Post by south on Mar 5, 2020 16:26:09 GMT
An unfinished story: Managed annihilation of wild Pacific Salmon. by Jim Lichatowich
Faith in Nature: The Missing Element in Salmon Recovery Programs
Jim Lichatowich, Columbia City, OR
Large declines in the abundance of wild salmon and steelhead and their subsequent listing under the federal Endangered Species Act led to the use of hatcheries to maintain the sport and commercial fisheries. To some of us who have worked on salmon recovery in the Columbia River, the steadfast adherence to the hatchery remedy to the salmon’s problem is hard to understand. The extensive use of hatcheries has occurred in spite of scientific evidence that hatchery operations are detrimental to wild salmon and steelhead and in spite of the failure of hatcheries to mitigate the loss and degradation of habitat. We examine this conundrum through a review of the nexus among the declines on Pacific salmon and steelhead, shifting baselines, and a flawed conceptual foundation. The practice of shifting baselines in the face of major declines in salmon abundance has led to belief that the productivity of natural salmon production systems is not adequate to meet expectations. We characterize this belief as a loss of faith in nature, which inevitably leads managers to the hatchery alternative to natural production.
An abstract from The Osprey: Journal of International Federation of Flyfishers - May 2015
Faith in Nature: The Missing Element in Salmon Recovery Programs
Jim Lichatowich, Columbia City, OR
Richard Williams, Eagle, ID
"Who hears the fishes when they cry?”
Henry David Thoreau
Large declines in the abundance of wild salmon and steelhead and their subsequent listing under the federal Endangered Species Act led to the use of hatcheries to maintain the sport and commercial fisheries. To some of us who have worked on salmon recovery in the Columbia River, the steadfast adherence to the hatchery remedy to the salmon’s problem is hard to understand. The extensive use of hatcheries has occurred in spite of scientific evidence that hatchery operations are detrimental to wild salmon and steelhead and in spite of the failure of hatcheries to mitigate the loss and degradation of habitat. We examine this conundrum through a review of the nexus among the declines on Pacific salmon and steelhead, shifting baselines, and a flawed conceptual foundation. The practice of shifting baselines in the face of major declines in salmon abundance has led to belief that the productivity of natural salmon production systems is not adequate to meet expectations. We characterize this belief as a loss of faith in nature, which inevitably leads managers to the hatchery alternative to natural production.
An abstract from The Osprey: Journal of International Federation of Flyfishers - May 2015
