Chapter One

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/08/25/bc-sockeye-salmon-fraser-river.html


Summary


This article is about the recent salmon run we had in British Columbia.  This salmon run was one of the largest runs in nearly a hundred years, with over 25 million Sockeye salmon that returned to the Fraser River.  Many people didn't know what to expect for this years salmon run, because last year under 1.5 million Sockeye salmon returned.  Many of the fish processing plants couldn't process the large amounts of fish because over the past few years, fish harvests were very low.  Only a few companies were prepared for this large harvest.  Another issue explained in the article was about how many fish won't be able to make it to their destinations, due  to the fact that there are too many fish in the river.  DFO area directer Barry Rosenberger claimed that the salmon are "very well managed and the department has proven a history of adjusting harvest numbers as the projected returns changes".   Finally, researchers, scientists, and professors don't know why some years the salmon harvests are high and some are low, but they have no way to know.  In the article, they mention that they are unable to monitor the whereabouts of the salmon in the oceans, so, therefore, they can't predict their survival rates.


Connections


The main connection would be scarcity, but an inverse relationship applies here too.   Scarcity is a connection, because in previous years the salmon harvests were very low.  Fish is a limited resource on our planet.  Over the years, the fish populations have been slowly decreasing, causing the price in fish to rise, but thanks to this years Sockeye salmon harvest, the price of fish has decreased a little.  The decrease in fish prices is because of the sudden increase in supply, this is an example of an inverse relationship.   Since there was such a large stock of fish,  suppliers and stores decreased their prices, so they could sell it all.  These are the connections I made in the article.


Reflection


I think the return of millions of fish is a good thing for our environment, our economy, and for the other organisms who feed off of them.  It is a good thing for our environment, because fish is becoming an endangered species and this may help our fish population to continue to grow.   Also, this helps our economy, because the fisheries have more fish to process and sell.  Over the past decade, many fisheries had to decrease their sizes or shut down, so this return will help the surviving fisheries survive.   Finally, the return of the fish is good for the organisms who feed off of them, because without one of their primary food sources, these organisms will eventually become an endangered species.  These are some of the reasons why I agree with the article, and how the fish is good for our planet.