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HUMAN IMPACTS ON SALMON POPULATIONS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
by
Lesley W. Reeves
A SENIOR THESIS
m
GENERAL STUDIES
Submitted to the General Studies Council in the College of Arts and Sciences
at Texas Tech University in Partial fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of
BACHELOR OF GENERAL STUDIES
Approv<W
I DR. KEV~POPE Department of Range, Wildlife and Fisheries Management
Co-Cj:H)irperson of Thesis Committee
DR. RON SOSEBEE Department of Range, Wildlife and Fisheries Management
Co-Chairperson ofThesis Committee
Accepted
DR. MICHAEL SCHOENECKE Director of General Studies
May 2003
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^^
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
> i<
fj 111 This thesis could not have been completed without the generous contributions of
A ^ ^ many individuals in my life. In particular, I would like to first and for most thank my
mother, who has given me life, countless financial and moral support, unconditional love
and more years of mothering than anyone should be allowed. I thank my father for
financial support through too many years of college, encouraging my will to continue
through any obstacle that I have faced, and for giving me the strength to push through the
next door and into my future.
I also would like to thank Dr. Ron Sosebee, for guidance through my last leg of
college, for his time and energy to listen to me and assist with all aspects of my life, for
having the energy to educate me in his classes, and most of all for the laughter during
difficult times. Dr. Sosebee has helped me put life and college in perspective, and taught
me to laugh when stmggles were overpowering. He has pushed me toward my degree,
stressed its' importance, and I am extremely grateful for that.
Credit also is due to Dr. Kevin Pope who has attempted to mold me into a future
Wildlife and Fisheries Management graduate student. Dr. Pope has spent countless hours
editing and revising, even when his schedule has not allowed it. He has gone far above
and beyond his duty as a Co-Chair, and I am thankful for his ideas and support. I should
also thank him for being a relentless perfectionist and for demanding that I fulfill my
potential.
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Next, I would like to thank Dr. Michael Schoenecke, the Director of General
Studies. Dr. Schoenecke has dedicated his life to students in this field and also to
encouraging these somewhat atypical students to succeed. He spends countless hours
with students and their undergraduate thesis projects every semester, and enthusiastically
assists them in anyway possible. Dr. Schoenecke has believed in me when I didn't
believe in myself, which has been a godsend, and I will never forget him for that.
Last of all I would like to thank God, for life, and for giving me the ability to
succeed, given me strength through the hardest of times, and for instilling the will to
move forward when all I want to do is linger in academia. I thank him for the amazing
people he has placed in my life so that I am where I am, today, and am on my way to
tomorrow.
Ill
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWELEDGEMENTS ii
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION TO PACIFIC SALMON 1
History 1 Species Description 4 Species and Their Lifestyle 5
Different Species of Salmon Chinook Salmon 7 Coho Salmon 8 Chum Salmon 9 Sockeye Salmon 10 Pink Salmon 12
Habitat and Ecosystem 13 Impact the Species has on the Environment 14 Salmon as an Important Natural Resource 15
II. SOCIETY AND HUMAN IMPACTS ON SALMON 18
Human Dismption of the salmon in the Pacific Northwest 18 Pollution 18 Civil Engineering 20 Fishing and Fisheries Management 22 Industry 23 Urban Development 24 Logging and Forestry 25 Hatcheries 26 Damming 27
Conclusion 28
IV
III. PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE SALMON 30
Cultures and Treaties 30
Early Management 32
The Mitchell Act 35
The Northwest Power Act 36
Endangered Species Act 37
Pacific Salmon Treaty 37
Conclusion 38
IV. SUSTAINING SALMON 39
Committee on Protection and Management in the Pacific
Northwest 39
Environmental Changes 40
Oceanic Conditions as a Consideration 40
Regional Variation Ideas 41
Values, Institutions and Solutions 41
Answers to Genetic Resources 43
Habitat Loss and Rehabilitation Ideas 44
Damming Solutions 45
Hatchery Recommendations 45
Conclusion 46
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 47
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO PACIFIC SALMON
History
Salmon have been one of the key species for ecosystems and human cultures of the
North American Pacific coast for long periods of time. Unfortunately, during the past
century, many salmon populations have been greatly diminished and some are now extinct
as a result of a combination of factors including habitat fragmentation, habitat degradation
and overfishing. Other factors are the negative effects of artificial propagation, pollution,
and weakness in institutional and regulatory stmcture (Knudsen, 2000).
Almost everyone living in the United States is familiar with some type of salmon,
although people living far inland and away from the coast are not as familiar with these
magnificent fish as those who live in the Pacific Northwest, especially those who study
these superb creatures. Salmon are survivors of the Ice Age and have weathered many
storms of nature, and yet some species still continue to survive. They are an anadromous
fish that spend most of their life in the ocean, but one, which spawns in freshwater. There
is now and has been in the past, great effort aimed at protecting and preserving salmon.
Saving the numerous species of salmon is a hot topic that has grown in popularity over the
past several years. A serious debate over how to address the problem has been infused with
a new sense of urgency, especially in the Pacific Northwest. One obligation we have as
human beings requires us to look within ourselves and recognize that our behavior directly
affects everything around us. When we look at our role in relation to Pacific salmon, we
realize that we are the cause of its' problems, and we are responsible for finding solutions to
those problems
Any discussion of the history of salmon includes mention of the Columbia River,
and the history of the Columbia River entails a discussion of the Indians who first inhabited
this area. Indians were the first to make extensive use of the abundant mns of fish in the
Columbia system. There have been archeological finds throughout the river's drainage
dating back 9,000 years ago. These finds indicate protracted and sustained fish harvesting
that included a variety of salmon species. From sites near Kettle Falls, Idaho, there has
been excavations that revealed large quantities of salmon bones that have been carbon dated
to exist between 7,700 and 9,000 years ago. It is fair to say that from the beginning of the
Holocene period to recent times, the annual salmon runs have provided an extremely
reliable source of protein for many of the tribal groups living within the area of the
Columbia River (Robbins, 1982).
According to the anthropologist Eugene Hunn, the take of fish during the heyday of
commercial exploitation demonstrates that "the quantities available to precontact Indians at
such strategic fishing stations far exceeded their needs." He continued to address the fact
that at certain places along the great waterway, geology and the specific timing of individual
mns conspired to provide what can arguably be termed the "most productive fishery in all of
North America." (Hunn, 1991). Salmon, as an Indian food source, were so abundant, that
many tribal fishermen took advantage of catching large quantities, and remained to be good
stewards of this food source (Cone, 1996).
Hunn continued to state that "although the salmon mns peaked for only a brief
number of days each season (for each species), the heaviest and most concentrated fishing
took place at certain natural obstacles on the Columbia such as Kettle Falls, Priest Rapids,
Long Narrows and Celilo Falls." Trapping was utilized at similar strategic points on
tributaries such as Sherar's Falls, and for spring mns of salmon, at Willamette Falls near
present-day Oregon City (Hunn, 1991). Near the Dalles, and near the location of Celilo
Falls, the climate and topography are combined to forge one of the most productive
freshwater fisheries anywhere in the world. Indians used a variety of techniques to catch
fish, depending on the location and character of the stream channel, using two pronged
spears, dip nets, gill nets, traps and seines often up to 300 feet long. They were able to catch
an abundance offish using these methods, and their catches fed many generations of Indians
in the area (Hunn, 1991).
Interestingly, the famous joumals of Lewis and Clark provided the first recorded
accounts of native fish on the Columbia. When the expedition leaders and their crew
passed downriver toward the end of their joumey in 1805, sketches were drawn around the
entrance into the main river mouth of the Snake River, and the salmon were drawn in
abundance, as if these people's lives were centered on the annual runs of salmon (Hunn,
1991). Any question about the Columbia River salmon must consider broader realms of
human behavior that include social, economic, and political issues (Hunn, 1991).
