The wonderful, mysterious salmon is as closely identified with the Pacific Northwest as great coffee and innovative technology. Entire industries have evolved around the public’s appetite for Pacific salmon, and the fish has long held a revered place in the culture and spirituality of the area’s native citizens and the art and cuisine of the region. But beyond their integral role in the cuisine, economy, and culture of the Pacific Northwest , salmon populations are an accurate indicator of the overall health of the region’s ecosystems. In addition to their importance as a food source for humans, salmon provide food and nutrients for 137 species of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles as well as rivers, forests and other natural environments. Dwindling salmon populations, which have resulted in more than a dozen species being placed on the Endangered Species list, are cause for grave concern among those who study the region’s complicated interplay of environments and populations.

Salmon are Essential to the Health of the Region
Salmon are so revered and so essential to the region’s identity — and its continued health and prosperity — that the state of Washington is taking a purposeful approach to salmon recovery efforts. The Governor's Salmon Recovery Office was established in 2004 by the state Legislature through the Salmon Recovery Planning Act to coordinate and produce a statewide salmon strategy; assist in the development of regional recovery plans; secure current and future funding for local, regional and state recovery efforts; and provide the Biennial State of Salmon report to the Legislature.

The University of Washington , with its breadth of expertise in myriad areas, is uniquely positioned to work in partnership with state agencies and other interests to aid in salmon recovery efforts. Through educational, research, and community outreach efforts in a range of programs and departments from the College of Architecture and Urban Planning to the interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences program at UW Tacoma, the UW is helping to ensure that native salmon populations grow and prosper, now and in the years ahead.

Examining Salmon at the Molecular Level
At the UW Marine Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory (MMBL) in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, researchers are examining life at the molecular level to aid in salmon recovery efforts and promote the long-term health of salmon in the Puget Sound region. Led by Associate Professor Kerry Naish, faculty and students are incorporating molecular and quantitative genetics to study how salmon adapt to diminished environments.

“Our group’s research program focuses on the evolution, diversity and adaptation of aquatic organisms to their environments — and how environmental changes and human activities can impact and promote the long-term fitness of these animals,” Naish says. “An understanding of the relationship between genetic diversity and fitness in a species is important in setting priorities in conservation and aquaculture because a species’ continuing viability is related to its adaptability in a changing environment.”

Working with a range of organisms from bacteria to phytoplankton to bivalves to crustaceans to fishes to marine mammals, the MMBL uses molecular tools such as microsatellites, t-RFLPs, differential screens, DNA sequencing, and protein analyses to examine long-term demographic changes in aquatic populations, including populations of salmon.

Naish and her colleagues hope a broader understanding of how salmon adapt to changing conditions, such as those brought about by increased human activity, including mining, farming, hydroelectric production, flood control, forestry, shoreline development and urbanization, will lead to strategies to promote the long-term fitness of salmon and other marine species. The group’s research encompasses conservation genetics, which employ genetic approaches to minimizing extinction risks; aquaculture genetics, which seeks to enhance favorable genotypes in marine populations, and genomics and evolutionary genetics, which identifies genetic markers linked to fitness traits such as growth, age at maturity and disease resistance in Pacific salmon. Through these approaches, Naish and her colleagues hope to understand the genetic diversity underlying adaptive traits in salmon that will help scientists, conservationists and policymakers take a predictive approach to addressing the problem of dwindling salmon populations — and in doing so, ensure the future health of Puget Sound and its complex ecosystems.

More information about the UW’s salmon recovery efforts:

• Restoration Ecology Network
  University of Washington Expertise and Resources for the Puget Sound Watershed Inventory of Activities 2001~2005
  Puget Sound Regional Synthesis Model
  Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Program

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Additional Sources:

Washington State Department of Ecology
Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife Salmon Recovery Page
Governor's Salmon Recovery Office

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