Astoria is the oldest city, west of the Mississippi. It is rich with history, culture and natural resources, such as salmon, sturgeon, Dungeness crab and abundant bottom fish species such as sea bass, ling cod and albacore tuna. Salmon fishing in Astoria is what made the region famous in the 1800’s, but when overfishing and loss of habitat due to the construction of a multitude of dams cut off wild salmon from their historic spawning and rearing grounds, populations of wild salmon plummeted in a river once credited for being the largest producer of Pacific salmon.