It is very different today than in the times of Lewis and Clark, but one thing is for
sure. There is not an abundance of salmon in these parts of the Northwest, hundreds of mns
have become extinct, and with humans at the top of this pyramid, it is our duty to recognize
the factors directly contributing to this problem. For the last two hundred years, there has
been a dramatic decrease in salmon populations by many factors, all-relating to humans
actively. We should all take a step back and review our actions as a unique species at the
top of the food chain and how our actions and those of past generations directly affect our
lives today, in spite of where we reside (Crisp, 2000).
Species Description
The family Salmonidae contains the genera Thymallus, Brachymystax, Hucho,
Salvelinus, Salmo, and Oncorhynchus. This thesis is chiefly concerned with the salmon of
the genera Oncorhynchus. The genus Salmo has two species indigenous to the North
Atlantic area. The genus Oncorhynchus contains trout and salmon that are indigenous to
the Northem Pacific area (Crisp, 2000).
Pacific salmon are an important economical and biological resource in countries of
the North Pacific Rim. The geographic distribution of these salmon extends from San
Francisco Bay, northward along the Canadian and Alaskan coasts to rivers draining into the
Arctic Ocean, and southward to the Asian coastal areas of Russia, Japan, and Korea. The
genus Oncorhynchus dates at least from the Pliocene era (Smith, 1975). It is said that they
probably originated from a stream or lake dwelling salmon-like fish (Neave, 1958).
Exactly when the modem species evolved is uncertain, but Pacific salmon species may have
evolved as recently as 500,000 to 1,000,000 years ago (Neave, 1958). There are five species
of Pacific salmon: chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), coho salmon (O. kisutch), chum
salmon (O. keta), sockeye salmon (O. nerka), and pink salmon (O. gorbuscha). Salmon are
anadromous, which means they hatch and live part of their lives in freshwater, then migrate
to the ocean to spend their adult lives. Each species of salmon have several types of runs
down river, retuming to its home river at a specific time of year to spawn (American Rivers,
2000).
Species and Their Lifestyle
The life cycles of salmon are of a basic pattem common to many species. But even
with, and between species, there is a wide range of variations within this theme. This, with
various regional terms for different life stages, leads to problems of definition (Crisp, 1988).
The lifecycle of the salmon is unique. They are spawned in freshwater streams, travel to sea
early in life where they live and grow for two to four years. In the spring after they reach
maturity, the adult salmon retum to their native streams to spawn. As they begin their
joumey back to their streams, they stop eating and obtain energy from the oils stored within
their bodies. Salmon travel great distances to retum to the exact spot where their life began
from conception and then emerging from their egg sacs. Salmon will leap over any obstacle
in their way such as dams and waterfalls, until they achieve their goal, or die from
exhaustion trying. For reasons unknown, the female always dies after spawning (WDFW,
2002).
When the female reaches her nesting area she uses her body to build a nest, or redd,
in the streambed. She stirs up the gravel with her tail and bends her body into a U shape to
create a depression. Then the female settles down and deposits her thousands of eggs or
roe. A male then quickly moves in and releases his sperm, or milt, over the roe. After that,
the female uses her tail to loosen gravel and cover the redd (Wild Salmon, 2003). A pair of
salmon will usually make four or five nests, although some can make as many as seven
nests.
Salmon eggs can be as small as V4 inch (sockeye) and as big as Y2 inch (chum). The
eggs range in color from translucent gold-orange to darker red. Incubation time for the eggs
is usually between five and ten weeks. When the fish hatch they are called alevin. Young
fish feed on their yolk sac still attached to their bellies, and as these fish mature and
consume the yolk sac, they become yolk sac fry. Now, they venture up out of the gravel
into the open water of the stream and eat aquatic insects until their joumey into the open sea
is complete. Then the cycle begins all over again. When the fish begins its migration
downstream to sea, it is called a smolt. There are many physiological changes that occur to
prepare it for a life in saltwater, and these physical and chemical changes are called
mortification (McNeil, 1988).
Biologists usually refer to wild salmon stocks by their mn, which is their time of
retum, and race, which is their river of origin. Much of this rich biodiversity has been lost.
Idaho's Snake River coho and Oregon's Wallowa River sockeye, as well as 104 other wild
stocks are extinct. Many other salmon stocks are on the brink of extinction. In 1991, only
four sockeye salmon retumed to spawn in Idaho's Redfish Lake. Once a wild mn is lost, it
is gone forever; transplanting non-native stocks is rarely successful (Groot, 1995).
Different Species of Salmon
Chinook Salmon
Chinook salmon is one of the most widely distributed species of salmon in the North
Pacific Ocean, and spawning populations are found from the Sacramento River in
Califomia to the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia. Chinook salmon are the largest of Pacific
salmon, some reaching up to 100 pounds or more. Once in the ocean, most salmon feed on
insects and fish. Sockeye salmon, however, are filter feeders, and use gill rakers to filter out
the plankton (American Rivers, 2000). The lifestyle of Pacific salmon is a complex and a
short-lived experience that has occupied the thoughts of humans for hundreds of years.
Morphologically, the chinook is distinguished by its size and small black spots on
both lobes of the caudal fin and black pigment along the base of the teeth. Chinooks have
several colloquial names like King, Tyee, and Blackmouth. These large fish, however, are
rare, and most mature chinook average around 15-30 pounds, with some reaching up to 150
pounds (WDFW, 2002).
Most chinook salmon will spawn in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, but also have
been known to use other streams with sufficient water flow. They are larger in size and,
therefore, can spawn in larger gravel unlike most salmon, and also prefer spots where the
water flow is rapid, and the water level is high (Wild Salmon, 2003). Chinook salmon
spawn on both sides of the Cascade Range, and most travel hundreds of miles upstream
before they reach their spawning grounds. Eventually, all chinook salmon reach their
spawning grounds by fall (Wild Salmon, 2003).
Chinook salmon have been transplanted to lakes and rivers outside of their natural
ranges. In the Great Lakes, they go through their entire life history in freshwater. Chinook
salmon have also been introduced to New Zealand and Australia. The New Zealand stocks
display both stream type and ocean type life histories similar to their parent stocks from the
Sacramento River (Groot, 1995).
Chinook salmon migrate along coastal zones to the mouths of their natal rivers in
summer and autumn. Spring and fall chinook salmon ascend the rivers in the respective
seasons. For example, migrating adult chinook salmon are in the Eraser River or its
tributaries from about May to October. Chinook salmon that arrived in early summer reside
in the rivers until they spawn in autumn (Crisp, 2000).
Chinook salmon fry feed mainly on aquatic insects, particularly chironomids and
ephemeropterans, and cmstations including calanoid copepods and gammarid amphipods.
As juvinelles, chinook salmon feed mainly on a mixture of freshwater and marine species.
Gammarid amphipods, insects, and calanoid copepods are a few examples of these insects.
When they reach maturity, they feed mainly on euphausiids, hyperiid amphipods, fish, squid
and calanoid copepods (Groot, 1995).
Coho Salmon
Coho salmon are distributed in the North Pacific from Monterey, Califomia, to
Korea. A landlocked form of coho salmon was successfully introduced into the Great Lakes
in 1966 (Crisp, 2000). Coho salmon occur in small numbers compared with other species
of Pacific Salmon and represent less than 10% of the total catch. Coho salmon, also called
silver salmon, are a very popular sport fish in Puget Sound. They spawn in the fall, and
their average weight is 6-12 pounds and sometimes reaching 31 pounds (American Rivers,
2001). This species can most likely be found in costal streams and tributaries, or in a urban
stream if the temperature is cold enough and water quality is sufficient and not polluted
(U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 2003). Coho spawn in coastal streams and tributaries of larger
rivers. These salmon prefer small to medium sized gravel and mid-velocity areas. Because
they use small streams that have limited space, coho are found virtually in every small
coastal stream with a year-round flow. When coho salmon are retuming upstream, they
often gather at the mouths of streams and wait for the water flow to rise by a rainstorm
before they head upstream. The higher flows and the deeper water allow the Coho to
conquer many obstacles such as beaver dams and logs across the stream, which otherwise
they would be unable to pass (First Gov, 2001). As eggs, they are deposited into the gravel
in the fall, emerge the next spring, and in their second spring they go to sea, when
approximately 18 months old. Coho fiy are normally found in the pools of small coastal
streams and the tributaries of larger rivers. When coho salmon are fry, they feed mainly on
chironomid larvae and puape and adult insects. As adults, the primary food source is fish
alewives, rainbow smelt, and threespine sticklebacks (Thompson, 1994).
