The Independent Scientific Advisory Board provides recommendations for Columbia River salmonid management to NOAA Fisheries and the N.W. Power Planning and Conservation Council. The ISAB recently provided a review, saying, “The concept of sustainability…describes how biological systems remain diverse, robust, and productive over time.” They are concerned that “artificial propagation is a risky foundation for restoration” of salmonids.
In the Columbia River the fishery agencies have spent over $13 billion in public funding for salmon recovery yet have failed to achieve their goal of 5 million hatchery and wild salmonids since it was adopted in 1982. Releases of hatchery salmonids ranges from 140 to 250 million fish from 70 hatcheries at a cost of $109 million, but have failed to restore runs to historical levels. The wild runs have declined to just 2% of their historic abundance and mitigation hatcheries have failed in their promise to make up for that loss. Yet the fishery agencies and regional planners continue to advocate for more hatcheries and increased spending.
Hatchery advocates have attacked the few conservation organizations that question the use of hatcheries as a mitigation tool for declining salmonid populations. Bill Monroe said, “Shame on the Native Fish Society (again) for its relentless attack on hatcheries.” (The Oregonian, January 14, 2014)
As Molly Ivins once said, “When you find yourself in a hole quit digging.” The hatchery program is expensive and it is not sustainable. The fishery agencies are closing hatcheries because the funding is drying up not because of some latent conservation conviction.
The hatcheries need wild salmonids to improve their performance (survival, cost effectiveness, and catch), but as the years go by, the wild runs are more depleted and the hatchery replacement becomes too ecologically and economically expensive. It is now possible to anticipate a future on the West Coast where wild and hatchery salmonids could be lost. Do we want a repeat the demise of Atlantic salmon on the East Coast?
The fishery agencies enjoy the safe middle ground, free of accountability for failed management, as long as the hatchery and wild fish advocates continue to fight, but it does not solve the problem of an eventual fishery collapse.