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PACIFIC NORTHWEST SALMON: IN SEARCH OF A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Citation:
Lackey, R T. PACIFIC NORTHWEST SALMON: IN SEARCH OF A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE. Presented at Fifth Annual Northwest Salmonid Recovery Conference, Seattle, Washington, Oct. 26-29, 2004.
Description:
Throughout the Pacific Northwest, all wild salmon runs have declined since 1850 and some have disappeared. A sustainable future for wild salmon remains elusive. Billions of dollars have been spent in a so-far failed attempt to reverse the long-term decline. Each year, hundreds of millions of dollars continue to be spent in various restoration programs. How can nearly everyone be in favor of restoring wild salmon, as opinion surveys indicate, while the long-term prognosis for a sustainable future appears to be so grim? Fisheries biologists and other scientists continue to help craft restoration plans, but technocrats are unable to offer any easy, painless approaches that will actually restore and sustain most runs of wild salmon. Restoring and sustaining wild salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest to anything resembling historic levels will be arduous and will entail substantial economic costs and social disruption. There are restoration options that are likely to be ecologically viable and appreciably less socially disruptive than current strategies, but these options also have more modest restoration objectives.