Fish Harvests in Puget Sound at Lowest Level in 55 Years

Salmon are not the only troubled fish in the Pacific Northwest.

An analysis prepared last month for a joint U.S.-Canadian scientific panel on the health of fish stocks declared bluntly that “fish resources in Puget Sound have seriously declined, and harvests are at their lowest level in over 55 years.”

Where once commercial and sport fishermen annually hauled over 26 million pounds of fish out of these waters, the 1993 catch was a paltry 3.6 million pounds. Pacific cod, hake and pollock populations have been especially hard hit, according to Cyreis Schmitt, a biologist for the state of Washington and a co-author of the report. “Essentially the fisheries have pretty much ceased for these three stocks,” she said.

Six of the eight most important non-salmon species in Puget Sound now rate as “low” or “very low” in abundance, but the authors said they could only guess at the cause.

Most of these depressed species have been off limits to fishing for years, yet returns to historic population levels are overdue. The report blames everything from unusually warm water in the sound to an increase in predators to the disappearance of marshland.

Unlike the salmon, some of these fish live for decades. That means a longer wait before scientists can accurately assess the stock’s status or recommend what to do.

“So many questions remain about how to do it right,” Schmitt said. “It takes more knowledge than we now have. The problems may or may not be man-made, but we need to adjust to them. We need to be aware and account for them.”