Proceedings from a Workshop on Ecological Carrying Capacity of Salmonids in the Columbia River Basin : Measure 7.1A of the Northwest Power Planning Council`s 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program : Report 3 of 4, Final Report.

This report contains the proceedings of a workshop held during 1995 in Portland, Oregon. The objective of the workshop was to assemble a group of experts that could help us define carrying capacity for Columbia River Basin salmonids. The workshop was one activity designed to answer the questions asked in Measure 7.1A of the Council`s Fish and Wildlife Program. Based, in part, on the information we learned during the workshop we concluded that the approach inherent in 7.1A will not increase understanding of ecology, carrying capacity, or limiting factors that influence salmon under current conditions. Measure 7.1A requires a definition of carrying capacity and a list of determinants (limiting factors) of capacity. The implication or inference then follows that by asking what we know and do not know about the determinants will lead to research that increases our understanding of what is limiting salmon survival. It is then assumed that research results will point to management actions that can remove or repair the limiting factors. Most ecologists and fisheries scientists that have studied carrying capacity clearly conclude that this approach is an oversimplification of complex ecological processes. To pursue the capacity parameter, that is, a single number or set of numbers that quantify how many salmon the basin or any part of the basin can support, is meaningless by itself and will not provide useful information