August 6, 2018 –Alaskans will celebrate Alaska Wild Salmon Day on Aug. 10, but plans also are underway for a much bigger celebration: the International Year of the Salmon set to officially begin in 2019.
The theme is “Salmon and people in a changing world,” and a key focus will be a winter salmon study in the deepest regions of the Gulf of Alaska.
Both are sponsored in part by the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, which for 25 years has promoted research collaboration among scientists in its five member countries – Canada, Russia, Japan, Korea and the U.S.
“The main inspiration for development of this project is our awareness of the challenges salmon meet in the open ocean related to the climate and in the coastal areas,” said Dr. Vladimir Radchenko, commission director and one of the world’s leading salmon scientists.
A primary goal of Year of the Salmon is to get more people involved in protecting salmon and “coastal societies.” The aim of the Gulf project, Radchenko said, is to better understand the ocean phase of the salmon’s life cycle. Doing so would improve knowledge to help forecast salmon abundance and carrying capacity of the North Pacific.