I think I’ll be stocking up on salmon in the coming weeks, and after a trip to Costco next week, my freezer will probably  be packed with chinook and Alaskan king filets I plan to barbeque at some point this spring.

            I’m not a ridiculous salmon fan, and the pink meat doesn’t even represent my favorite fish, but once I heard salmon had a risk of going extinct, the real important issue began to creep into my brain.

            I better eat them while I still can.

            Maybe it’s a little selfish, but I don’t like the idea of my food menu getting any smaller, and I don’t plan on expanding anywhere into the vegetable category to make up for the loss of meat.

            I was really peeved when I had to stop eating the Tasmanian wolf.

            I feel a personally attachment to salmon, considering I caught some in Alaska in the summer of 2005 — so when I heard that salmon fishing was closed this season off the coast of California and Oregon, I suffered a mini-panic attack.

            It turns out the Sacramento River suffered a huge hit this year in the number of young salmon “jacks” headed out to sea, and the Pacific Fishery Management Council banned coast fishing for the entire salmon fishing season.

            Now I probably wouldn’t have gone salmon fishing off the coast this year, but the child in me doesn’t like to be told I can’t do something. That also explains why I want to stock up on the fish, because when all the toy blocks get snagged up, I don’t want to share the ones I have hoarded.

            They say Alaska’s salmon fishing won’t be touched, but it’s hard for me to imagine the price of salmon not soaring ridiculously over the next year.

            I don’t feel like paying $40 for an un-cooked filet, and unless Jack-In-The-Box comes out with $1 salmon sandwiches, I will probably be eating a lot less dogs of the sea.

            I guess I could stick with my halibut and self-caught striper and trout this summer if the price goes up. I know I won't be eating any catfish or cod, and I certainly am not touching a carp — no matter how proud my cousin was to catch it.

            Life is tough when the animals you love to eat start to become scarce.