Elena Motchman  

I’ve noticed that the fishing industry has been going down hill lately, with fewer openings, less fish being brought back and less boats going out. For me and my family, we are not directly connected to the fishing industry so we have not been greatly affected by this. However we have noticed the effect that it has been taking on our friends and on the community, for many people here fishing was their way of life and now many have been forced to find other professions and to sell both their fishing licenses and their boats. It’s the environment however, that has been affected the most, seeing as the lack of fishing signifies a lack of the wild fish and of the salmon. Reduction of the salmon means a reduction of everything that depends on them, bears, whales, birds, extra. The forests will also suffer because they will lack the nutrients that are provided for them through the bones of the salmon. There are many reasons why the salmon population is depleting, these problems include: over fishing, logging, pollution, ect, but I think the main reason for the recent depletion of the salmon is that of the fish farms. The fish farms are causing major damage to the wild salmon, they are a fess pool for lice which infect the salmon fry and cause the death of hundreds if not thousands of salmon. The farms also use large numbers of wild fish to feed the farmed atlantics, the farms also infect the salmon that swim through them with disease and pesticides, lastly they have not been able to prevent large numbers of Atlantic salmon from escaping which is not only a waste but the escaped salmon can destroy the gravel beds that the wild salmon use for spawning. All in all there are many problems facing both the fishing industry and the fish themselves, and a solution to these problems needs to be found before both are wiped out forever.