Fabulous article! The decline in size of Pacific Salmon and indeed of fish world-wide fits perfectly with the observed collapse of ocean fish pasture primary productivity, the amount of plankton. Ocean pastures have been in a decimating decline since the 1959's, as far back as the good plankton data goes. As with all pasture livestock whether on land or at sea the health and abundance of the stocks depends on the health of the pastures. When pastures start turning into deserts the livestock numbers and weights diminish in lock step. No one seeks mysterious explanations with pastures on land, more than 100 years ago the famous writer Walt Whitman said, "all beef is grass." That's how simple it all is. For ocean fish, the same is true, "all fish is plankton." Starve the fish and they will be smaller. Proof that the ocean pastures can be restored to historic health and abundance in the Guld of Alaska has been perfectly demonstrated. www.russgeorge.net