Declining fish stocks are a problem across the world. The biggest concern is that, even with the latest technology, we don't really know how many fish remain in the world's oceans. It is thought that wasteful fishing methods combined with increased pollution have lead to a situation where some popular species nearing extinction. Now, people who depend on the continuance of fish stocks are starting to take action to ensure future generations will still find fish in the sea. Governor Mashkovtsev of the Kamchatka Oblast Administration signed a decree in 2005 authorizing a 544,000 acre salmon refuge located along the southwest side of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Wild Salmon Center identified the Kol River Salmon Refuge as significant because it contains all six native Pacific salmon species: chum, chinook, sockeye, coho, pink, and Asian masu salmon, as well as steelhead, Dolly Varden char, rainbow trout and white-spotted char.
The territory included in the Kol River Salmon Refuge includes no human settlements and is extremely productive, with annual runs of over five million fish. Besides salmon, the refuge will safeguard Kamchatka brown bears, snow sheep, Steller’s sea eagles, vast tracts of waterfowl habitat, and dozens of other species that rely on an ecosystem supported by the salmon lifecycle.
The salmon situation is a difficult one, as the alternative to trawling the North Atlantic with drift nets is offshore salmon farming, which is considered both cruel and damaging to the quality of the stock. Farmed fish is not only environmentally unsound, but less tasty too. Much like the fish in Kamchatka, wild Scottish Salmon has higher quality flesh than anything produced in offshore nets. The Scottish smoked salmon produced by wild fishing loosely resembles the fish bred in captivity, but there are a number of differences between the two products, such as the colour, texture and flavour of the flesh, not to mention the appearance of the scales and fins. The North Atlantic Salmon Fund is a potential thorn in the side of anti-farming foodies. Luxury smoked salmon is wild smoked salmon, thus as long as we want the finest foods on our plates, wild salmon stocks will continue to decline.
Unfortunately, purchasing organic smoked salmon has a greater degree of moral complexity than most organic foods, as any type of large-scale fishing carries with it great environmental cost. Wild salmon can be caught in large nets which trawl indiscriminately through the oceans, catching dolphins, porpoises, and other endangered species than lie in their way. The difficulty with the situation is that smoked salmon continues to be a popular cold meat and maintains a unique social status among many people, who view the dish as 'a bit posh'.
The bad news for conservationists is that demand for luxury food is on the up. Beluga caviar is in greater demand than ever, which has lead to a ban in farming sturgeon while stocks are dangerously low. Accompaniments like horseradish butter are selling well as people experiment with new combinations of flavours. Retailers have started stocking Scottish Langoustines as demand for a wider variety of dishes grows. Even smoked mackerel pate is selling in greater quantities than for the past fifty years.
Smoked Scottish salmon has enduring popularity because the flesh is delicious. This will continue to prevail over consumers' environmental concerns about the methods used to produce the dish. If anything, keeping the price of fish like salmon high ensures that the fish which reaches the dinner table should be of a good quality. Sadly, the emergence of salmon farms has countered this movement and two very different types of salmon are emerging: very low quality and very high quality.