Long story short, it is worth counting salmon. It's a cornerstone to understanding & stewarding these fish we care so much about. It's also a nice way to spend time. Walking up a creek, counting fish, seeing them putter their way home. I hope there will be more of it in decades to come.

In a sentence: the decline in commercial salmon fisheries through the 1980s and 1990s was accompanied by the demise of counting salmon as they return to spawn in their natal rivers and lakes. Today, there are recorded counts for just 1/3 of historically tracked local populations.