Chum Salmon
Chum salmon, also called "dog" salmon and "calico," are know for their large teeth,
which develop in the male during spawning. The teeth resemble those of a canine, which
explains the nickname, "dog salmon." The chum salmon average 10-20 pounds and up to
33 pounds. They are a fall spawner, but do not live in freshwater for more than a few days
after hatching. Shortly after they emerge, chum fry move to the estuaries downstream and
rear there for several months before heading out to the open ocean (Wild Salmon, 2003).
Chum use small coastal streams and the lower reaches of larger rivers, often the same
streams as the coho salmon, but coho salmon tend to move further up the watershed where
as chum salmon generally spawn closer to saltwater. This may be due to their larger size,
which requires deeper water in which to swim, or to their jumping ability which is inferior
to coho salmon (First Gov., 2001). Like coho salmon, chum salmon can be found in
virtually every small coastal stream. In the fall, large numbers of chum salmon can often be
seen in the lower reaches of these streams, providing opportunities to view wild salmon in
their natural environment (Cone, 1996).
Chum salmon retum to their natural streams later in the year than most other species
of Pacific salmon. Spawning has been recorded as late as April (Groot, 1995). Chum
salmon feed as fry mainly on insects, particularly chironomids. As adults, chum salmon
mainly feed on hyperiid amphipods, and fish. Hyperiid amphipods are frequently chosen
even though other plankton taxa are more abundant (Groot, 1995).
Sockeye Salmon
The sockeye salmon is the third most abundant species of Pacific salmon, after pink
salmon. Sockeye salmon are referred to as red salmon, blueback and kokanee. The average
size of the sockeye is about 5-8 pounds, but can range up to 15 pounds. Sockeye also can
live in landlocked lakes throughout Washington such as Lake Wenatchee, Baker Lake, Lake
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Washington, Ozette Lake, and Qinault Lake. The unique thing about sockeye is that they
need a lake to rear in as fry, so that the river in which they choose to spawn in must have a
lake in the system. Sockeye adapt to a wide range of water velocities and substrates, and
large rivers that supply sufficient room for spawning historically supported huge mns of
sockeye, numbering into the millions. One such mn still exists today on the Adams River
in British Columbia, a tributary to the Fraser River. The Canadian government has built
viewing platforms for visitors, and annual runs of over a million sockeye are common.
Juvenile sockeye rear for one to two years in a lake and are also sometimes found in the
inlet and outlet streams of the lake. Resident lake fish often prey on sockeye fry, and
because they are freshwater fish year-round, they are susceptible to poor water quality (Mc
Neil, 1980).
Sockeye salmon occur in commercial abundance from Washington State to
Kamchatka. This species was formerly widespread in the Columbia River watershed, and a
spawning population exists in the Okanagan River in the headwaters of the Columbia River
near the U.S./Canada border. Sockeye salmon smolts appear to move through estuaries
rapidly and they transit coastal embayments and seaways, such as the Strait of Georgia in
route to the open sea. The ocean distribution of rearing adults has been fairly well
established so that stocks from Asia and North America rear far offshore, in the Alaskan
Gyre or off the west coast of Kamchatka (Groot, 1995).
Sockeye fry in lakes feed mainly on pelagic copepods (Cyclopoida and Calanoida)
and cladocerans. This is the most important taxa ingested by sockeye salmon. In rivers.
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sockeye salmon feed on chironomid pupae, plecopterans and harpacticoid. As adults, the
most important food items are euphausiids, squid and calanoid copepods (Groot, 1995).
Once in the ocean, most salmon feed on insects and fish. Sockeye salmon, however,
are filter feeders, and use gill rakers to filter out the plankton (American Rivers, 2000). The
lifestyle of Pacific salmon is a complex and a short-lived experience that has occupied the
thoughts of humans for hundreds of years.
Pink Salmon
Pink salmon have many names such as" humpback" salmon, and" humpie". These
nicknames were derived from the way that the male pink salmon develop a large hump on
their back during spawning. This is the smallest of the fall-spawning pacific salmon. In
Washington, pink salmon mns only occur in odd-numbered years. Pinks use the
mainstreams of large rivers and some tributaries, often very close to saltwater. Because
their fry move directly to sea after emerging, the closer they spawn to saltwater, the better.
The shorter joumey reduces predation and increases survival (Mc Neil, 1980).
Occasionally, the pink salmon will spawn in saltwater and avoid the freshwater altogether.
The life history of pink salmon seems to be very consistent with the lives of other salmon,
for they live two years before retuming to spawn the next generation (Wild Salmon, 2003).
This is why pink salmon mns in Washington only occur every other year. As previously
mentioned, pink fry do not rear in freshwater. Immediately after they emerge, they move
downstream to the estuary, and rear there for several months before heading out into the
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open ocean. Because of this, pink fry have no spots, which provide camouflage in streams
to protect them from predicafion, but not in open water (Mc Neil, 1980).
Pink salmon fry from the Fraser River may pass directly through the estuary and
cross the Strait of Georgia to rear in embayments, shallows, and estuaries along the east
coast of Vancouver Island. Other pink salmon fry may remain in the Fraser River estuary
for one or two tidal cycles, entering tidal marshes during high tide and leaving on the next
ebb (Groot, 1995). Similar to other salmonoids, juvenile pink salmon may coordinate duel
periods of increased swimming activity with falling tides to help them move from estuaries
and coastal areas.
Pink salmon feed on a large variety of items, and while they are fry their diet
consists mainly of insects like chironomids and ephemeropterans. As juveniles, they feed
mainly on copepods, cirripedia nauplii, cladocerans, and fish eggs. As adults, they feed
mainly on other fish, squid, and the petropod (Groot, 1995).
Habitat and Ecosystem
Salmon habitat in freshwater is defined by physical and chemical characteristics of
the environment during the portion of the life cycle spent in streams, lakes or estuaries.
Habitat includes water quality: temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, nutrients, and
environmental contaminants. Properties of the flow of water are velocity, turbulence, and
discharge. Geological and topographic features of the stream and its valley include depth,
width, streambed roughness, particle size composition and flood plain characteristics. The
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last factor of habitat includes cover, which consists of shading, hiding spaces, undercut
banks and ledges, woody debris and aquatic vegetation.
In North America, only the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and the Mackenzie Rivers
surpass the Columbia in volume of water discharged into the ocean. The Columbia system
drains 259,000 square miles and embraces seven states and the Canadian providence of
British Columbia (Cone, 1996). Its source is Columbia Lake, which is 2,650 feet above sea
level between the Selkirks and the Rocky Mountains, 80 miles north of the United States
border. The major tributary, the 1,038 mile Snake River, begins at the top of the Continent
in Jackson Lake, Wyoming. This river runs around the Titans, and flows west across
Idaho, and then tums to the northwest to join the Columbia. (Robbins, 1979). Before giant
concrete dams controlled the great river of the west, the water height fluctuated widely
between late spring and early summer due to the snowmelt, and then in the late summer
months, it subsided. In its modem geological configuration, the river has served as a natural
funnel, providing a water highway through which salmon passed upstream to spawning
grounds through the Columbia drainage (Crisp, 2000).
Impact the Species Has on the Environment
As stated before. Pacific salmon die soon after spawning. Their carcasses become
food for eagles, bears, and other animals. Their decaying bodies also feed nutrients back
into the forest and streams that will nurture the next generation. Even within, and between
species, there is a wide range of variations within this theme (Knudsen, 1999).
