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NUTRIENT ADDITION TO RESTORE SALMON RUNS: CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION POLICIES AND REGULATIONS
Citation:
Lackey, R T. NUTRIENT ADDITION TO RESTORE SALMON RUNS: CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION POLICIES AND REGULATIONS. Stockner, JG (ed.), Nutrients in Salmonid Ecosystems: Sustaining Production and Biodiversity. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, MD, , 283-285, (2003).
Description:
One scheme to help restore salmon to the Pacific Northwest is the addition of nutrients (i.e., raw or processed salmon carcasses, and commercially produced organic or inorganic fertilizers) to headwaters (e.g., watersheds, lakes, or streams) that are now nutrient deficient because of inadequate replenishment from oceanic or other sources.
Salmon are a vector by which marine nutrients are captured and conveyed against the force of gravity into freshwater ecosystems. Especially in the upper reaches of watersheds, these nutrients, in both organic and inorganic forms, play an important, perhaps essential, role in maintaining viable salmon runs along with the associated ecosystem components. For example, a large proportion of the nitrogen in plants and animals in streams where salmon are abundant is undoubtedly derived from decomposed spawned salmon. This "anadromous nutrient pump" has been attenuated considerably because salmon runs have been reduced severely in the Pacific Northwest for decades, sometimes for more than a century. The addition of nutrients to watersheds, lakes, or streams where salmon runs are now much reduced would replace, at least partially, the "missing" marine derived nutrients.
The Western Ecology Division co-sponsored an American Fisheries Society conference (April, 2001) that presented the latest research results from nutrient research efforts throughout the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia. It is apparent from the conference presentations that there are many concerns that need to be evaluated carefully before environmental protection agencies develop general policies or promulgate specific regulations on granting requests for permits to add nutrients to rivers and lakes in the Pacific Northwest. Given the intense public commitment to restore runs of wild salmon, and the likelihood that nutrient addition will be seriously considered in recovery efforts, the policy challenge for environmental protection agencies will be to craft policies that carefully balance the apparent need for nutrient removal (at some locations) to enhance water quality with nutrient addition (at other locations) to help restore salmon runs.