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CHALLENGES TO SUSTAINING DIADROMOUS FISHES THROUGH 2100: LESSONS LEARNED FROM WESTERN NORTH AMERICA
Citation:
LACKEY, R. T. CHALLENGES TO SUSTAINING DIADROMOUS FISHES THROUGH 2100: LESSONS LEARNED FROM WESTERN NORTH AMERICA. Presented at Second International Symposium on Diadromous Fishes: Challenges for Diadromous Fishes in a DynamicGlobal Environment, Halifax, NS, CANADA, June 18 - 21, 2007.
Description:
An evaluation of the history of efforts to reverse the long-term decline of Pacific Salmon in western North America provides instructive policy lessons for the potential recovery of diadromous fishes throughout the world. From California to southern British Columbia, wild runs of Pacific salmon have universally declined and many have disappeared. Whether in response to the requirements of the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the Canadian Species at Risk Act, or other laws, billions have been spent in so-far failed attempts to reverse the decline. The annual expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars continues, but a sustainable future for wild salmon remains elusive. Despite documented public support for restoring wild salmon, the long-term prognosis for a sustainable future appears problematic. Fisheries biologists and others continue to craft restoration plans, but an easy, effective approach has yet to emerge that will actually restore and sustain most runs of wild salmon in the region. For most diadromous fishes, restoration options exist that offer both ecological viability and appreciably lower social disruption, but these options also have more modest restoration objectives.