Nat Bingham; Fisherman, Activist for Salmon Industry

Nat Bingham, 59, a fisherman and activist for the West Coast salmon industry. Bingham came from a patrician New England family of missionaries, politicians and scholars including his great-grandfather, Hiram Bingham, the archeologist who discovered Peru’s lost city of Macchu Picchu in 1911. Nevertheless, Nat Bingham opted for the rough life of a salmon fisherman. After many years at sea and studying the dwindling salmon runs, he moved to California in 1963 and became an activist. He was named salmon fishery advisor to the National Research Council and had most recently served on the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Bingham had been organizing a major fisheries conference later this month, and his unexplained death stunned fishing interests, environmental leaders and government leaders in Sacramento and Washington. The date and cause of his death remain undetermined, but it occurred shortly after the death of his wife, Kathryn, 52, of pancreatic cancer two weeks ago. Found dead Saturday in Fort Bragg, Calif.