139 



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

 DTTRODUCTION 



Results of two studies, one conducted in Oregon and the other in Washington, showed that 

 similar conditions have lead to the decline in abundance of native populations of anadromous 

 salmon and trout (salmonids). Pacific Northwest salmonid populations have been affected by 

 several factors acting in concert. These factors can be grouped into management and 

 environmental categories: 



Management 



Harvest 



o Agency Policies and Actions 



o Hatchery Policies and Actions 



Environmental 



Water Use 



o Land Use 



o Natural Phenomena 



In recent times, the management factors are inseparable. 



MANAGEMENT 



Historical overfishing reduced coastal, Puget Sound, and Columbia-Snake River salmonid 

 populations. Columbia River stocks have been depleted the most. Overfishing clearly extended 

 into the early 1960s and is occurring today. A large hatchery program began in the 1960s and 

 has continued development to the present. Many hatcheries were designed to mitigate large areas 

 of salmonid habitat lost to development and operational impacts of water use-projects. Today, 

 there is no other way to mitigate such large losses to native salmonid fisheries. Hatcheries were 

 also constructed and operated to enhance catch at levels higher than wild-spawning populations 

 could sustain. Fish agency policy was to maximize catch and this policy continued through the 

 late 1980s. Currently, the harvest policy has been in transition to a wild fish management 

 policy. 



Hatchery fish mingle with wild fish in near coastal waters and are caught there in a mixed-stock 

 fishery. Coho salmon from hatcheries comprise about 75 percent of the echo salmon in 

 nearshore Oregon ocean waters. Columbia River, coastal, and Puget Sound coho and chinook 

 salmon have been caught at 70 to 90 percent exploitation rates in the last few decades. These 

 rates are sustainable for a hatchery-based fishery by are excessive for a wild-spawning based 

 fishery that generally should not exceed 60 percent for maximum sustainable yield. 



The decline of wild coho salmon in the lower Columbia River and coastal streams has been 



