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SALMON RECOVERY: CATEGORIZING AGENTS, DRIVERS, AND DELUSIONS
Citation:
Lackey, R T. SALMON RECOVERY: CATEGORIZING AGENTS, DRIVERS, AND DELUSIONS. Presented at American Fisheries Society annual meeting, Madison, WI, August 22-26, 2004.
Description:
Throughout the southern region of western North America, many wild salmon stocks have declined and some have disappeared. The decline was induced by an extensively studied combination of causal agents. The public appears to support reversing the downward trajectory for wild salmon, yet the long-term prognosis is poor for maintaining even today's wild runs. Effecting any change in the long-term downward trend for wild salmon is probably futile in the absence of substantial shifts in the core policy drivers. Core drivers that society can control are: (1) the economic rules of the game; (2) the increasing scarcity and competition for high-quality water; (3) the rapidly increasing number of humans in the region; and (4) individual and collective lifestyle choices and priorities. Without substantial changes in these four interrelated core policy drivers, the status of wild salmon through this century will likely continue the well-documented downward path of the past 150 years. There are options that are likely to be ecologically achievable and appreciably less socially disruptive than current wild salmon recovery strategies, but these options also have much more modest restoration objectives, require extensive hatchery intervention, and/or involve creating protected areas.