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Salmon as an Important Natural Resource
Salmon serve as a powerful symbol for the quality of life enjoyed in the Pacific
Northwest and generate a wide range of economic, social, and cultural benefits in the
region. Commercial fisheries contribute to local, provincial/state, and national economies;
both directly through the sale of fish and indirectly through related service and
manufacturing industries. Socially, these fish are important to the people of the northwest,
and culturally, many tribes still rely on salmon as a food source and a source of income
(Knudsen, 1999).
Salmon's total value can be divided into three parts: direct value (catching wild
salmon for food), indirect value (the contribution of genetic diversity to reproduction), and
option value which is the future contribution of wild salmon to fishing, future genetic
diversity, or having wild populations in the fiiture, or combinations of future altematives.
Wild salmon's existence value is the intrinsic value that people place on simply knowing
that populations exist or on supporting stewardship of wild populations as a bequest to
future generations (Pearce and Turner, 1990). The importance of salmon as a resource can
be considered in terms of criteria, though none of them lend themselves to fully objective
assessment. The first criterion can be described as "moral, aesthetic and political" (Crisp,
1988). This relates to the fact that salmon require good quality water, which this means that
their well being in a particular river is a good indicator of sound management and
conservation of the resource. The presence or absence of salmon is apparent to the public,
many who derive pleasure from seeing large salmonoids driving through obstacles of dams
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and rivers or smaller ones coming to the surface for food. Either way, many gain pleasure
from just their mere existence (Crisp, 1988).
The second criterion relates to the social value of salmon as providers of sport
fishing. This cannot be justified by moral or ethical reasons; however, it can be illustrated
by quofing head counts and large sums of money. Game angling is a major recreational
asset (Knudsen, 1999). Sport fisheries provide diverse economic benefits through the
tourist, manufacturing, and service sectors (Burger, 1985). Salmon have provided social
continuity and heritage for many Americans. The American Indian tribes and non-Indian
fishing communities depend on salmon fishing, the generations of sports anglers proud of
their pursuits, the general public of the Northwest who have adopted salmon as a regional
symbol, the airport shops that sell smoked salmon and salmon artifacts to tourists wanting
souvenirs, and so on. Salmon are featured in art and song in the Pacific Northwest to an
extent shared by few other fishes anywhere (Burger, 1985).
The third criterion is a financial one. Salmon have been a historically important
source of protein in the human diet, and more recently, they have been a luxury food
bringing in large sums of money to the industry. During the last two decades there has been
a rapid increase in the production of farmed salmon. By 1995 the annual output of Salmon
farms was approximately one hundred times the estimated catch of wild salmon (Crisp,
1988).
Another criterion deals with nutrient loading, and the process of recycling nutrients.
As the female dies soon after spawning, her body is either food for bears and other wildlife.
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or the nutrients within her are recycled into the streams, and enhance the sectional quality of
the water (Crisp, 1988).
The final criterion is nutritional value. Fish oil contains two very important fatty
acids, which are eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, and docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. Both
of these belong to the omega-3 family of fatty acids. Adequate levels of EPA and DHA are
very important to maintain human cardiovascular system. There have been different
scientific studies on the oil of ocean-water fish that conclude that EPA and DHA reduce the
"bad" cholesterol and raise the "good" cholesterol. These fatty acids assist in lowering
blood pressure by helping reduce arterial constriction. If one already has low blood
pressure, these fatty acids will not make it lower. EPA and DHA also help to lower blood
fat known as triglycerides, which at high levels will put one at risk for heart disease. EPA
and DHA also significantly reduce the risk of inappropriate blood clotting which leads to
stroke and pulmonary embolism that can be as life threatening as a heart attack (Green
Canyon Health, 2003).
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CHAPTER II
SOCIETY AND HUMAN IMPACTS ON SALMON
Human Dismption of the Salmon in the Pacific Northwest
Human impacts on rivers must be considered in terms of broad landscape use.
Human influences will be considered under several headings that will reflect the major
fields of human activity (Crisp, 2000).
Pollution
The physical, chemical, and biological effects of pollution can be divided into five
categories, one or more of which may be characteristic of any one effluent (Mills, 1971).
The five categories are poisons, de-oxygenation, suspended solids, non-toxic salts and heat
pollution. Poisons in solution occur in wastewaters from many industries. They include
acids and alkalis: chromium salts from tanning and electro-plating and zinc from
galvanizing; phenols and cyanides from chemical industries and mines, and insecticides
from sheep dips and agricultural chemicals. The most common toxic inorganic substances
are free chlorine, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and salts of many heavy metals, such as
copper, lead, chrominum, zinc, mercury and silver. Any appreciable amounts of these
compounds may kill fish or other aquatic life (Mills, 1971, Knudsen, 2000).
De-oxygenation is caused by bacterial breakdown of organic matter, but it may be
due to other reducing agents. Organic residues include the effluents from a great variety of
activities including dairies, silage, slaughterhouses, and manure heaps and cattle yards,
fishmeal factories, paper mills and domestic sewage. Residues from all of the sources
contain complex organic compounds in solution and suspension, often together w ith toxic
substances and various salts. The oxidation of sewage uses up a considerable amount of
dissolved oxygen, and the concentration can decrease below the necessary minimum
required by fish, particularly at high water temperatures when there is dissolved oxygen and
the oxygen requirements of the fish are greater (Mills, 1971).
Inert suspended solids cause many problems for aquatic environments. If they are
light or finely divided, as are some mine slurries, the waste water from china clay works and
coal washing effluents, they do not settle rapidly but make the river opaque and prevent the
penetration of sunlight which prohibits plant growth. When particles are large the deposits
will smother all algal growth, kill rooted plants and mosses and alter the nature of the
substrate. Quantities of silt-like material destroy plants, root crops, and change the nature
of the streambed sufficiently to alter the flora. For instance plants such as Ranunculus and
Myriophyllum, which are found in silt-free conditions may be replaced by Potamogeton
pectinatus, which is found in silty conditions. This tends to reduce algal growth as well as
the bottom fauna. Coarser rock particles may plug up the spaces in the gravel and reduce
the habitat of the bottom fauna. Spawning of salmon may be affected since they may avoid
turbid water and will crowd into clear areas to spawn. If the clear area of the stream
suitable for spawning is insufficient, a reduction in the number of offspring could result. If
eggs are already in the gravel when pollution occurs the compaction of the gravel will
reduce the circulation of the water through the redds and cause the eggs to suffocate (Mills,
1971).
19
Non-toxic salts are often called soluble salts, or dissolved solids. These are
commonly found in streams and in discharges to streams include chlorides, sulphates,
nitrates, bicarbonates and phosphates of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and
manganese. In small concentrations these are harmless to fish. However, drainage from a
salt works, for example or brine from water softening plants using ion-exchange methods of
softening, are liable to contain large amounts of sodium chloride which will pollute a
freshwater stream by converting it to brackish water with harmful results for certain fish
(Mflls, 1971).
The last form of pollution is heating of the water. The discharge of heated trade
effluents from factories and mills and the large volumes of warm 'cooling water' from
electricity generating stations may cause a temperature rise of several degrees Celsius.
When a stream is polluted by organic matter, and a rise in temperature occurs, there is not
only a decrease in dissolved oxygen due to the lower solubility of oxygen at the higher
temperature, but also an increased rate of utilization of dissolved oxygen by biochemical
reactions. Fish are affected by a rise in temperature and at a certain point they will
eventually die (Mills, 1971).
Civil Engineering
Civil engineering is an activity that reflects heavily on the aquatic environment, and
is contained within two main elements. First there are the impacts of the actual constmction
work. Second, there are the effects that arise from the existence and operation of the
completed project (Vivash, 1989).
20
There are many types of constmction work including such schemes as flood
protection, river crossings for roads or pipelines, channel alteration, and in-stream structures
such as reservoirs and weirs. There are several major problems arising for salmon species
during constmction work, with one of the major problems being habitat disturbance or
degradation. Degradation of habitat evolves from the removal or disturbance of gravel beds
used by the spawning fish, resulting in a reduction of available fish habitat (Newson, 1994).
