Salmon Without Rivers

by Lichatowich, Jim

• ISBN13: 9781559633604
• ISBN10: 1559633603
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

"Fundamentally, the salmon's decline has been the consequence of a vision based on flawed assumptions and unchallenged myths.... We assumed we could control the biological productivity of salmon and 'improve' upon natural processes that we didn't even try to understand. We assumed we could have salmon without rivers." --from the introduction From a mountain top where an eagle carries a salmon carcass to feed its young to the distant oceanic waters of the California current and the Alaskan Gyre, salmon have penetrated the Northwest to an extent unmatched by any other animal. Since the turn of the twentieth century, the natural productivity of salmon in Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho has declined by eighty percent. The decline of Pacific salmon to the brink of extinction is a clear sign of serious problems in the region.InSalmon Without Rivers, fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich offers an eye-opening look at the roots and evolution of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest. He describes the multitude of factors over the past century and a half that have led to the salmon's decline, and examines in depth the abject failure of restoration efforts that have focused almost exclusively on hatcheries to return salmon stocks to healthy levels without addressing the underlying causes of the decline. The book: describes the evolutionary history of the salmon along with the geologic history of the Pacific Northwest over the past 40 million years considers the indigenous cultures of the region, and the emergence of salmon-based economies that survived for thousands of years examines the rapid transformation of the region following the arrival of Europeans presents the history of efforts to protect and restore the salmon offers a critical assessment of why restoration efforts have failed Throughout, Lichatowich argues that the dominant worldview of our society -- a worldview that denies connections between humans and the natural world -- has created the conflict and controversy that characterize the recent history of salmon; unless that worldview is challenged and changed, there is little hope for recovery.Salmon Without Riversexposes the myths that have guided recent human-salmon interactions. It clearly explains the difficult choices facing the citizens of the region, and provides unique insight into one of the most tragic chapters in our nation's environmental history.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction: The Salmon's Problem	1	(8)
Hooknose	9	(15)
A Rough Trip through Evolutionary Time	10	(1)
Origins of Anadromy	11	(2)
Upheavals and Eruptions	13	(3)
An Onslaught of Ice	16	(3)
After the Ice	19	(1)
Evolutionary Legacy	20	(4)
The Five Houses of Salmon	24	(18)
Humans Enter the Pacific Northwest	25	(3)
The Rise of Salmon-Based Economies	28	(5)
The Gift Economy	33	(4)
The First Salmon Management	37	(5)
New Values for the Land and Water	42	(10)
Conflicting Economies	44	(8)
The Industrial Economy Enters the Northwest	52	(29)
Fur Trade	54	(3)
Mining	57	(3)
Timber Harvest	60	(6)
Grazing	66	(5)
Irrigation	71	(5)
Dams	76	(5)
Free Wealth	81	(33)
Birth and Growth of the Salmon-Canning Industry	84	(6)
The Salmon Canners	90	(5)
The Fishermen	95	(3)
Indian Fishermen Displaced	98	(4)
Controlling the Harvest	102	(4)
Gear Wars	106	(3)
The Fishery Moves to the Ocean	109	(2)
The Hatchery Fix	111	(3)
Cultivate the Waters	114	(37)
An Old Idea Whose Time Had Come	115	(4)
Hatcheries in the United States	119	(4)
Fish Culture Moves West	123	(5)
Acclimatization-Playing God with Ecosystems	128	(2)
Salmon Without Rivers	130	(6)
Salmon Refuges-The Road Not Taken	136	(3)
The Political Tool	139	(2)
Crack in the Foundation	141	(3)
The Search for Improvement	144	(7)
The Winds of Change	151	(19)
Groping in the Dark	152	(4)
Science and Salmon Management	156	(5)
Old Myths Dispelled	161	(9)
A Story of Two Rivers	170	(32)
The Fraser River	170	(10)
The Columbia River	180	(10)
Different Roads to Restoration	190	(12)
The Road to Extinction	202	(20)
Hatchery Success and Failure	207	(15)
Epilogue: Building a New Salmon Culture	222	(17)
A Single Wild Fish	228	(3)
Appendixes
A. Classification of anadromous forms of salmon	231	(2)
B. Comparison of life histories of seven species of Pacific salmon and trout	233	(4)
C. Geologic epochs mentioned in the text	237	(2)
Endnotes	239	(40)
Bibliography	279	(26)
Index	305