that can solve the problem of some missing salmon. More experiences can ensure the safety of salmon from any disease or the effect of humans. Thus, controlling the DNA and changing it will help to protect salmon from extinction.
Finally, opponents of raising the number of salmon farms in the entire world claim that will affect small species that feed on the salmon and drive wild salmon to extinction. In fact, the third way to save salmon from being endangered is to provide appropriate habitat. If fishermen and specialists in the sea world choose the right environment for salmon, that will help to make proliferation for salmon. For example, many countries have a serious plan to prevent anyone from fishing to protect the salmon and wildlife. There is wonderful innovation to protect the salmon, which is the salmon farm. The farming of salmon assists to increase the number of salmon quickly. Many countries are supporting this idea these days. Freeman (n.d., para. 5) says, “The need to solve planetary overfishing of wild fish stocks represents the inherent requirement for aqua farming. Our ability to feed ourselves remains an issue of paramount importance. In simple terms we must find a way to make more from what we have. One way to do that is to increase the resource performance and enhance supplies. Farming helps to bridge that gap. Fish Farming is a versatile and flexible industry encompassing a wide range of methods designed to meet various needs and to fulfill different purposes. Hatchery production of young fish to restock lakes, streams and oceans is a form of aquaculture that has provided immense benefits by enhancing wild fish populations. Subsistence aqua farming of fish and aquatic plants has provided nourishment in many impoverished regions, while commercial level fish farming has augmented wild supplies and reduced fishing pressures.” We can protect wild salmon from extinction by releasing some of the salmon farms annually into the wildlife to make balance in the ecosystem. In this way we make sure there is not extinction for wild salmon. In addition, government must become strict and have certain plans about cleaning up rivers and oceans. Educating people and changing some of their bad habits and charging factories for their pollution are some solutions to get a healthy environment. Farming salmon is one example that helps to provide a proper habitat.
In conclusion, prohibitive illegal selling, supporting the scientists in their experiences in genetic engineering, and increasing the amount of the proper habitats are three ways that would protect salmon from extinction. People should think about preventive environment more than thinking about spending their money in destroying the environment. Also, they should take the extinction of salmon seriously, because many poor countries’ economies depend on fishing. People often complain about the uncontrolled fishing. In addition, the whole world must spend more money to find more inventions to manage global warming, pollution, and random fishing to keep fish from extinction. It is difficult to clean up the rivers and oceans, so government should support this kind of inventions. We ought to treat the issue seriously; otherwise, we might lose the delicious taste of salmon.
References
Clarren, R. (2003, June 23). Genetic engineering turns salmon into fast food. High Country News. Retrieved November 18, 2008, from http://www.hcn.org/issues/253/14058
Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) (n.d.a). What is salmon farming?. Retrieved November 09, 2008, from http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/page/whatisalmonfarming
Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) (n.d.b). Environmental Impacts.
Retrieved November 14, 2008, from
http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/page/environmentalimpacts
FishEx. (n.d.). The fascinating life of an Alaska salmon. Retrieved November 03, 2008, from http://www.fishex.com/seafood/salmon/salmon-life-cycles.html
Freeman, R. (n.d.). What is Aquaculture?. Aquaculture Resources. Retrieved November 26,2008, from http://www.northernaquafarms.com/aquaculture/index.html
Lad, K. (2007, December 7). Benefits and uses of salmon oil. Buzzle.com. Retrieved
November 09, 2008, from
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-and-uses-of-salmon-oil.html
National Wildlife Federation (2008, April 6). Global warming heats up urgency of salmon recovery efforts. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 6, 2008, from
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402213640.htmSalmon. (2006).
Dictionary.com. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salmon
Shavelson, B. (2004, August 18). Stop Alaska salmon stream pollution! GoPetition Retrieved November 29, 2008, from
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-alaska-salmon-stream-pollution.html
Stavins, R. (2002, Decamber 2). A better way to regulate fishing. The Boston Globe.
Retrieved November 15, 2008, from http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/1228/better_way_to_regulate_fishing.html
World Wild Life (n.d.). The great salmon run: Competition between wild and farmed salmon. Retrieved November 03, 2008, from
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/wildlifetrade/WWFBinaryitem4980.pdf
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