Salmon catch is unsustainable, scientific panel says

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published December 13, 2001

SEATTLE -- A panel of scientists has determined that the federal government is endangering salmon stocks in Washington state by allowing too many of the fish to be caught.

The panel called the rates of fishing on some stocks "unsustainable" and said it was "somewhat mystified concerning the scientific justification for current allowable harvests."

The six scientists on the panel were appointed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the agency that determines how many salmon can be caught. The agency said the scientists were well-qualified to critique its performance.

"We've listened carefully to what they had to say and the bottom line is NMFS has agreed to increase harvest rates for some of these endangered stocks," said the panel's chairman, University of Washington zoology professor Robert Paine.

The fisheries service approves harvest plans developed by tribal and state officials. Agency managers, as well as tribal and state officials, say they target only healthy stocks of salmon. Only incidentally do they allow a small number of fish that stray from struggling runs to be caught.

"We've developed management techniques -- sophisticated management techniques -- that minimize as much as we can the impact on wild stocks that need to be protected while allowing fishing for stocks we can go after safely," said Jeff Koenings, director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

In 1999, the most recent year for which totals were available, the salmon catch was 970,000.

The report bolstered groups that have long criticized the state's salmon harvest, such as Washington Trout. Washington Trout, based in Duvall, sued the fisheries service last month, saying it should be forced to rethink how many chinook salmon can be caught in the Puget Sound region.

Puget Sound chinook salmon are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

"They are using approaches that are high-risk," said Ramon Vanden Brulle, a spokesman for Washington Trout. "We want to see the uncertainties acknowledged and the risks minimized."

The harvest used to be set by estimating the numbers of salmon headed for Washington rivers, and by setting a goal for how many salmon should actually reach the rivers and reproduce. That would determine the number of fish that could be caught.

Under new rules approved in April, officials can set "take amounts" as a percentage of a run heading for a river.

State and tribal officials rely on computer modeling to determine run size. The panel questioned the accuracy of those models, noting that in some runs, salmon have returned to rivers at three times the predicted rate.

Some state and tribal fisheries managers questioned the panel's work, noting that the panel suggested they use a particular computer model that they're already using, at least in the case of Puget Sound chinook.

They also noted that the panel was not made up of salmon biologists, but respected scientists who specialize in evolutionary ecology, conservation biology, genetics and other fields.

"They didn't spend a lot of time looking into it," said Kit Rawson, a Tulalip tribe fishery scientist. "They're not experienced with salmon."

The Olympian Copyright 2001

back to main Outdoors: Fishing index