230 



Testimony of Glen Spain (PCFFA) 



$1.25 Billion extra personal income to the Pacific Northwest, and 

 contributed 62,750 jobs to the region. Since 1988, losses in the 

 commercial side of the industry have been at least 85%, with 

 corresponding losses on the recreational side. When compared to 

 historic catch levels, the overall losses could be well in excess of 

 95% throughout the coastal region. In Northern California the salmon 

 industry has been closed down for the second season in a row . This 

 has devastated coast fishing communities already hard hit by the 

 recession and helped push them further into economic collapse. 



The coho salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch) stocks in particular are 

 in the most serious condition. Coho status maps recently prepared by 

 Dr. Chris Frissell, a fisheries biologist with Oregon State 

 University, for the Wilderness Society indicate that the coho salmon 

 is now extinct in over 55% of its historic habitat range and known to 

 be in danger of extinction throughout all but at most 7% of its 

 historic range within the Pacific Northwest. As a result, several 

 coho petitions under the ESA have either been filed or are in 

 preparation (as for instance the Pacific Rivers Council coast-wide 

 coho petition, copies of which have already been supplied to Committee 

 members). A number of salmon stocks in the Columbia River System and 

 Sacramento Valley River System have already been listed under the ESA. 

 Many more would qualify for ESA protection. 



Unfortunately these efforts will come too little too late to 

 prevent a number of extinctions unless immediate and large scale 

 restoration efforts can be undertaken. Additional protections for 

 these stocks can also help to protect them prior to a listing. 

 However, these are all band-aid approaches trying to stop a major 

 hemorrhage. Such efforts much earlier on would have provided far more 

 recovery options in the long-term than the current de facto policy of 

 waiting until these stocks are on the verge of extinction before 

 acting. 



How did we get to this situation, and what are the solutions? 

 PCFFA sees a number of factors that got us here, including: 



-3- 



