Fish tales : salmon stories, 1945-1980

Graduation date: 2001Approximately $1 billion a year is spent on salmon in the Pacific\ud Northwest. Spending has escalated, yet the number of wild runs\ud placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act has\ud increased, creating social and political controversy. For more than 100\ud years, salmon management in the Pacific Northwest has evolved\ud around a fundamental concept, that hatcheries could replace the\ud numbers of salmon lost as the region underwent industrialization.\ud Spending on hatcheries makes up approximately 40 percent of\ud expenditures on Northwest salmon issues. Four new studies have\ud identified hatcheries as one of the reasons for the decline of some wild\ud salmon stocks. Yet hatcheries are also considered one of the most\ud important tools for saving wild runs. This thesis examines some of the\ud national and international forces that shaped the modern hatchery\ud program in the Pacific Northwest. After World War II, scientists and\ud policy makers worldwide were motivated by idealistic dreams of using\ud science and technology to end world hunger. With the creation of factory processing ships, and the discovery of such strategically\ud important minerals such as manganese, there was growing political\ud pressure to protect national resources through the creation of 200-\ud mile limits. As part of this worldwide interest in increasing the marine\ud harvest, hatchery programs for salmon were expanded in Japan, the\ud U.S.S.R., Canada and the United States. At the same time, human\ud activities, including logging, mining, agriculture and urbanization,\ud contributed to the decline of salmon in the Northwest. This thesis\ud examines some of the national and international forces that\ud contributed to the expansion of the hatchery system in the Pacific\ud Northwest