Blueprint for SALMON survival
The
new recovery plan to bring back endangered Columbia and Snake river
salmon hits all “four H’s’ – hydropower dams, habitat degradation,
hatcheries and harvest by fishing – but critics charge it’s still
too soft on dams. The 500-page federal plan, required by the
Endangered Species Act and announced by the Federal Marine
Fisheries Service March 20, calls for spilling fish over dams and
releasing more water in the spring to flush young salmon out to
sea. Environmentalists and fishermen say the plan continues to rely
too much on the collection and barging of young salmon around the
dams. “The NMFS has come up with yet another Band-Aid when we need
a tourniquet,” Michael Rosetto, director of Save Our Wild Salmon,
told the Eugene Register-Guard. Environmentalists would like to see
the federal agency which operates the dams, the Army Corps of
Engineers, move quickly to draw down reservoirs in order to create
a faster current for migrating salmon. The new plan calls for a
test drawdown at the John Day Dam in 1996 with a decision in 1999
on whether to proceed at other dams. The plan also calls
for:
* a ban on commercial harvest of fish from
the three listed runs and a call for a new treaty with Canada to
limit the take of endangered stocks by Canadian
fishermen;
* a buyback of fishing permits, gear
and vessels owned by gill-net fishermen using the lower Columbia
River;
* increased emphasis on captive breeding
and more careful management of hatcheries to minimize competition
between wild salmon and hatchery stock; and
* new
restrictions on grazing, timbering and other activities in salmon
spawning habitat.
The comment period for the plan
ends on June 18. Contact the National Marine Fisheries Service for
a schedule of public hearings or for a copy of the plan,
206/526-6150.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Blueprint for salmon survival.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
