Some scientists say that even if the ocean were full of king salmon, the Southern Residents would still be in trouble. But the ocean won’t be full of king salmon. In the Pacific Northwest and California, wild salmon runs have been decimated by dams, agricultural pollution and hatchery programs that harmed stocks of wild fish. While the troller lawsuit makes its way through the appeals process, the Wild Fish Conservancy said it will encourage consumers to stop eating wild king salmon from Alaska’s troll fishery and petition to have many of that state’s king runs listed as endangered. Wild salmon survived for millenniums in rivers across the globe, through the earth’s warming and cooling cycles, but over the last few hundred years, they’ve disappeared from all but a few places on earth.

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Persons: ”, Emma Helverson, they’ve Organizations: Southern Residents, Fish Conservancy, Alaska Department of Fish Locations: Pacific Northwest, California, Alaska