1 – Introduction and Background of the Columbia River Salmon Problem

The problem of decline in salmon has not gone unattended. The 20th century saw several salmon recovery programs, most of which were associated with mitigation for fishery impacts from development of the river's hydroelectric potential. This chapter presents an introduction to salmon and steelhead management in the Columbia Basin, and suggests a new conceptual foundation for salmon management in the 21st century. The region's failure to halt the decline in salmon populations is the result of numerous social, economic, and scientific issues, most of which are generally recognized and discussed extensively. The lack of an explicit and scientifically based conceptual foundation and the consequences of this lack on salmon management and recovery actions, is not recognized. A conceptual foundation or world view is fundamental to the interpretation of the facts garnered from observation or scientific investigation and, in turn, the management of human interactions with the environment. The commodities- driven conceptual foundation that guided much of 20th-century fishery management was based first on the belief in nearly inexhaustible resources, and later on the faith in technology to replace natural functions lost as a result of human actions. The decline of salmon in the Columbia Basin over the course of the 20th century, despite massive infusions of money and technology, proves the failure of the old paradigm and the need for a new conceptual foundation for salmon management. A conceptual foundation for 21st-century salmon management stresses the role of the environment—with all its variability and complexity–in shaping species performance and persistence.