West Coast salmon industry braces for fishing ban

Ocean salmon fishing season is set to be prohibited this year off California and much of Oregon for the second time in 15 years after fewer and fewer adult Chinook return to California’s shrunken rivers to lay their eggs. Experts fear the salmon may be heading toward extinction as the rivers they need to spawn shrink from both extended drought and more water being diverted to agriculture. Climate change also is cutting into the salmon food supply as sea life moves toward cooler ocean waters nearer the Earth’s poles.

Class discussion: What other sea life is threatened by climate change, loss of habitat or overfishing? Just how much of the world’s wildlife is considered endangered? Do you expect to see many species to go extinct during your lifetime? What are some of the species that human beings have hunted to extinction over the past thousands of years? Could the continued loss of wildlife threaten our own well-being? Do you ever wonder if humanity faces extinction? Why or why not?