Fish Rescue Project Wins New Scientist Award at Earth Photo 2025

Quick Summary

• A photo series by vivian Wan documenting efforts to save Chinook salmon in the Klamath River, western US, won the New Scientist Editors Award at Earth photo 2025.
• Members of the Yurok community collaborate with biologists and technicians to set up fish traps on a major tributary, Trinity River, for monitoring salmon health and migration patterns.
• Colonization-induced mining, logging, dam construction, climate change, and diverted water resources severely harmed the salmon population.
• A major setback happened in 2002 when irrigation policies resulted in mass death of tens of thousands of Chinook salmon. Last year saw the dismantling of the final dam on Klamath River.
• The project emphasizes Indigenous-led environmental justice; data from fish monitoring helps set limits on fishing quantities and forecast annual runs critical to conservation goals.
• the exhibition is at London’s Royal Geographical Society until August 20 before touring UK.

Photos:

1. Yurok members setting up fish traps (source: Vivian Wan).

!Fish Traps Setup Image

1. Technician observing magnified salmon scales for mortality rate analysis (source: Vivian Wan).

!Salmon Scale Observation

1. Fish tag contributing data for monitoring (source: Vivian Wan).

!Fish Tag

1. Portrait of Hunter Mattz collecting fisheries data by nets (source: Vivian Wan).

!Hunter Mattz Portrait

Indian opinion Analysis

India shares parallels through its Indigenous communities’ struggles against historical resource exploitation and environmental harm-like challenges faced by tribal groups relying on rivers like Ganga-Brahmaputra or Narmada valley ecosystems. Efforts showcased here reflect a model combining cultural resilience with scientific collaboration toward ecological recovery.

Lessons can be drawn for India regarding balancing conservation alongside Indigenous rights advocacy; especially when maintaining species such as Mahseer or Hilsa amidst infrastructural barriers like dams impacting migratory fishes’ lifecycles-a pressing concern local policymakers tackle increasingly post-global dialog awareness accentuating cooperation intersections globally actionable Read More👉[Link Article ]:#