Engineers and others have often carried out river training and flood protection
schemes with little regard for the hydraulics of the system, or the physical or biological
consequences. Some of the examples are when farmers or contractors, leading to increased
instability of bed and banks and increased erosion, straighten small flashy streams. In
recent years, however, there has been increasing recognition of these problems and the need
to carry out any necessary works in a more sympathetic manner (Vivash, 1989).
Completed stmctures such as flumes, weirs, dams and barges have the potential to
interfere with salmon migration. The need for provision of effective fish passes, or of
bypass streams, is evident. Additionally, large water supplies can modify the flow regime,
water temperature, and the chemistry of the water down stream. The flow regime of a
natural river is influenced by the geology of the soils, relief, climate, vegetation cover and
land use. Human interventions through the use of reservoirs and between river transfer
schemes can, and do, modify the flow of rivers (Beach, 1984). Human intervention,
likewise, has had an effect on the fishing industry and should be considered.
21
Fishing and Fishery Management
Whereas Pacific salmon fisheries developed rapidly during their eariy history, our
ability to manage them did not. Much of the basic biological understanding of Pacific
salmon and information that could be used to manage salmon fisheries were being
developed as the fisheries developed, however, their application to management developed
much more slowly (National Research Council, 1996). The 1930s began a period of more
quantitative assessment in fishery management. The quantitative basis of salmon
management was provided by Ricker's 1954 seminal paper on stock and recmitment. Since
then, management of Pacific salmon fisheries has been premised on Ricker's stock-
recmitment theory (Gushing 1988, McHugh, 1970).
The most direct effect man has on salmon populations is through licensing rod
fishing for sport and licensing commercial fishing. There is also dismption from illegal
poaching methods. Humans, in their capacity as anglers, fishermen, or poachers, can be
looked upon as just another predator whose behavior can give useful information for the
formation of mles for the regulation of legitimate fishing and the control of poaching (Crisp
andRobson, 1982).
Cumulative effects of fishing activities have contributed to depressed production.
Fishing must be managed on the basis of total fishing mortalities and operate at sustainable
exploitation rates. Even after a population has recovered, managers should not expect a
retum to historic exploitation levels, because those were based on excessive fishing rates.
The exploitation levels might be achieved again only if population sizes were rebuilt to their
T )
former numbers and survival was good. Much of this salmon increase could have an effect
on the salmon industry worldwide.
Industry
Industrial activities have many, varied effects on the aquatic environment, which
can be divided into two useful distinctions. The first is between the past and present
industries. Many industries in the present day have been obliged to meet the restrictions on
the quality and quantity of their practices, and even the older industries still in operation are
becoming more environmentally conscious. Unfortunately, there is still substantial
pollution from past industrial activity in the form of continuing pollution from derelict land
and waste tips and various obstmctions to fish movement.
The second distinction that can be made is between extractive and manufacturing
industries (Alabaster, 1972). The main industries dealing with extraction include
quarrying, sand and gravel extraction, coal mining, clay production, and mining for various
minerals. Some of these activities can cause substantial increases in the suspended solids of
streams, and even when the solids are inert, they can still be harmful to salmonoids
(Alabaster, 1972).
Past manufacturing industries have left a legacy of weirs and similar river
obstmctions and polluted land with the potential to produce leachates that are harmful to the
aquatic environment. Unfortunately, many modem industries produce intractable effluents.
Examples include chemical industries (many varied pollutants, including heat), electricity
generation (mainly heat and strong acids from buming fossil fuels, possible nuclear
pollution), metal industries (ammonia, phenols, metal, oil and heat), textiles (dyes and
23
pesticides), food manufacturers and distilleries (heat and biochemical oxygen demand) and
other timber and paper industries (suspended solids and chemical pollutants) (Bye, 1984).
Even-well managed industrial activities can lead to environmental problems as a result of
accidents. Such accidents can be a result of using old, overworked machinery and
pipelines, using unskilled workers or lack of supervision and training, or simply a lack of
adequate care (Cone, 1996).
Urban Development
The development of urban areas increases the rate of mn-off rainfall and increases
the risk of polluting that mn-off rainfall as it moves toward the river system. Salmon are
affected by the gathering of large populations of humans by the rate of water consumption,
sewage, atmospheric pollution, and accidental pollution (Bye, 1984).
A large population of people, there will naturally be a high demand for water, and in
highly dense population areas where precipitation is low, over-abstraction will occur.
Bathing and drinking are not a serious problem because the water system is usually treated
and reused. In contrast, most of the water used for watering lawns, golf courses, and
gardens goes straight into the atmosphere through evapo-transpiration, and the hydraulic
cycle will retum the water back to the system. There is a growing problem of ecological
ways to disposal domestic waste. Most of this waste that has been placed in landfill sites
causes trouble for salmon as various noxious leachates find their way into rivers (Groot,
1995).
24
Logging and Forestry
Logging affects surface and groundwater hydrology in complex ways (Chamberlin et
al. 1991). Studies have indicated that the frequency and magnitude of stream discharge
peaks are sometimes increased after harvesting (Beschta et al. 1991). Forestry activities
including road construction, timber falling and yarding, slash buming, and mechanical
scarification can all cause water to reach streams more rapidly (Chamberiin et al. 1991).
Some of the earliest logging operations were along the banks of larger rivers and
streams, where logs could be floated downstream for milling. In addition to harvesting
riparian timber, it was a common practice to remove and salvage large wood from coastal
streams and major rivers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Removing snags and downed
trees from the streams and rivers was a well-established practice by the tum of the century
(Sedell and Beschta, 1991).
Rivers used for navigation were routinely cleaned of all large wood and boulders in
order to provide way for a clear passage for log rafts. Salvage logging of timber in rivers
and streams, especially westem red cedar, had a serious impact on small streams throughout
the westem portions of Washington and Oregon. Loss of large woody debris to salvage
logging served to reduce both the size and frequency of pools in these systems, and
diminished the amount of cover available to rearing salmon (Bisson et al. 1987). Fishery
biologists largely viewed the accumulations of large woody debris as barriers to fish
migrations or as material that could scour channels during later large storms (Sedell and
Luchessa, 1982); therefore, the removal and salvage logging of woody debris accumulations
25
from streams were encouraged and required. Since the eariy 1800s, the practice has largely
been reduced.
Hatcheries
Salmon hatcheries consfitute a primary human intervention in the Pacific Northwest,
and in many of these areas, hatcheries produce the majority of salmon in rivers and streams.
In the 20' century, mitigation was the intended goal of most hatchery programs. Those
involved with hatchery programs believe that mitigation aimed to lessen the immediate
impact of human actions through definition of a "socially acceptable" altered state (Christie
et al. 1987). Hatcheries were expected to lessen the impact of numerous human actions that
have dramatically altered freshwater ecosystems of Pacific salmon. For instance, the impact
of constmction of mainstream dams on the Columbia River caused the decline or loss of
many upriver populations. Degraded environments, over-fishing and warm waters during el
Nino years have contributed to the dramatic decline in the numbers of mature salmon that
escape being captured or death and reach natural spawning areas (Christie et al. 1987). For
this reason, hatchery systems have been expected to compensate for this decline in
escapements. A number of long-existing Pacific salmon artificial propagation programs
have been called a success, but these claims have increasingly been called into question
(Riddell, 1993).
Most artificial propagation programs have not undertaken long-term evaluation and
documentation of the extent to which intended goals were reached. An example of a lack of
information exists to determine if an increase in the catch for a given population would
26
prevent extinction of populations whose spawning grounds have been destroyed by dams.
For many artificial propagation facilities, this lack of long term monitoring makes it neariy
impossible to differenfiate impacts of hatchery programs from other impacts of other human
interventions or of natural environmental changes. Since its inception in 1977, even the
ambitious Salmon Enhancement Program of British Columbia failed to collect data needed
to evaluate its benefits and risks. Over the 20"" century, the Pacific Northwest culture
missed the opportunity to leam adaptively about artificial propagation of anadromous
Pacific salmon (Hilbom and Winton, 1993).
