Saving salmon means change
Researchers will share ideas to save the species — from river sanctuaries to smaller homes — at the Salmon 2100 project
In an attempt to save Pacific salmon from extinction, the United States spends about $600 million a year in the Columbia River basin alone. In spite of this enormous effort, few wild-spawning populations will likely survive into the next century if current trends prevail.
That is the stark prediction of the majority of 30 university scientists, conservation advocates, lawyers and other experts taking part in a research project called Salmon 2100.
“The goal is not to tackle the usual near-term issues but to look far down the road, asking what would have to change if society wants to have sustainable wild salmon persist through the next 100 years,” said Robert Lackey, a fisheries biologist with the Environmental Protection Agency and one of the organizers of the project. The other is Denise Lach, co-director of the Center for Water and Environmental Sustainability at Oregon State University.
Twenty-four participants will present their detailed answers this week at the 135th annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Anchorage.
The prescriptions are provocative and daunting. Some experts say it will require setting aside whole rivers as salmon sanctuaries. Others call for nothing short of a massive reduction in society’s consumption of energy, water and other natural resources. Still others put faith in continued investments in science and technology.
The biggest challenge facing salmon, as Lackey sees it, is the growing presence of people in salmon country. The current population from Oregon to British Columbia, Canada, is about 15 million. In 100 years, that is likely to multiple to 50 million or more, Lackey said.
“There has been no track record on the planet where you have had high numbers of people and sustainable wild runs of salmon,” he said, citing the near complete loss of Atlantic salmon through the southern half of Europe and the eastern United States. The story is much the same for Pacific salmon in densely populated regions of Japan, Korea and China.
With more people comes increased competition for high-quality water, and increased demands for energy, timber cutting and land development along rivers and streams.
“Something very different has to emerge than what we are doing now,” said fisheries biologist Jack Williams. He works for Trout Unlimited but is presenting his personal views as are the other participants in the project.
“It’s going to take fundamental changes,” Williams said. “I think it’s going to mean building smaller homes, using more public transportation, eating organically grown foods and depending more upon foods that are locally grown. All those things are doable.”
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Saving salmon means change