Salvation for the Northwest’s endangered salmon
will come through further cuts in fishing, according to a senior
White House official.
James Connaughton, head of the
Council on Environmental Quality, announced at Portland’s
Salmon 2100 conference in January that salmon recovery will have to
come through curbing fishing, along with upgrades to outdated
hatcheries, which may be harming wild fish. The Bush administration
is currently under court order to address the effect of
hydroelectric dams on the region’s fish. Yet Connaughton made
only brief mention of dams (HCN, 6/13/05: For salmon, a crucial
moment of decision).
Fishing groups say the focus on
fishing and hatcheries — while valid — diverts
attention away from the larger impacts of hydropower. Fishing is
prohibited for all but one of the Columbia River’s endangered
and threatened salmon populations, and only 5 percent of listed
salmon die at the hands of fishermen. Hydroelectric dams,
meanwhile, kill as many as 92 percent of the river’s listed
young salmon and 25 percent of listed adult fish, according to
government reports.
“It’s like worrying about a
mosquito bite when you have cancer,” says Liz Hamilton, executive
director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association.
A 2000 NOAA Fisheries report concluded that ending all
Columbia River salmon fishing would result in “limited benefits” to
listed populations. “At some point (the administration) is going to
have to face up to the dams,” says Glen Spain, northwest regional
director of the Pacific Federation of Fishermen’s
Associations. “The science leads to the dams and the law leads to
the dams.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Fishermen blamed for salmon troubles.
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