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

Without regionwide
cooperation, we will
have continuing decline
in the rUns. If this,Strate-
gy fails for lack of coop-
etaflon, the region could
narrow its focus to,only;
those runs that are par-
ticularly depleted. Other
runs could then worsen.
. . . We need to_act nqw-'
as a region...,.--while we
s~ have the chance to .
involve all river users in
a cooperative salmon
rebuilding strategy. For
the sake of the salmon,
we should notlet this
critical effort fracture
.intobitter disputes be-
tween river users.

Both commercial
and sport fishing result
in the loss, of millions
of fish each year. '
Hatcheries, as was' ,
mentioned earlier,
were designed as a so-
lutionibutalso contrib-
ute to the problem by
increasing the likeli-
hood of diseases and
adding competitor fish'
that can overwhelm
\salmon spawning in
streams. Other fishery
management decisions.
. sometimes favored on~
salmon stock atthe ex-
,pense,of others.
Irrigated farming
leaves many streams
too dry for salmon to reproduce in, and un.. i
screened water diversions can draw fish out
into fields. bogging, mining and livestock
grazing' destroy salmon :p.abitat by eliminat-
ing water-protecting plants along'streams
and causing silt, to clog spawning b~ds. Wa-
I ter use by cities and towns; and munidpal
and industrial pollution also, limit the pro-
dtlctivit)lJ of streams. '

This strategy
,.': i~corpo~ates
. . rlgdrous '
lp-oni toring
procedures
to track and
evaluate the
progress
of every \
measure.

"

, Causes of the decline I. I

/'

Our s~1mon strategy does not focus
Iblame.on anyone cause of the salmon's
decline. Impacts occurred throughout the
, basin. Hydroelectric and iJ:'rigation d~-
arid the reservoirs they create-took a toll.
They are imposing barriers that kill miijfons
of salmon migrating to and from the .ocean.
Other sal!mon are consumed by predators at
the dams.

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1806 - ,
"There was great joy with the natives'
, last night. in, consequence of the arrival
of the salrooh. .. .
, -Captain MeriwetherLewis, April 19 '

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