Protection Of Columbia River Fisheries

Author : Douglas W. Dompier
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1413492967
Total Pages : 351 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (134 download)

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Download or read book The Fight of the Salmon People written by Douglas W. Dompier and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2005 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fight of the Salmon People by Douglas W. Dompier In The Fight of the Salmon People, Douglas W. Dompier draws upon his 33 years involvement in Columbia River salmon issues to examine the role hatchery programs play in fishery management from a perspective those in authority seldom acknowledge. His book provides a unique and in-depth analysis of how the state and federal fishery agencies gained control of the salmon resources through the development of major hatchery programs, which began in the 1950s. Mr. Dompier looks at the crucial decisions that dictated why certain species were eliminated and others left to face the development of the Columbia River basin. He explores the decisions of where to locate hatcheries, what species to rear, and where to release the salmon. Mr. Dompier also provides an in-depth examination of the Columbia River treaty tribes' involvement in salmon management that followed key federal court decisions that provided them the means to reassert their management authority. He examines the tribes' effort to reform hatchery programs to restore naturally spawning salmon runs. The endeavor often faced controversial and confrontational barriers placed in their way after their re-emergence as salmon managers. Mr. Dompier describes how the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River system was a fortuitist and convenient way for fishery agencies to secure necessary funds to construct hatcheries. However, the fishery agencies chose not to assist the injured salmon runs, but to provide fish for their constituents. Loss of salmon harvest devastated the tribal community for more than 100 years. Unbeknownst to them, much of the loss was due to the fishery agencies decisions that sought to eliminate tribal fisheries. Through the help of the federal courts and after the formation of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission in 1977, the tribes once again become major players in the management of salmon as they began to expose and reverse prior destructive decisions. Although listing of salmon under the Endangered Species Act, which began in 1991, appeared to offer help for the resource, Mr. Dompier examines why listing resulted in additional impacts to the salmon while status quo hatchery programs continued. As the tribes' efforts to reform salmon hatcheries to supplement naturally spawning salmon runs gained momentum, fishery agencies started to question the appropriateness of hatchery-reared fish to restore naturally spawning populations. Hatchery-reared salmon were viewed as inferior and interactions with wild fish were not encouraged. Even as concerns for hatcheries were expressed, the controversy that erupted over hatchery-reared and wild fish was a relatively new phenomenon on the Columbia River. As hatcheries continued to undergo criticism, they were elevated to the list of impacts that harmed salmon and provided an added dimension when salmon were examined and listed under the Endangered Species Act. The term "all-H" (i.e., hydro, harvest, habitat, and hatcheries) came to symbolize the negative effects salmon suffer on the Columbia River. Finally, Mr. Dompier offers a new vision for Columbia River salmon management highlighted with a recommendation that Congress create a new administrative authority composed of tribal, state, and federal authorities empowered with the objective to restore naturally spawning stocks of salmon. He also examines how the public's role can be modified to assist in the restoration efforts. Mr. Dompier recognizes that modification of society's role will be as difficult and perhaps, in many instances, more difficult than the fishery managers' adjustments. Years of anger and mistrust that developed around the issues important to survival of salmon resources such as habitat protection and restoration, which includes stream flows and fish passage at mainstream dams, and society's need to advance will not be quickly put