The Chinook Salmon is very important to commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishermen. It has always been central to the Native American lifestyle on the Pacific coast, and now much of the economy of the Pacific Northwest is based on it. Despite being relatively rare (compared to other Pacific Salmon species) it is the most commercially valuable. It is also now an important big game fish in the Great Lakes and is a big tourist draw in both the Pacific and Great Lakes regions

(Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, 1996; National Wildlife Federation, 2002; Delaney and ADFG, 1994; University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, 2002).

Positive Impacts: food ; ecotourism ; controls pest population