The Trouble with Salmon
C H O I C E S Winter 2001-2002 FOR decades the Pacific Northwest has been immersed in debate regarding the state of salmon runs in general — and lately, of wild salmon runs in particular. Since enactment of the Northwest Power Act in 1980, an estimated $4 billion has been spent to restore diminished Columbia River fish runs. Most observers consider the results disappointing. Except for a spasmodic burst of record-level runs last year and this year, many species of wild fish continue to decline or remain significantly below target levels of recovery. Columbia River salmon runs once were reckoned the largest in the world. Before 1850, an estimated 10-16 million wild adult salmon returned from the ocean to the Columbia Basin each year. Today’s runs are significantly reduced, something on the order of one-fifth to oneeighth of historic levels. Furthermore, only 20 percent or so of the present diminished runs are considered “wild fish;” the remainder come from hatcheries. Declining fish runs in the Columbia Basin are not a recent phenomenon. Estimates indicate that 60 to 90 percent of the decline in salmon runs since the mid19th Century occurred before the 1930s when Bonneville Dam, the first major dam across the Columbia River, was constructed. There are many stakeholders — Indian tribes, industries, state and federal agencies, cattle grazers, power producers, industrial power customers, navigation interests, environmentalists, irrigators, sport and commerThe Trouble with