The Current Magazine Summer 2016 | Page 15

Photo by Carson Jeffres

Recently, Robert Lackey of Oregon State University published an article about the collapse of Pacific salmon populations throughout the western United States. Citing recent literature, Dr. Lackey notes that 29% of the approximately 1400 Pacific salmon populations (pre-1800) once abundant in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho are now extirpated and an additional 28 species of salmon and trout are currently listed under the federal endangered species act. Despite millions of dollars spent annually on programs aimed to recover these emblematic and culturally significant fishes, the current status of Pacific salmon strongly indicates that they are headed for a fate similar to that of Atlantic salmon in Western Europe and the Eastern United States. Dr. Lackey even suggests that the current amount of money spent on wild salmon recovery is “guilt money” or a cost designed to assuage societal guilt associated with wild Pacific salmon decline. The author argues that recovery is not working and will never be realized unless four “inconvenient realities” are first recognized:

1. Overall, wild salmon abundance, especially south of the Canadian

border, is very low and has been so for a long time.

2. We have been well aware for a long time of the causes of the dire state

of salmon runs along the west coast of North America

3. Anywhere wild salmon were once plentiful (Europe, Asia Far East,

Eastern North America), the decline in their abundance is roughly

inversely related to the growth in the human population.

4. It is highly unlikely that most people will accept the substantial life

style and economic changes necessary to recover wild salmon runs to

substantial levels.

Inconvenient Realities and a path to recovery for wild Pacific salmonids