7755

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7755
• Author: White, R. J.
• Title: Why Wild Fish Matter
• USFW Year: 1992
• USFW - Doc Type: Balancing Ecological and Aquacultural Fishery Management
• Copyright Material: YES

PATCHWORK DESTRUCTION OFRIVER-
NURTURING FOREST ECOSYSTEMS:
CI.EARCUTTING LACED WITH SEDIMENT-
SPEWINGROADS. THIS IS THE
WILLAMETTE NATIONAL FOREST IN
OREGON. YET SUCH DEVASTATION
PRIES BY COMPARISON WITH THE EVEN
MORE EXTENSIVE CLEARCUTTING IN
BRITISH COLUMBIA. HATCHERIES, SUCH
AS THE ONE BELOW, ARE NOT THE
ANSWER. THIS BLEAK EXAMPLE
HAPPENS TO BE AHIGH-TECH FACILITY
IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Bring an area as large as France, is the
site of what may be the most calamitous
fishery failure now takingplace in North
:'~meric<t. It may exceed past fishery
fiascos of other regions.
That the drastic altering of the
Columbia-Snake river system by dams
and reservoirs has seriously affected
anadromous fishes, such as salmon and
steelhead, is well known. Eradicated
were the salmon that spawT~ed in parts
of Canada, Idaho and elsewhere above
dams that were impassable. Those dams
that were surmountable have relent-
lessly diminished fish runs pia the mi-
gration delay that they and their reser-
voirs have caused and cia associated
human activities, hatcheries and over-
harvest included. The situation shows
how things go wrong when native fish
are disregarded.
What's not widely known is that, even
ti~ith the dams, much of the tragedy
could have been prevented-and some
still might be, though it's almost too
late. Much more effort and money will
be needed now than if' people had
started doing the right things sooner.
Before white settlement began, the
Columbia's annual run of adult salmon
and steelhead flucnrated around an av-
erage that is conservativeh~ reckoned at
16 million fish (estimates range from
10 to 40 million). In about 1980, itwas 4
to 5 million. By the mid-1980s, the run
(including ocean catch) was 2 to 2.5
million, ofwhich only 300,000 to X00,000
were urild fish. In 1991, onh I million
salmon and steelhead entered the
mouth of the Columbia River (we don't
know how many others were harvested
before reaching that point}.
That's how low the run has sunk
despite aGillian-dollar "restoration" ef-
fort in 11 years. The effort was not
merely misguided, it was deliberateh•
peryerted~feflected from original in-
tent by econot_iic interests who didn't
want to make modest adjusunents that
~ti•ould have helped the fish.
In 1980, recognizing that salmon runs
were declining due to the dams, and
AUTL:1Vt\ 1~2 TROUT