7089

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7089
• Author: Northwest Power Planning Council.
• Title: Strategy for Salmon
• USFW Year: 1992.
• USFW - Doc Type: Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
• Copyright Material: NO

planutUngprocess. VV~
see it as away of doing
busin~ss, It accounts
for all interests, illclud-
ing the salmon's.
Because about 40
percent of the remain-
ing salmon and steel-
head habitat in the
Columbia Basin is bor-
dered by private land,
, it is essential that pub-
lic and private land:.
owners cooperate in
comprehensive efforts
, to manage salmon hab-
itat.

Weare encoU!- '
agea by /
. cooperative habitat improvements
already being undertaken in partnerships,
between private individuals and govern-
ments around the basin. These projects not
only improve conqitions for salmon, but
'many of them improve agricultural practices
and provide educational opportunities; too.
Controlling erosion, for example, can-make
farmland more productive and also improve
conditions for salmon by reducmg the .
amount of silt that flows into rivers.
We also call on federal and state land and
water managers to improve salmor: habitat,
by revising timber, mining, and livestock
management practices. Land and water
, managers need to focus their attention on .
protecting streamside areas, .

The ancient Colum-
bia Basin had no fish
hatcheries, Salmon re-
produced in the shal-
low, graveled areas of
rivers and streams.
As overfi~hing; dams
and other developments
took their toll, fish
hatcheries were built to
compensate for the loss
of salmon. Nearly
everyone agreed with
this approach.
. The remarkable
homing instinct of salmon worked well with
hatchery production. Salmon return tothe
, waters of their birth-in this case, to the
, hatcheries where they were released as,
juveniles.
But there have been problems. Some fish
hatcheries failed because there was a critical
'lack of knowledge about ,fish biology, dis-
ease and genetics. . '
, Ironically, as understanding increased
, - ,."
and hatcheries became more successful, ,
. problemS occurred elsewhere~ Hatchery fish
mix in the ocean with -salmon spa"'("ned in
rivers, and both are caught by fishers. In this
mixed-stock fishery, fish that spawn natu-
rallyare overharvested.

, ,

W.. ehave
.. . emphasized
.... ... habitat
repairs that
will incre.ase
the
productivity
"of salmon
in the wild.'

Improve
ha~chery
prac~ices

1948
A 20-<1ay flood on th~ Columbia destroys the
community of Vanport, Oregon, and kills 32 people.

/'

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