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

L

^^

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.

11

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

V

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

10

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.

II

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

12

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

13

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).

14

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

15

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.

16

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).

17

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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