Damming
Dam constmction in the Pacific Northwest began late in the 1800's when small
irrigation reservoirs were constmcted on tributaries of the Snake River in Idaho. Early in
the twentieth century, the first hydropower dams were constmcted on Columbia River
tributaries such as the Spokane and Willamette Rivers. During the late 1930's with the
initiation of the constmction of Bonneville and Grand Coulee, dam constmction proceeded
at a more rapid pace (National Research Council, 1996).
The effect of dams without fish passage facilities on salmon is clear: the upstream
habitat is lost. Such dams block anadromous fishes from access to about one-third of the
Columbia River watershed. Because of natural passage barriers, one-third was never
accessible. The loss of spawning and rearing habitat because of impassable dams is perhaps
most acute on the Columbia River system, but is by no means restricted to the river
(Knudsen, 2000). Even when dams are constmcted with fish ladders for upstream passage
27
of salmon, fish can still be delayed. Turbine discharge flows can disorient salmon and
make it difficult for them to find the small attraction flows that lead to the ladder (Hilbom
and Winton, 1993).
Dams will harm or kill salmon in many ways. Dams first of all block up stream
migrations of the adult fish. They also reduce the river flow that is needed to help young
salmon reach the sea. Dams force many young fish into collection systems and then onto
tmcks to bypass these dams, they cover spawning habitat with silt and deep water, and they
greatly increase predation on young salmon by other fish. According to the Columbia and
Snake Rivers campaign, the Snake River once produced 40% of the Columbia River's
salmon mns. Now, all Snake River salmon and steelhead stocks are extinct or on the
"Endangered Species" list. The eight federal dams on the Columbia and Lower Snake
Rivers inflict more than 80% of the human-caused salmon deaths in the Snake River
(Hilbom and Winton, 1993).
Conclusion
Thus, humans have long taken for granted the salmon population, and in the above
ways, have taken advantage of nature's bounty. Man, in his infinite wisdom takes for
generations what natural resources he wishes to use, often more than he needs, and later
must replenish and reform his activities or face the consequences of immature, selfish, or
ignorant squandering. Sometimes the consequences of generations of abuse of nature's gifts
results in future generations living without an entire population or species. Efforts aimed at
salvaging the many types of salmon that are still in existence, and efforts at repairing the
28
harm done by man to the fish's natural environment could assure that our generation and
that generations to come will have the opportunity of benefiting from conservation (Hilbom
and Winton, 1993).
29
CHAPTER III
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE SALMON
Anadromous salmon in the Pacific Northwest and their habitats ha\ c been adversely
affected by the region's development. Factors such as forestry, grazing, industrial activities,
(dams, commercial, residential, and recreational development,) and fishing have adversely
affected these habitats. Development and its associated pressures and changes will
continue. Considerable action would be needed merely to arrest the decline of salmon and
maintain even the current degraded status. Improving the prospects subject for
sustainability of anadromous salmon is complicated and continuous, and they have no
simple solution (Cone, 1996).
Cultures and Treaties
The Euro-American settiers that migrated to the region in large numbers after 1800s
were farmers. To address the conflicts between American Indian and non-Indian ways, the
U.S. government negotiated treaties with many Indian groups in the 1850s. Those of a
Euro-American background favored formal treaties and required signed agreements to
assign land ownership, sovereignty, and mles for fishing and hunting. The treaty-making
process consisted of treaty and non-treaty tribes (National Research Council. 1996).
Treaty making in the Northwest began with the Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854.
Over the next year, eight additional treaties tried to establish and settle relations between
Indians and Euro-Americans. These treaties signified radical changes in property rights.
30
They were primarily about land division and private land ownership. They marked a formal
transition from a culture co-evolved with salmon and their landscapes, toward a cultural
assemblage that substituted intervention, engineering, markets, and mitigations. All of these
new inventive ways of mediating humans' needs and nature's capacities were undertaken on
a time scale even shorter than one human generation (National Research Council, 1996).
Provisions of these treaties have been taken to the U.S. Supreme Court for
interpretation eight times (Cohen, 1986). Two major decisions advanced the treaty rights to
fishing: the Belloni decision in 1969 and the 1974 Boldt decision. As a result, the treaties
now serve as a critical legal basis for the contemporary salmon problem. Among other
things, the treaties guarantee signatory tribes a right of access to salmon and other
resources, implicitly signaling the importance of the natural worid to the Indian cultures.
Laws and court mlings have upheld as well as challenged water rights and coastal-
management institutions, raising the question about weather the concept of public tmst can
be applied beyond its original scope, rights of navigation and fishing in intertidal foreshores
and navigable or tidal waters, to environmental protection , freshwater rivers, and
surrounding habitats (Johnson 1989, Johnson et al. 1992).
Since the early 1970s, federal courts and Congress have also crafted legal and
institutional frameworks related specifically to fish management in the Northwest. Some
frameworks were regarding allocation principles. One example is the legal mlings
conceming American Indian treaty rights to salmon. Tribes of the Columbia River initiated
the historic fishing case. United States vs. Oregon,. In that case, federal Judge Robert C.
Belloni's mling (1969) was the first to provide a practical interpretation of the legal concept
31
of "usual and accustomed." The mling was the cmcial building block for other federal
court decisions important to the regions tribes. The 1974 mling. United States vs.
Washington ( a mling initiated by Washington tribes). Federal Judge George Boldt decided
that Belloni's notion of "fair and equitable share of the resource" meant 50% of all
catchable fish destined for the tribes' traditional fishing places. The next year, Belloni
applied the 50/50 standard in the United States vs. Oregon. This remains under the federal
court's continuing jurisdicfion. Thus, the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and the
Washington Department of Wildlife and Fisheries jointly carried out the first general
inventory of wild salmon stocks in 1992, and are beginning a second phase study of
interactions between hatcheries and wild fish (Johnson, 1989). Accordingly, both treaty
rights and cooperative management have emerged as central institutional principles.
Early Management
For millions of years salmon have evolved and populated the hundreds of streams in
the northwest, yet, today, more than two hundred local salmon populations are in danger of
extinction, and more than one hundred other populations have already been moving toward
to extinction during the last hundred years by human behavior (Cone, 1996).
This biological crisis has been forced on the attention of residents of the Pacific
Northwest by continuous efforts to protect these fish. There have been reports dating back
into the 1800s by the first generation of salmon cannery owners and hatchery operators,
cooperatively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Cone 1996).
32
People of European heritage in the Northwest became acquainted with salmon in the
late 1700s and depended on them for food more and more as Europeans began being
attracted to the west in the 1830s. The natural history of these fish was described in 1878
when A.C. Anderson, inspector of Fisheries in British Columbia, introduced salmon in
terms of stocks. Anderson and his successor, John Peace Babcock, established that stocks
were the basis for managing the salmon fisheries (Cone 1996).
In the United States, biological knowledge and management evolved differently.
Livingston Stone, an agent for the U.S. Fish Commission, was unaware of the observations
of Anderson and Babcock in British Columbia. Stone was probably one of the most
influential of the early specialists in the management of salmon. It is believed that Stone
had a misunderstanding of the exact way salmon were attracted to certain areas, for he
believed that the current was the main attraction. One consequence of this misunderstanding
was that artificial propagation of salmon hatcheries took on a greater importance for salmon
production than it otherwise might have. In 1877, Stone developed the first hatchery in the
basin for the Oregon and Washington Fish Propagating Company, because cannery owners
were concerned about the declining salmon pack.
In actuality, however, the decline of the salmon mns had already begun in 1874
when an average commercial fisher harvested 30,000 pounds of sockeye salmon from
Idaho's Payette River. By 1880, this mn of sockeye was commercially "extinct;" sockeye
was not even worth fishing for profit (Bakke, 1996).
