that Northwest flavor…imperiled?

Every year, I have several clients who want to incorporate a "taste of the Northwest" into their Oregon or Washington wedding.  For many of them, that means wild salmon is on the menu in one form or another. Unfortunately, reports are coming in that are predicting an 80 percent drop in the number of salmon returning to spawn in area fisheries this year, and state and federal authorities are calling for a ban. On one hand, it’s too bad that this classic menu item for a Northwest wedding might literally be "off the table" this year, but on the other hand, I think it’s a good thing that we have the ability to restrict fishing when a species is endangered, even temporarily, so that it doesn’t become endangered for good. And hopefully research will be done to find out why this is happening so we can educate ourselves about what environmental changes we need to make. It can also be good for us as planners to flex our creative muscles and come up with other ways for our clients to feature the flavor of the Northwest for their guests.