The Lives Of Salmon Are Made A Nightmare For Our Fantasies Letter Of The Week: From August 9

Let’s see if I’ve got this straight.

If a wild salmon reaches its spawning grounds, it’s killed and its eggs or sperm are used by the hatchery to produce young salmon.

On the trip downstream, people hired for the purpose protect the fry from squaw fish and gulls. Upon reaching the dams, they’re caught, drugged, tagged and trucked around the dams to the next stretch of river.

Four years later, here they come. If they make it past the fishermen they must survive the sea lions. Fortunately, the law helps by catching the sea lions and dumping them someplace they’d prefer not to be (or they would have gone there themselves).

The trip up the river is facilitated by millions of dollars in dam “improvements.” We don’t know their thoughts at this time, but if they ever speak up we’ll hear them because some are wearing radio transmitters.

Along the way, a few of these wild salmon are caught and eaten by Indians and sportsmen. The salmon that finally pull their tagged, drugged and microchipped bodies into their home port are caught, and to everyone’s dismay it’s found that some have had affairs with hatchery fish and race mixing has occurred.

I have a suggestion. Why not simply raise salmon in pens, tattoo them with the words “wild salmon” and place them where those who want the wild salmon experience can catch them.

After all, one fantasy is probably as good as another. Jim Shamp Cheney

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