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OPINION: Atlantic salmon debacle being repeated in the North Pacific |
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The Atlantic salmon debacle is being repeated on the north Pacific Rim. Overfishing, hydroelectric or irrigation dams, or habitat degradation and fragmentation have destroyed or severely reduced wild Pacific salmon runs in California, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Japan and Russia. The Columbia River has 3 percent of the salmon run it did when Lewis and Clark visited. In the Sea of Japan, overfishing, dam building and habitat destruction, such as lining streams with concrete to protect rice fields, resulted in a wild salmon return of almost nothing by 1968. Genetically homogeneous hatchery fish, farmed fish and now the prospect of genetically modified salmon, "Frankenfish," are replacing the decimated wild stocks.
Pacific high seas wild salmon fishing is not the free-for-all it was in the Atlantic thanks in part to Section 101, Part B of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. After establishing a 200 mile limit (Part A), the act asserts that the United States claims authority over all anadromous fish "throughout the migratory range of each species." In other words, if they spawn here, they are our fish. Read the complete opinion piece from the Anchorage Daily News.
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HASTINGS: Time to improve the Endangered Species Act
May 18, 2012 - When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law in 1973 by President Nixon, he spoke about the importance of preserving “the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” I believe that goal is as important today as it was back then. However, after nearly 40 years, it’s time to take a fresh, honest look at the law and consider whether there are ways it could be improved to do a better job of protecting and recovering species.
