Ad Campaign For Salmon

Idaho conservation groups are launching a television campaign alerting viewers how millions of salmon and steelhead are destroyed in the hydroelectric dam complex on their journey to the ocean.

In the ad, young migrating salmon are shown inside a giant blender likened to the turbines of a dam. A finger moves toward the blender switch, the sound of the machine is heard and the narrator says, “Imagine the rest.”

“People should know that their salmon and steelhead are being killed by the millions without their permission,” said Charles Ray, spokesman for Idaho Rivers United.

The campaign will cost $15,000, with ads running on nine stations from Spokane to Idaho Falls.

Later this month, the National Marine Fisheries Service is expected to decide how the eight publicly-owned dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers will be operated during this year’s migration.

Idaho’s Snake River sockeye and chinook species are on the endangered species list. Rivers United considers 1995 as the best chance of restoring the runs because of a larger supply of eggs.

As many as eight million young salmon will travel to the ocean. Last year, up to 87 percent were killed by the dams, Rivers United said.

Ray said he hopes the Fisheries Service will follow the lead of the Northwest Power Planning Council, which recently voted for a more aggressive campaign to save the fish.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled from staff and wire reports