Nearly a century ago, fish traps were banned on the Columbia River. The practice had been used by Indigenous communities of the Northwest for a millennia, but when European settlers expanded west, they set up their own industrial versions, catching as much as 73 tons of salmon a season. Voters would ban these traps in Washington and Oregon in 1934 and 1948, respectively. But now, some permitted experiments are being conducted that use traps to sustainably harvest fish. Zach Theiler is a freelance writer who covered this issue for the Smithsonian Magazine. He joins us to share more.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/07/think-out-loud-banned-fish-traps-salmon-pacific-northwest/