A Pacific Rim approach to salmon management: redefining the role of Pacific salmon international consensus.

AuthorPhelan, Sean

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION II. PACIFIC SALMON ECOLOGY A. The Ocean Phase B. The Freshwater Phase C. Technological Influence--Hatcheries III. THE PACIFIC SALMON AGREEMENTS--HARVEST MANAGEMENT A. The Convention for the Conservation of Anadromous Stocks in the North Pacific Ocean B. The Pacific Salmon Treaty C. Russia-Japan Fisheries Agreements D. Limitations of Harvest Regimes IV. INTERNATIONAL APPROACHES TO WILDLIFE PROTECTION A. The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals B. The Convention on Biological Diversity C. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources V. THE MIGRATORY BIRD TREATIES AND THE NORTH AMERICAN WATERFOWL MANAGEMENT PLAN VI. A PACIFIC SALMON CONSERVATION TREATY A. Institutional Structure B. Coverage Across the Entire Life History C. Protected Areas VII. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION

Pacific salmon (1) traverse several distinct ecosystems and international, national, state/provincial, and tribal jurisdictions during their life span. Currently, conflicting jurisdictional interests create a patchwork of conservation efforts and generate enormous costs to coordinate these efforts. (2) Successes during a particular life stage are often undermined by negative impacts at another stage. (3) Despite several international agreements pertaining to Pacific salmon management and allocation, populations continue to decline and some evolutionary significant units (ESUs) (4) face almost certain extinction. (5)

Attempts to garner international consensus on Pacific salmon management in the past have resulted in harvest-centered agreements with limited jurisdictional scopes. (6) Salmon encounter limiting factors within each life phase; however, international agreements have focused on a single limiting element--harvest. (7) These limiting factors within the ocean, estuary, and freshwater systems interrelate each year to determine the abundance of Pacific salmon. (8) Agreements that do not cover the species' entire range fail to account for the essential linking of diverse habitats used during a Pacific salmon's life span, each necessary to sustain healthy, productive populations. (9)

Furthermore, the current Pacific salmon agreements almost completely ignore the vital role of spawning and rearing habitat. By failing to implement binding freshwater habitat conservation principles, harvest regimes under existing agreements provide only limited protection for Pacific salmon. (10) Habitat protection for Pacific salmon generally does not occur until the species becomes threatened or endangered. (11) This reactive approach to salmon protection results in costly attempts to restore what are often no longer self-sustaining salmon populations with severe impacts already firmly in place. (12)

While billions of dollars are spent on restoration efforts for those Pacific salmon populations on the brink of extinction, healthy stocks often remain unprotected. (13) Although it is necessary to address these imperiled populations, such a narrow allocation of funding allows for the continued degradation of more successful, self-sustaining populations. Traditionally, wildlife restoration has focused on healthy populations as sources for reestablishing the species. (14) Consequently, protected high-quality habitat sustains the production and genetic diversity of the species. (15) Despite more than a century of demands for a similar strategy for Pacific salmon, not a single highly productive Pacific salmon watershed is protected as a reserve. (16)

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), (17) the Convention on Biological Diversity, (18) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) (19) address the essential role of protected areas for wildlife conservation. Similarly, management in accordance with the series of migratory bird treaties developed over the last century provides a mechanism for the protection of productive habitat necessary to sustain the covered species. For example, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) has conserved more than five million acres of wetlands ecosystems funded largely by private interests. (20) While most migratory bird populations continue to decline, waterfowl have rebounded dramatically as a result of this plan. (21)

