River of Kings

Two videos from the Saving the Ocean series with Carl Safina, titled River of Kings describing the history and current issues involved in restoration of chinook salmon in the Nisqually river in West Central Washington. Though I do not agree with everything in the videos, especially the use of residualized chinook that are offspring of hatchery prodigy, the Nisqually Tribe and the State of Washington are working hard to restore habitat in both the river system and estuary to aide in the comeback and make this ecosystem a salmon friendly place. If all chinook salmon of hatchery prodigy, then many issues can occur, but at the same time the native run of chinook are extinct, so they are working with the prodigy of fish that have naturally produced. I guess it is better then nothing at this point and we are indeed working with scraps.

The work and study of Eel Grass and the environment that juvenile salmonids use in the estuary is also very interesting. By studying this environment, it will help us understand why these fish have a hard time getting from the estuary into the Pacific Ocean. It will also help us learn what they are eating while getting used to the saline environment in the estuary. This important data will surly help us in the understanding of why Puget Sound is not seeing healthy returns of salmon and steelhead and can be used as a model for other estuary enhancements.
 

Watch River of Kings, Part 1 on PBS. See more from Saving the Ocean.

Watch River of Kings, Part 2 on PBS. See more from Saving the Ocean.