Today, fisheries biologists fear coho salmon face extinction along the Central Coast of California. Is extinction inevitable or can we recover their populations in time?

By their nature, coho are reclusive. They enter their streams to spawn when the flows run high and off-color. They prefer the cover of darkness to move upstream and typically build their redds in the most remote stretch of a coastal stream. They spook easy and rarely are seem in their element. Avoiding public awareness seems to be by choice, but their long term survival looks dire without greater awareness on our part.