(gentle music) - When we go to Whole Foods or something, you see that like pink filet out there.

There's so much people hours that went into getting that pink filet on ice.

The managers, the scientists, you have the countless hours the men and women fished for that, you have you know ceremonies that blessed the fish that are really beautiful and amazing to see, the smell of a really good salmon filet coming off the wood grill.

Every step of that process takes passion, takes soul, and a lot of time.

(water sounds) [Narrator] In the Pacific Northwest, and even in the rest of the country, many of us enjoy access to fresh, delicious, healthy seafood.

But that privilege is enabled by a long string of people.

And it starts with folks like Kwasi Addae.

Kwasi is a fisheries biologist, studying salmon for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

His work regularly takes him out to sea and that might be where he's most at home.

- I've always lived around the water.

I've always had a fascination with it, you know, to me it's like it is another universe.

I have a second grade billboard contest submission.

What I wrote in crayon was "A good day to me is a day on the water."

And I, I drew myself on the bow of a Washington state ferry.

The joy I get when I'm out on the water is pure zen.

- [Narrator] But Kwasi's passion for the work has less to do with the fish species themselves.

It's more about the communities that rely on them.

- An animal is a wild animal until it's a resource and it's a resource because humans utilize it.

You know, we eat the fish.

We're in the business of people management.

Historically we've done a pretty bad job of factoring in humans as... a very... strong variable in determining the success of an ecosystem.

- [Narrator] Kwasi's job is a balancing act.

He has to gather data to keep the salmon and people in equilibrium.

This requires traveling by boat to count fisherman's catch throughout the season, through each stage of the salmon's life.

- [Kwasi] I like to joke about it as like we're really fancy fish counters.

We need to understand abundance and how many of what species are in the net.

We're going up towards Bellingham Bay, which is in between kind of the mainland side and the astern shore of Lummi Island.

We know a lot of the gill netters like to hang out in the Northern end of Hail Pass.

- [Boatman] See any gill netters?

- We'll go see if they're there.

If they're not there, just, you know, zeros our data And this data is gonna be used next year in the creation of seasons and the analysis of further catch data for 2022.

- [Narrator] The data does more than fill gaps in scientific knowledge.

It helps state and tribal agencies draft policies that allow salmon to thrive which supports commercial, recreational and indigenous fisheries.

- How do we get to sustainable fisheries that is making sure that every year there is an economy that can be supported off of these salmon coming back.

In some cases it could mean the best practice to do is to shut something down and to let that natural resource rebound.

- In some cases, it could mean to allow an increased harvest rate, because this population of fish or crab or what have you is doing really, really well.

It's in excess of sustainable.

We spend... a modest four and a half months of the year negotiating.

[Narrator] Which salmon is a linchpin for both human cultures and the environment, making sure everyone gets a share of this coveted resource is no easy task.

Understanding the culture and values of every fishery is a key part in finding solutions that work for both fish and people.

- Even if the opinions are different, that person really really is passionate about their reason to fish or their reason to sell the fish or their reason to consume the fish.

Cause there are folks that definitely say moratorium, no fishing.

And then I look at them and say, "You tell that to someone who has 20 something plus thousand years of cultural heritage that relied on this fish."

Who am I to say that someone's cultural value is more than someone else's?

We do see a European influence fishery here in waters that are traditionally harvest by tribal folk here.

I can't do my job well if I don't have a good healthy understanding and honest respect of that.

There are decisions that we make behind our computers or on the boats when we're taking policy calls and collecting data at the same time.

That mean that half these boats here are gonna stay tied to the dock for the season or something, or means that the gill netters may not be able to harvest and someone's gonna go hungry.

And maybe a lot of people are going hungry.

- [Narrator] The data Kwasi and his team collect are more than raw numbers.

They can determine whether there's food on the table or if a fisherman can work.

- That is a daily struggle in our jobs because it's a tough balance.

We know we need a minimum number to survive.

It's always moving and we're always sitting around aiming at these moving targets.

But at the end of the day those moving targets are people's values.

- [Narrator] Even when Kwasi is far out to sea counting Chinook catches and compiling data, his mind is focused on the full journey of the salmon he shepherds, from ocean to river to your plate.

- The future that I hope to see for salmon in the Pacific Northwest is a future that has runs returning to rivers that maybe haven't seen salmon in a while.

Is that gonna be challenging?

Oh yeah.

That's gonna be really, really tough because part of what those fish have done has provided a food source and provided a food source for people.

So we humans are always gonna be a part of that equation moving forward.

It's just, how do we best and most respectfully be a part of that equation.