Since 1879, traps and fish wheels were methods of taking salmon from the
Columbia River. The few traps in operation in 1879 did not come close to the number of
33
traps in 1883, which correspondingly decreased the quality and quantity of the salmon that
were packed into the streams, and caused a falling profit in the salmon business (Hume,
1893). Hume advocated an act to be passed by the legislature in order to provide for the
appointment of a Chief Fish Warden for the state, whom would have deputies in every
county assigned the duty of reporting to the head of his department. The act would provide
that in parts of such streams, where natural spawning beds are, that fishing be regulated and
at certain times banned during the cmcial months of reproduction (Hume 1893).
In 1894, Marshall McDonald was the U.S Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries and
made early arguments that overfishing must be addressed as a prime reason for salmon
decline. This was the same era that Livingston Stone, a commission agent in the Pacific
Northwest mentioned above, was addressing the need for hatcheries. McDonald stated that
hatcheries must not be relied on chiefly to maintain the salmon supply in the Columbia.
This argument has been an issue for over 100 years because there are conflicting opinions
about hatcheries and they're worth (Rich, 1940).
In 1927, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was authorized by congress to prepare a
study of developing the Columbia River for multiple reasons. This plan was called the
Corps Plan, and was completed four years later. The Corps plan consisted often dams to be
built within the Columbia River and had emphasis on hydropower, navigation, and
irrigation benefits that were associated with these developments. The first Act to be
proposed was the Bonneville Project Act. The Bonneville dam was to be built to market
power, constmct transmission lines, and to regulate and set rates. This plan was associated
with the New Deal program to provide jobs during the economic depression and stimulate
34
the economy (Dodds, 1959). The ultimate products of the 1938 Corps report and
Congresses' 1945 ratificafion were four lower Snake River dams, the last of which was not
completed until 1975. These dams transformed the lower Snake River from a free flowing
river into a series of lakes. It is fairiy clear that Congress did not consider the effect that
dam building would have on the river's salmon runs (Blumm, 1996).
Wills Rich, a biologist at Stanford University, and the first chief of research for the
Oregon Fish Commission wrote an essay in 1939 discussing the evidence that salmon are
categorized into "distinct local populations". After researching local populations, he
published another article urging for restraint and sacrifices to ensure the fisheries (Rich,
1940). The argument of artificial propagation will be discussed later, but should be
mentioned here, as a major topic of discussion and it should be noted that difference of
opinions on this topic have continued to be argued, even today. A more important
discussion at this point is the habitat and ecosystem involved in this study. (Rich, 1940).
The Mitchell Act
The Mitchell Act was the first act signed by the top fishery officials of Oregon,
Idaho, and Washington. The director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was in
agreement with this act in 1938. When the Mitchell Act was amended in 1946, it was an
agreement by the above states to conserve salmon in the Columbia River basin. There were
many goals of this act, including plans to establish one or more salmon cultural stations in
the Basin in each of the states, plans to conduct investigations and biological surveys
necessary to direct and facilitate conservation of the fishery resources, and plans to
35
constmct and install devices in the Columbia River Basin for the improvement of feeding
and spawning conditions for fish, hopes for the protection of migratory fish from irrigation
projects, and the goal of facilitating free migration offish over obstacles. This act was an
attempt to halt the decline of salmon and to begin a program to restore them throughout the
river system. Top officials eventually signed the agreement that covered participation of the
states in the program, and the Mitchell Act became the formal document under which these
agencies operated (Rich, 1940).
The Northwest Power Act
The Northwest Power Act limits the contribution of electric-power ratepayers to
damages attributable to hydroelectric power generation. In 1986, the council spoke on
historical studies of the Wildemess Columbia and legal analyses of the contemporary river.
The council set responsibility of present day ratepayers at 8-11 million adult fish per year.
The loss of so many fish, beyond the remaining 2.5 million retuming to the river, could be
ascribed to hydroelectric power generation (Johnson, 1989).
More specific guidance was formulated in the 1987 version of the Northwest Power
Planning Council's Columbia River Basin program, which set out an ecosystem-scale
approach. The evoking of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), beginning in 1990, forced
the rethinking of ecosystem-scale plans to rescue stocks nearing extinction (Cone, 1996).
36
Endangered Species Act
Recognition of the value of biodiversity or the cost of the extinction of species led to
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which like the Marine Mammal Protection Act of
1976, made statutory policy relevant to the salmon problem in the Pacific Northwest. On
April 2 1990, the Shoshone-Bannock tribe of Idaho petitioned the National Marine and
Fisheries Service to list Snake River sockeye as an endangered species; environmental
groups petitioning to list the spring, summer, and fall mns of chinook salmon in the Snake
River and coho salmon in the lower Columbia River closely followed it. This law reflects a
social decision that preservation of species is a categorical imperative. Thus by
congressional act, a major change in perception occurred; flora and fauna deemed to be
endangered or threatened were lifted from the utilitarian values realm of decision in terms
of tradeoffs or costs and benefits and into the extrinsic "rights based" realm of categorical
need for protection (Thompson, 1994). Not only do different human groups have rights in
relation to the claims of others, but also nonhuman biological organisms have rights. Those
rights might conflict with the claims of humans, even as the merits that we impute to the
nonhuman world shift our notions of what is valuable (National Research Council, 1996).
Pacific Salmon Treaty
The Pacific Salmon Treaty was between the United States and Canada. The
agreement was in January 1985, and has been called "the mechanism for balancing catch
allocations between the salmon-producing nation and the catching nation." The 1985 treaty
set up a new Pacific Salmon Commission. This commission developed a scale of
37
management that reflects the full range of a salmon movement that called for an
intemational institufion (Morgan, 1987). The principles of the 1985 treaty are to optimize
production of salmon and to achieve equity in the number offish intercepted by the two
countries. The main stumbling block was a dispute over how to ensure that each country
gets either fish or compensation equivalent to its salmon production (Morgan, 1987).
Conclusion
It is clear that there are no simple solutions to the problem of sustaining salmon
populations. Therefore, mentioning the legislative actions, treaties, laws, which have been
designed to make a stab at bolstering the habitats needed for survival. Factors such as
forestry; grazing; industrial activities; dams; commercial, residential, and recreational
development; and fishing have all damaged the survival rates and will continue to challenge
gioups and agencies charged with preservation of salmon, especially in the Pacific
Northwest. There have been many actions aimed at arresting the decline of salmon, yet the
current status is still degraded and in need of constant and continuous solutions, actions,
education, and efforts that improve the prospects of sustaining anadromous salmon
(Morgan, 1987).
38
CHAPTER IV
SUSTAINING SALMON
Committee on Protection and Management in the Pacific Northwest
Anadromous salmon in the Pacific Northwest and their habitats have been adversely
affected by the region's development, including such factors as forestry, industrial
activities, dams (commercial, residential, and recreational development) and fishing.
Development and its associated pressures will continue. Considerable action w ill be needed
merely to arrest the decline of salmon and maintain even the current degraded status.
Improving the prospects for sustainability of anadromous salmon is complicated and
contentious, and it has no simple single solution. But the committee on Protection and
Management of Pacific Northwest Anadromous Salmonids reached consensus on several
important conclusions and recommendations. If the committee's recommendations are
adopted, a considerable reallocation of financial and natural resources will follow
(Thompson, 1994).
Until very recently, the importance and benefits of rehabilitating salmon and their
ecosystems have been overridden by motivation to sustain a catch, a reliance on technology,
and economic considerations. Weighing the direct and collateral benefits of rehabilitating
salmon populations against the dislocations that are sure to occur raises profound questions
that should be discussed in ways that allow opportunities for citizens to participate (Cone,
1996).
39
Environmental Changes
Large changes have occurred in salmon habitats, including the ocean. Some
changes are natural, others are due to human impacts; some appear to fluctuate, others are
more trend like; some can be directly influenced by human activities, others at present
cannot. Rehabilitation must now operate within that context and must acknowledge the
inherent uncertainty associated with environmental changes and variability (Knudsen,
2000).