Future strategies for the conservation of Pacific salmon must incorporate lessons from these successful transboundary wildlife protection efforts. Addressing the needs of Pacific salmon across their entire anadromous life history, encompassing ocean, estuary, and freshwater habitats, and the impacts associated with each, requires comprehensive planning in the future. The Pacific salmon origin nations must reevaluate existing Pacific salmon management regimes in the context of each life stage and develop new or supplemental agreements to address the following clear deficiencies: limited jurisdictional boundaries, a lack of coverage and genetic consideration, and the absence of protected areas. (22) By developing a Pacific salmon conservation agreement, international Pacific salmon management will adhere to sound conservation science as parties agree to ecological principles that will guide Pacific salmon protection from the tiniest watersheds to the vast ocean and back again. In turn, the origin nations can develop national management plans in accord with these mutually agreed-upon priorities and practices. For example, if plans were to encourage joint ventures between all stakeholders--such as commercial fishers, national and local governments, and conservation organizations--in order to conserve highly productive habitat, self-sustaining Pacific salmon populations could receive proactive protection, making expensive restoration efforts unnecessary. Furthermore, national, state/provincial, tribal, and private efforts to protect salmon would all exist under a single guiding ecological ethic. (23) Under this "shared vision," the Pacific salmon nations could undertake a truly long-term, proactive approach to Pacific salmon conservation. (24)

Part II of this Comment discusses the unique anadromous life history of Pacific salmon. Part III analyzes the harvest-based international agreements pertaining to Pacific salmon and their limitations resulting from the fragmentation of the salmon life history and lack of biodiversity principles. Part IV explores existing international agreements and institutions that could form the basis and provide the expertise for a comprehensive Pacific Rim salmon conservation program. Part V examines the applicability of techniques used to implement migratory bird treaties, including continental management plans, production areas, and joint ventures. Part VI discusses the priorities and implementation of a new Pacific salmon conservation agreement. Finally, Part VII concludes that a comprehensive Pacific Rim agreement offers the best chance of sustaining healthy--and restoring imperiled--Pacific salmon populations.

  1. PACIFIC SALMON ECOLOGY

    Anadromous fish, such as Pacific salmon, display a generalized life history that begins when the fish hatch from eggs in freshwater, continues with the salmon's migration to the ocean to feed and mature, and concludes with a return to the freshwater to spawn. (25) However, within this generalized life history, Pacific salmon display an enormous degree of variability. (26) For example, the life history traits of migration age and timing or spawning habitat preference vary significantly within and between each species. (27) The unique life history characteristics of locally adapted Pacific salmon populations--for example, homing behavior--are genetically derived and fundamental to the long-term recovery and sustainability of the species. (28) Maintaining a vast array of Pacific salmon genetic expressions, as exhibited by diverse life histories, allows the species "to cope with environmental variation that is typical of freshwater and marine environments." (29) By analyzing environmental impacts and variation of the ocean and freshwater system, managers can more effectively account for uncertainty with the predictable human influences on salmon diversity and productivity. (30)

    1. The Ocean Phase

      The importance of the ocean ecosystem to Pacific salmon development is often difficult to grasp because of the spatial enormity and constant variation of conditions within the system. (31) However, Pacific salmon management decisions that neglect the significant influence of the ocean ecosystem on salmon abundance can result in false assumptions or expectations. (32) Nearly all of Pacific salmon growth occurs in the coastal and open waters of the North Pacific and the Bering Sea. (33) The ocean ecosystem is also where high Pacific salmon mortality takes place. (34) Considering its vital role in the continued production of salmon stocks, the ocean ecosystem has received little attention in the management of Pacific salmon beyond harvest regimes. Generally, the lack of ocean research is attributed to the inability of humans to manage the variable ocean system. (35) However, this narrow consideration fails to account for the substantial human impacts on the ocean and closely associated estuary system "through global warming, introduction of exotic species, deposition of pollutants, and physical alteration of habitats through manipulation of riverine inputs, dredging and bottom fishing." (36)

      Survival within the ocean system is highly related to the specific species' life history characteristics. (37) The "critical period" of mortality appears at the time of emergence from the river system into the ocean system. (38) Thus, "a longer freshwater residence generally results in higher freshwater mortality and lower ocean mortality because fish are larger when they enter the ocean and survival at sea is assumed to be directly related to size." (39) To illustrate the extent of...

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