| A B S T R A C T
Fish Management vs. Coho - Extinction of Coho in the Columbia Basin Above Bonneville Dam
| Like
all other salmon species, coho were viewed as a commodity by the state
and federal fishery agencies. As such each agency managed it for their
advantage. As coho salmon restoration programs began in the mid fifties
to late sixties, it was highly valued as a commercial and sport species
and numerous programs were implemented or planned to restore them
throughout the Columbia River system. Management at that time was
mainly controlled by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and the Oregon
Fish Commission and Washington Department of Fisheries. However, as
the treaty tribes began to exercise their reserved treaty rights through
the federal courts in the late 1960s and 1970s, a dramatic change
in coho management occurred. The changes were mostly directed at upriver
coho programs that passed through tribal fishing areas above Bonneville
Dam. The loss was compounded as the steelhead trout became the dominant
sport fish in the upper Columbia and Snake River drainages. Coho restoration
programs were terminated and the run plummeted to extinction. The
mainstem dams became the convenient scapegoat for the fishery agencies
to use as to why some salmon species were lost including coho. Although
dams have and continue to impact salmon runs, by far the greatest
impact to the natural spawning salmon runs, including coho, continues
to be fish management policies and programs concocted and implemented
by state and federal fishery agencies. |
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