Jay, Ethan, Roman, Rob, & Tricia at WSC headquarters Photo: Guido RahrYesterday afternoon Jay, Rob, and I had a super productive meeting with a few folks at the
Wild Salmon Center in Portland.
The Wild Salmon Center's stated mission is to: "identify, understand and protect the best wild salmon ecosystems of the Pacific Rim. We devise and implement practical strategies, based on the best science, to protect forever these extraordinary places and their biodiversity." One of their major focus areas is Kamchatka, home to between a sixth and a quarter of the world's salmon breeding grounds, where they work closely with Russian
NGO Wild Fishes and Biodiversity Foundation to research and protect salmon and other fish habitats in many of the pristine watersheds throughout the peninsula.
WSC's direct involvement with the rivers of this relatively mysterious peninsula, their extremely successful research and conservation campaigns, and the proximity of their headquarters to us in Oregon made them appear as an obvious partner to us from the first conversations we've had about the Kamchatka Project.
We've been brainstorming about how to shape this expedition for a little over a month now, and have gotten pretty excited about focusing on salmon-related conservation for several reasons. First, all five of us on the expedition reside in ecosystems defined by Pacific salmon, and lead lives that are directly related to these fish. As
kayakers, we go the same places, do many of the same things, and are affected by the same policies and technologies that affect these cornerstone species. Second, salmon are the primary factor driving the economy of Kamchatka. From everything we've learned, it would be impossible to go to the peninsula and NOT focus on salmon. From legal fishing operations, to
subsistence harvesting, to sport fishing, to poaching for caviar, nearly all of Kamchatka's residents have a long term vested interest in keeping their streams healthy. And as home to between a sixth and a quarter of the entire world's salmon stocks, Kamchatka deserves the attention of us all. Third, by giving the story of the Kamchatka Project a broader focus than kayaking alone, we exponentially increase our target audience of media outlets and potential donors.
More to come...
Posts
