By Amy Sharp and John Alto

Friday, November 6, 2026

The survival of salmon and the health of our rivers cannot only be discussed in political talking points and soft-focus television advertising. In the Pacific Northwest, salmon have been central to tribal cultures since time immemorial. They are a source of food for species from humans to killer whales. Their carcasses nourish our forests. For generations, salmon have provided access to economic opportunity in Astoria.

Numerous families have relied on what they caught not just to pay the bills, but to have food on their own dinner table. We should not be forced to choose between affordable energy or the survival of salmon. Healthy salmon runs must exist while keeping energy affordable. The collapse of salmon fishing opportunities, both sport and commercial, has far-reaching economic impacts that span several states and Canada.

John is a third-generation fisherman in these waters. His great-grandfather immigrated from Finland, working on trade ships, starting when he was 13. Today, John has owned his own boat since 2000, following in the wake of his grandfather’s salmon troller that was moored in Astoria and his father’s boats, which are still proudly in operation. We all know that the independence and natural beauty of the sea that commercial fishermen love comes with accepting a challenging lifestyle that isn’t for everyone. However, when salmon runs are healthy, and fetch a fair price, commercial fishermen ensure economic and food security for our region.

Amy commercial fished with her father when she was in elementary school. She worked as a deckhand on her family’s charter boat starting in 2014, and came back to commercial fishing in 2020. Fishing was everything to her father, and salmon was the number one way that he fed the family. Whenever there was a good catch, family and friends would get a fillet as a gift, or smoked salmon. It was how her family helped care for their loved ones. For both John and Amy’s families it has been how they paid the bills — food, electricity, fuel and housing.

In 2026, the local fishing fleet is a fraction of what it once was when our parents and grandparents fished the Columbia and the Pacific. Due to soaring high-tech energy demands and infrastructure updates needed, we’ve all seen our electricity bills go up, while the population of salmon has declined. It’s been a poor bargain for the river towns that used to thrive from the broad commerce made possible by clean waters and abundant fish.

While tourism is welcome in the Pacific Northwest, and helps fuel many local economies, the fishing industry offers economic opportunities for families that far exceed tourism dollars, and multiplies employment opportunities across our communities from the moment the fish comes off the boat. Just ask any marine mechanic, shipyard, welder, fiber-glasser or fisherman how much of their paycheck relies on the money generated by a healthy salmon population.

When we see economic reports that Oregon’s outdoor economy is valued at nearly $10 billion annually, directly supports 70,000 jobs and 225,000 indirect and adjacent jobs, we see the greater sum of all of the day-to-day parts in our commercial fishing careers. Holding our leaders and utility companies accountable for protecting the vital role of salmon in our local economies must be paramount.

It can’t just all be data centers, search engines, new phones and rocket ships. Those might be new ways to create jobs for a few, but we need to protect the jobs that have existed for generations that families like ours still rely on. So many of the packing houses, canneries, boatbuilders and marine suppliers have disappeared as salmon have vanished from enormous swaths of the Pacific Ocean. That means those jobs have also gone away, along with those workers’ ability to dine out at a local restaurant, hire a local contractor to fix their roof when it starts to leak after a hard rain or pay their electric bills.

Trying to convince us that protecting salmon is a reason that electricity is getting less affordable is a non-starter. It’s long past time for Bonneville Power Administration and utilities to plan for a more resilient, salmon-friendly energy future so salmon populations can rebuild and thrive to ensure economic opportunity continues to be available for people who are all too often forgotten.

Amy Sharp is a commercial fisherman and president of FishHer: Columbia Pacific Community Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that values sustainable fisheries, resilient communities, and economic prosperity and independence.

John Alto is a third-generation commercial fisherman. Their troller is moored in Warrenton.

The Astorian: Guest Column: Healthy salmon runs and affordable electricity must coexist