Salmon: It’s a matter of priorities

An ATV/ORV (all-terrain vehicle/off-road vehicle) stream crossing workshop is scheduled for tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mat-Su College in Snodgrass Hall. The workshop will include trail mapping, ATV/ORV safety, salmon stream characteristics, stream crossing sensitive habitats and Swiftwater Creek stream crossing project. A panel discussion titled “Machines & Fish: Both Sides of the Stream Crossing Equation” will be held from 3 to 4 p.m.

This workshop is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), the Wasilla Soil & Water Conservation District, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Mat-Su College. Quoting from a flyer about the workshop, “Rider input about valued trail features and access is sought to ensure continued access and planning for fish-friendly stream crossings and trails. Participant input is the reason for the workshop!” The workshop is free. For more information, call James Rush of Mat-Su College at 746-9302, or Chuck Kaucic of the Wasilla Soil & Water Conservation District at 357-4563x103.

Because of deadlines, I’m writing this halfway through the 2012 Mat-Su Salomon Science & Conservation Symposium. This event was held in Wasilla for its fifth consecutive year this past Wednesday and Thursday. This year’s symposium theme was “Science and Policy.” Given the problems our Northern District salmon are having, this is a timely theme.

The keynote address was presented by Bob Lackey, a professor of fisheries science and adjunct professor of political science at Oregon State University. He had long and varied experiences in both fisheries and wildlife research during his employment with the Environmental Protection Agency’s research laboratory in Oregon and has taught at five North American universities. He brought a lifetime of dealing with fisheries biology and policy management issues to the symposium.

I was impressed with his address because he reviewed the history of the major salmon population areas around the world and how they have been influenced by man over time. He detailed how, as human populations grew in the salmon areas, salmon populations declined. He explained how the needs and wants of society have, historically, been universally bad for salmon and will most probably continue that way into the future. He explained why man’s alterations of natural habitat to suit his own purposes have been and will continue to be detrimental to salmon; alterations like dams for electrical power generation, taking water from streams to irrigate agricultural crops and wetlands reclamation for housing and shopping malls.

Lackey spoke in a very measured tone. He didn’t want to imply that selecting one alternative over another (power generation verses salmon habitat preservation) was either good or bad. His point was that society makes choices for what it needs or wants, and public policy is developed accordingly. Unless or until society decides that wild salmon are more important (i.e. valuable to society) than, say, developing a copper mine in the Bristol Bay area, salmon will continue to come out on the short end.

That thought reminds me of a classic African wildlife management situation. Over there, wild populations of elephants and rhinos, among other species, were rapidly disappearing because of wars, poaching and other forms of unregulated harvest. Those African societies saw no practical value in trying to maintain these wild animal populations.

Once the governments realized the economic value of these animals to hunting, major changes in protecting the populations through aggressive law enforcement and managing the population numbers began. The herds were managed for trophy hunting, with the harvest fees and license costs going to support law enforcement and management programs.

A direct result of this recognition of the economic value of wildlife resulted in well managed and growing populations that were, and still are, being vigorously protected from poaching and other illegal activities while still being used for hunting, primarily by foreign hunters willing to pay large sums of money to harvest an elephant or rhino.

When we as a society decide that having wild salmon populations in good numbers is more important than, say, a dam for power generation or a new copper mine or another strip mall, then policy makers will start to develop actions to protect and properly manage those salmon populations. Until that happens, our salmon will always be on the losing side in any habitat alteration scenario.

In a future column, I want to discuss the idea of legislatively mandating the intensive management of salmon stocks. This idea is growing and may even be introduced in the Legislature this session.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.