Raising a pint at Pike in support of salmon!

SEATTLE — More than 100 people, including commercial and sport fishermen, chefs and local salmon advocates, showed up to raise a pint in support of wild salmon and kick off the Save Our Wild Salmon National Road Show. The event at Pike Brewing Company coincided with the final Pacific Fishery Management Council's decision to completely shut down the commercial fishery south of Washington. This year our wild salmon and coastal communities desperately need our support and action.

Last year four Snake River sockeye made it home to their mountain spawning grounds at Redfish Lake in Idaho. Four fish. This year the collapse of the Sacramento River is another example of our desperate need for leadership in protecting our natural resources. Our salmon are disappearing from our rivers and our fishing communities are in crisis. The federal government has mismanaged our watersheds for decades and we've seen years of rolling blackouts up and down the West Coast. Now is the time for action — we must save our wild salmon now, or lose them forever. So we're heading down the coast sounding the alarm with a 25-foot salmon.

In Washington, we need Senators Murray and Cantwell to take the lead in the Senate. The federal government wants to continue to spend billions of public dollars on ineffective, illeagal plans that won't protect our salmon. Lower Snake River dam removal is one part of a solution that can save our endangered salmon as well as protect our fishermen, farmers and regional ratepayers. Senators Murray and Cantwell, we are calling on you to bring people together and help us craft a solution that works for the whole region.

Call Senators Murray and Cantwell and urge them to save our wild salmon today! Senator Maria Cantwell: 202.224.3441 Senator Patty Murray: 202.224.2621

Thank you to those who helped send FIN out of Seattle!
Chef Ethan Stowell of Union, Chef Kevin Davis of Steelhead Diner, Chef Craig Heatherington of TASTE at SAM for the delicious salmon dishes; Pike Brewing Co. owners Charles and Rose Ann Finkel, Pike general manager Drew Gillespie; Amy Grondin; Seattle Slow Food; Seattle Chefs Collaborative; Seafood Producers Cooperative for donating the wild coho salmon to the chefs and Plitt Company for donating wild smoked salmon; Chinook Winery for donating the wine.

Special thanks to our good friend Joel Kawahara, a Washington troller, who has worked tirelessly on this campaign to restore wild salmon to the Columbia and Snake Rivers.