10-01-2014, 03:12 AM
Kodiak.....first off thanks for the information....I find it very interesting.
Untangler your comments are excellent also. You'd think the fish managers are giving a misleading reading of "wild" salmon. But they know all the salmon are either hatchery fish or their progeny. The term "wild" implies to many the wrong idea as if these are the aboriginal salmon....those disappeared decades ago. These original stocks appropriate designation is "native" salmon. So really the reference to "wild" just means they are hatchery fish born in the wild and we all know that without extensive stocking they would rapidly disappear.
There is an excellent book on this subject, "Salmon Without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis", written in 1999 by Jim Lichatowich.....very good read. A testament to our own arrogance that with hatcheries we could not only do as well but improve on mother nature.....[
].
At the same time the US (in the 1930s) decided they could dam all the Columbia drainage rivers and just stock the salmon, BC made the determination with the Fraser River to not dam it and preserve natural reproduction. It has been clear for more than a few decades which idea was best as the sockeye returns of the Fraser are still very healthy...without hatchery interference.
Sorry....this subject really gets me heated. Have, until very recently, lived in Alaska for nearly 2 decades and have watched a precipitous decline in the statewide king salmon numbers....primarily due to overfishing at sea. Managers there always told me at least Alaska hadn't screwed up the salmon.....my reply was that the Columbia River had a big headstart but given time they would still mess it up.
Ain't nice to mess with Mother Nature.....
Brian
[signature]
Untangler your comments are excellent also. You'd think the fish managers are giving a misleading reading of "wild" salmon. But they know all the salmon are either hatchery fish or their progeny. The term "wild" implies to many the wrong idea as if these are the aboriginal salmon....those disappeared decades ago. These original stocks appropriate designation is "native" salmon. So really the reference to "wild" just means they are hatchery fish born in the wild and we all know that without extensive stocking they would rapidly disappear.
There is an excellent book on this subject, "Salmon Without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis", written in 1999 by Jim Lichatowich.....very good read. A testament to our own arrogance that with hatcheries we could not only do as well but improve on mother nature.....[
]. At the same time the US (in the 1930s) decided they could dam all the Columbia drainage rivers and just stock the salmon, BC made the determination with the Fraser River to not dam it and preserve natural reproduction. It has been clear for more than a few decades which idea was best as the sockeye returns of the Fraser are still very healthy...without hatchery interference.
Sorry....this subject really gets me heated. Have, until very recently, lived in Alaska for nearly 2 decades and have watched a precipitous decline in the statewide king salmon numbers....primarily due to overfishing at sea. Managers there always told me at least Alaska hadn't screwed up the salmon.....my reply was that the Columbia River had a big headstart but given time they would still mess it up.
Ain't nice to mess with Mother Nature.....
Brian
[signature]