Lack of water = lack of fish = lack of jobs= lack of food

The effects of drought bring disaster on so many levels:

The once free-flowing Manaquiri River, which runs through the state of Amazonas in northwest Brazil, is in the fight of its life against a spell of dry weather - and it appears to be losing the battle.

Thousands of dead fish are rotting on the river banks and hundreds more float on its surface, turning the area into a toxic cesspool.

Vultures circle overhead, picking away at the rotting carcasses. Even an alligator - one of the fiercest reptiles of the Amazon - floats belly up in the river.

Local fishermen say it has not rained in more than 25 days, leaving the large surrounding rivers in recession. This has in turn choked off the tributaries that provide fresh water to the Manaquiri.

With no fresh water coming in, oxygen levels in the river have dropped, leaving the fish to suffocate to death.

"One week the river water levels dropped, the next week all the fish died," Bruno dos Santos, a fisherman, told Al Jazeera.

"In five days all the fish were dead. We have nothing left, only this ugly water."

There will be more of these stories in the future.

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Salmon fishing was banned along the West Coast for the first time in 160 years Thursday, a decision that is expected to have a devastating economic impact on fishermen, dozens of businesses, tourism and boating.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez immediately declared a commercial fishery disaster, opening the door for Congress to appropriate money for anyone who will be economically harmed.

The closure of commercial and recreational fishing for chinook salmon in the ocean off California and most of Oregon was announced by the National Marine Fishery Service.

It followed the recommendation last month of the Pacific Fishery Management Council after the catastrophic disappearance of California's fabled fall run of the pink fish popularly known as king salmon.

It is the first total closure since commercial fishing started in the Bay Area in 1848.

Truly, it can't have taken people by surprise, right? You know... People fish something completely to extinction in one area and then are astonished the the natural fisheries collapse? What? The concept that you must leave some fish to make other fish is unknown?

Eaten into extinction

We should be so proud of ourselves:

Culver City, CA (AHN) - After much deliberation, federal officials have decided to cancel the salmon fishing season this Friday. Due to dwindling numbers of salmon in rivers, commercial and recreational fishing of salmon has been outlawed, and the governor has declared a state of emergency for fisherman.

Experts say the number of salmon has reached a critically low amount, with only 68,000 in the Sacramento river and its tributaries. This is down from 800,000, just six years before, a record low in the population.

The price of Salmon is expected skyrocket. Salmon is already going for $30-$40 dollars a pound in some markets, in anticipation of the shortage.

This could very well be the death of the industry in California. "We're looking at the end of it right now," Hedley Prince told the San Francisco Chronicle. He is the harbormaster at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. He used to have hundreds of fishing boats based out of San Francisco - now, there is only a handful.

Some commercial fishermen are worried about their futures saying they have been fishing all their lives and have no other marketable skills.

[snip]

The salmon season was expected to start on May 1. At least 400 commercial fishermen could stand to lose 80 percent of their annual income, should the ban remain in force. In addition, California's economy stands to take about a $20 million dollar hit from this ban.

We're going to see more and more of this as we go. Our world is changing before our very eyes.