Ashley Drollinger Patrick Wilson CSS 462 March 24, 2012

Saving the Salmon in the Pacific Northwest

Introduction Salmon are just one of the many species in the Pacific Northwest that have a high amount of concern for protection. Protection from what one might ask? Salmon are at risk in this area due to several dams posing threats, climate change, and unstable habitats. Theses threats are fluctuating the number of salmon in the Pacific Northwest making it hard to protect and manage the species. The decision space for this issue can be looked at as somewhat narrower than other issues, but it still requires attention from many different stakeholders, institutions, and environmental thinkers. This issue has been one of the biggest challenges in the PNW because it involves trading off one thing for another. Many Pacific salmon stocks have declined and some have been extirpated. The salmon problem is one of the most vexing public policy challenges in natural resource management (Lackey, 1999). In this paper I will discuss the different interests, institutions, and ideas surrounding the challenge to conserve the salmon in the Pacific Northwest. I. Interests

Besides salmon being the main interest and stakeholder, there are several different others that have a huge impact on the threatened species. Every stakeholder involved in this issue is just as important as the other, even if they are not in support for saving the salmon. The first stakeholder to be discussed would be the people living in this region because the dams supply them with hydropower. Hydropower is one, and probably the most well known, way to supply large populations with efficient power. Being one of the cheapest suppliers for power in our nation, it is hard for society to want to shift towards another form of power because of cost of living. With this challenge in mind, its hard to persuade the public to want to protect salmon from endangerment for the obvious reason that power is cheap, which means a lot because of the current economy situation. Discontinuing the use of dams would probably be considered an impossible goal because so many people depend on them for power and flood control. The second stakeholders that will be mentioned are the people who are employed at fish hatcheries, or fishing for salmon. Fish hatcheries can be looked positively or negatively depending on what the main goal is. Positively, fish hatcheries put more salmon into the water for more people to catch for food, and some survive until adulthood. Negatively, fish hatcheries produce unnatural salmon that cannot survive in natural water conditions, making it hard for them to make it to adulthood to reproduce. Getting rid of salmon fish hatcheries may be possible, but the idea isnt the most favored currently. Fishing for salmon for the use of food is still popular to this day, and probably

will continue to be unless salmon go extinct or more regulations are placed on fishing for them. II. Institutions Management for species protection relies on various institutions, locally and nationally. Some of the key institutions associated with the management of salmon in the Pacific Northwest include: The Endangered Species Act, the states, fisheries in these regions, and tribes. The ESA places regulations and awareness on the endangered species, which helps promote conservation, which put laws and policies in place to fight the threats. The states and fisheries have an extensive role in providing management by carrying out information about which species to put on the endangered species list, while also having the power to propose requested action in the form passing on specific policies to policymakers. Fisheries have the control over how many fish are produced and released into the water, which gives them a great deal of authority, even though it may not be the best solution for this particular situation. For decades, Native American Tribes have had a great deal of control over the salmon populations in view of the fact that treaties were signed years ago to allow them to fish for salmon in specific regions. This is beneficial to tribes in these regions, but it takes away from the salmon populations. According to Syma A. Ebbin, a writer for Marine Policy: The Washington and Oregon tribes and states of Oregon and

Washington developed the North of Falcon process as a corollary process to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, one of the regional management councils established under the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976 (Ebbin, 2002). Managing salmon in the Pacific Northwest is a costly matter, and will continue to cause challenges for decades to come. No matter how many different acts and regulations are in place, people will have to decide what is more important to them: the salmon, or our current views. III. Ideas There are a multitude of ideas that focus on saving salmon, and the world, but deciding which solutions are impossible, and realistic is where the challenge rests. Some solutions may sound like they could work, but may be too expensive to carry out, such as breaching the dams. Creating ladders for salmon to climb has worked in the past, but most importantly they are not helping juvenile salmon survive to reproduce. Fish hatcheries, as discussed before, are increasing the salmon populations but they are not breeding salmon that can survive in natural habitats. The simple idea is that humans either need to figure out a new technology that can alter the dams to save salmon lives, or the public needs to settle for less, and pay more to keep their salmon afloat. Conclusion Saving this species is going to come down to whether we want to

continue to live the way we do; fishing for salmon, and or taking advantage of cheap energy in the PNW. It is the answers to these and other questions that fundamentally determine the future of wild salmon stocks. Science ca help evaluate the consequences of different policy options, but the salmon problem is an issue of public choice (Lackey, 1999). This current issue, just like another other environmental/ ecological concern, will take years to overcome fully, if even at all. Unfortunately. We have disturbed the life of salmon, and the only way to improve is to disapprove of how we are currently taking over their habitat.

References

Lackey, Robert T. Salmon policy: science, society, restoration, and reality. Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 2, Issues 45, August October 1999. Pages 369-379 Ebbin, Syma A. Enhanced fit through institutional interplay in the Pacific Northwest Salmon co-management regime. Marine Policy, Volume 26, Issue 4, July 2002. Pages 253-259