King salmon vanishing in Alaska: Human Caused or Nature?

Yukon King Salmon, a staple food of the Alaska natives, are failing to return to their ancestral rivers and streams leaving many without food and without income. Biologists speculate that "the mostly likely cause was a shift in Pacific Ocean currents, but food availability, changing river conditions and predator-prey relationships could be affecting the fish."

But the people know different. Pollock fishing has taken priority over preserving natural habitat and has been killing off King Salmon despite efforts to put caps on bycatch. All those King Salmon caught up in the Pollock fishing trawlers are dying instead of swimming upstream to spawn and perpetuate their lifecycle.

The people are angry. Alaska government officials are not so quick to blame human intervention for the loss. Other possible reasons for the severe decline in King Salmon in the Yukon are: changing ocean currents, plankton blooms and even the carnivorous nature of salmon. River conditions could be changing, too.

Vannishing King Salmon

Hydrosphere: Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat

Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat

Standing on the shore of the Arctic ocean 1500 miles north of Seattle in Canada, the ice level has receded twice as far out as it was 40 years ago. It used to be 40 miles out from land, now the ice is 80 miles off shore and still shrinking.

"Global average temperatures rose 1 degree over the past century but twice as much over the Arctic as elsewhere, most likely attributable to manmade greenhouse gases researchers say.

The United Nations Work on Global Climate Change has the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon in the Arctic Rim to see for himself the melting ice. He hopes to use this information to spur a world wide accord this December in the Copenhagen, Denmark to get a petition signed by major countries that would commit to limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

UN Global Climate change