Oceanic Conditions as a Consideration
Variations in ocean conditions powerfully influence salmon abundance; therefore
fishery management must take the variability in ocean conditions into account. Some might
be tempted to attribute all changes in salmon abundance to changes in ocean conditions and
conclude that management related to rivers is unimportant. However, because all human
effects on salmon are reductions in the total production that the environment allows,
management interventions are more important when the ocean environment reduces natural
production than when ocean conditions are more favorable. In a situation of such
uncontrollable extemal variation, it would make sense for fishing to take a fixed and
sustainable proportion of the retuming spawners rather than a fixed number, as long as the
number of retuming spawners exceeds a minimal safe threshold. Below that threshold, no
fishing should be allowed. Management should attempt to reduce human caused deaths of
fish in rivers and at sea especially when ocean conditions are unfavorable (as measured by
estimates of survival rates at sea). Any favorable changes in ocean conditions, which could
occur and could increase the productivity of some salmon populations for a time, should be
40
regarded as opportunities for improving management techniques. They should not be
regarded as reasons to abandon or reduce rehabilitation efforts, because conditions will
change again (Cone, 1996).
Regional Variation Ideas
There is considerable regional variation in the physical, biological, social, cultural,
and economic environments of salmon. No unified solution to the salmon problem,
management strategy, research strategy, institutional arrangement, or govemance can be
expected to apply to the entire Pacific Northwest. Therefore any approach to improving the
status of the salmon populations must have regional components that, when possible, reflect
the bioregions relevant to salmon biology and conservation. Preemptive recovery plans
should include management and research strategies, institutional arrangements, and
govemance structures that are flexible and can be adjusted to fit regional variations
(National Research Council, 1996).
Values, Institutions and Solutions
Extractive interests have stmctured regional practices and institutions for the
management of natural resources and for the modification of environments for human
benefit. Society in the Pacific Northwest is in the midst of assessing values with respect to
natural resources and their use. Historically, the region has been govemed by an extractive
value system. The values were ingrained into the social and political institutions that
developed to manage and control resources. Therefore institutional, changes that better
reflect social interests in maintaining biodiversity and function of ecosystems should be
41
sought in light of the conflicts among those interests during a period of change. A broad
range of techniques should be used in estimating societal interests, including opinion
surveys focus groups, public participation, and content analysis of written commentary.
Because institutional arrangements reflect the commitments of eariier times, continued
conflict focused on institutional mles and procedures is to be expected as part of the process
of change (Knudsen, 2000).
Goals and values should emerge in significant part through cooperative
management, so that those most directly involved play an instrumental role in determining
how the rehabilitation of salmon takes shape in the places they regard as their own. Efforts
to rehabilitate salmon should be accompanied by efforts to communicate with stakeholders
and the general public in ways that allow for their evaluation of goals and values of the
rehabilitation projects and their participation, where appropriate, in cooperative
management (Beach, 1984; Crisp, 2000).
Interdisciplinary approaches to the salmon problems should be strengthened and
should incorporate the expertise required to deal with nonbiological and nonmonetary
aspects. Greater effort should be made to use interdisciplinary working groups to evaluate
projects, to work on methodologies needed to improve monetary and nonmonetary criteria
into those evaluations, and to accurately depict and quantify the value of salmon to the
region (National Research Council, 1996).
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Answers to Genetic Resources
Sustained productivity of anadromous salmon in the Pacific Northwest is possible
only if the genefic resources that are the basis of such productivity are maintained. We have
already lost a substantial portion of the genetic diversity that existed in these salmon species
150 years ago. The possible genetic effects of any actions must be considered when any
management decisions are made. The local reproductive population, or deme, is the
fundamental biological unit of salmon demography and genetics. An adequate number of
retuming adults for every local breeding population are needed to ensure persistence of all
the reproductive units. The result of regulating fishing on a metapopulation is the
disappearance of some of the local breeding populations and eventually they will collapse
the metapopulations' production (Beach, 1984; Knudsen, 2000).
Salmon management should be based on the premise that local reproductive
populations are genetically different from each other and valuable to the long-term
production of salmon. Managing from that perspective will protect habitat and also protect
resources for the long term. Efforts should be made to identify and protect remaining native
wild populations and their habitats. Minimum sustainable routes should be establi.shed for
as many populations as possible. Populations that have unusual genetic adaptations or
occupy atypical habitats are of special importance and should be identified and protected.
The genetic diversity within existing spawning populations is not replaceable and must be
conserved to protect present and future opportunities, including the evolutionary process in
salmon. This principle seems self evident, but risks continue to be imposed on such
populations (Beach, 1984; Knudsen, 2000).
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Habitat Loss and Rehabilitation Ideas
Freshwater habitats are critically important to salmon because they constitute the
spawning grounds and nurseries in which the genetic makeup of a population is determined.
Many human activities have contributed to degradation of the riverine and adjacent riparian
and near-river habitat and caused loss of habitat of spawning adults and young salmon, and
loss of associated components of the ecosystem (Vivash, 1989).
Riverine-riparian ecosystems and biophysical watershed processes that support
aquatic productivity should have increased protection. Riparian zones are important for the
maintenance of aquatic productivity, but insufficient protection has given to the cmcial
areas in the past. The width of riparian zones requiring protection from harmftil human
disturbances is usually not known with certainty, but all possible ecological functions
should be considered when attempting to define riverine-riparian boundaries. It is critical
that that the full range of ecological ftinctions be explicitly protected, including all biotic
and physical processes that mediate the exchange of energy, water, nutrients and organic
matter between watersheds and their streams. Although land and water will continue to be
used in most of the Pacific Northwest watersheds, recovery of productive salmon habitat
will necessitate an effort to rehabilitate the full range of natural conditions in aquatic and
riparian ecosystems (National Research Council, 1996).
Damming Solutions
Although as many as 90%) of young salmon might survive passage over, around, and
through major hydropower projects on the Columbia-Snake ri\'er mainstream, the
cumulative reduction in survival caused by passing many projects has adversely affected
44
salmon populations. Partly because salmon do not have rights to water, allocation of water
nghts usually has not included considerations of their long-term survival. We need to
determine existing reach survival rates as they pass through a specified stretch of the river,
secure water as needed where changes in annual pattems or total amounts of stream flow,
continue downriver transportation of smolts by barge in the Columbia and Snake rivers, and
improve information on the migratory characteristics of salmon in these rivers.
Hatchery Recommendations
The management of hatcheries has had adverse effects on natural salmon
populations. Hatcheries can be usefiil as part of an integrated, comprehensive approach to
restoring sustainable mns of salmon, but by themselves they are not an effective technical
solution to the salmon problem (Mills, 1971).
Hatcheries are not a proven technology for achieving sustained increases in adult
production. Indeed, their use often has contributed to damage of wild mns. The current
approach to hatchery use (the enhancement of catchable salmon mns), entails a large and
continuing input of human energy and money. It is unlikely that hatcheries can make up for
declines in abundance caused by fishing, habitat loss (including that resulting from dams),
over the long term. Hatcheries might be useful as short-term aids to a population in
immediate trouble while long-term, sustainable solutions are being developed (Stouder,
1997).
The intent of hatchery operations should be changed from that of making up for
losses of juvenile fish production and for increasing catches of adults. They should be
viewed instead as part of a bioregional plan for protecting or rebuilding salmon populations
and should be used only when they will not cause harm to natural populations. Hatcheries
should be considered an experimental treatment in an intergraded, regional rebuilding
program and they should be evaluated accordingly. Whenever hatcheries are used, great
45
care should be taken to minimize their known and potential adverse effects on genetic
stmcture.
Conclusion
Human behavior has long affected the salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest.
There have been many attempts to solving the various problems we have created as a
society, and yet populations continue to decline. There is no single answer to how we can
solve this problem. Educating the public, and younger generations by making them aware
of the situations we face will help the fait of one of our most precious resource the Pacific
salmon.
46
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www.wildsalmon.org
www.wa.gov/wdfw/outreach/fishing/salmon
www.americanrivers.org/fishwildlife/pacificsalmon
www.greenrivers.org
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