The Osprey: Faith in Nature - The Missing Element in Salmon Management and Mitigation Programs
Every wild fish advocate is well aware of how historically abundant salmon and steelhead once were. They crowded the rivers during spawning runs and easily supported sustainable fisheries for Native American tribes along with commercial fishermen and sport anglers. And as every wild fish advocate also knows, that incredible abundance is largely gone and river systems that once produced many thousands of fish may now produce just hundreds, or dozens, and in too many cases, none at all.
But that is not because Nature is no longer capable of producing abundance, as Jim Lichatowich and Rick Williams observe in their important cover story in this issue of The Osprey. It is because many salmon managers have rejected the idea that Nature can supply enough fish on its own to support prosperous fisheries, may be unaware of how many fish the rivers they manage once produced and rely almost solely on the technical fix of hatcheries. To make matters worse, that view and philosophy tends to be passed down through generations of salmon managers.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
• FAITH IN NATURE
• CHAIR’S CORNER: KINDRED SPIRITS
• STEELHEAD & A WARMING CLIMATE
• MCKENZIE RIVER WILD CHINOOK
• VICTORIES ON THE EAST FORK LEWIS
What is to be done? It won’t be easy to convince salmon managers that they continue to rely on a flawed conceptual foundation, and hatcheries in particular. But there are examples out there, such as Osoyoos Lake sockeye recovery, that don’t rely on traditional models that should stimulate a rethink of how we can again return natural abundance to our salmon and steelhead streams.