Managing the decline of Pacific salmon: metapopulation theory and artificial recolonization as ecological mitigation

Kyle A. Young
Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci./J. Can. Sci. Halieut. Aquat. 56(9): 1700-1706 (1999)

Abstract: Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the Pacific Northwest of North America have suffered regional declines and local extinctions primarily because of freshwater habitat destruction and overexploitation by fisheries. Management efforts to reverse this trend have correctly focused on habitat restoration and enhancement and stricter regulation of fisheries. Metapopulation theory and the ecology of the genus suggest that the addition of management efforts that artificially increase the rate of colonization of presently unoccupied habitats may promote the recovery and persistence of Pacific salmon in an ecologically realistic way. Such programs are conceptually and operationally different from traditional stock transfer and enhancement programs, which aimed to maintain a harvestable surplus of salmon in the face of habitat destruction and overfishing. I argue that artificial recolonization programs should be viewed as ecological mitigation, aimed at hastening the return of natural demographic and evolutionary processes, and hope here to promote an open discussion of their merits and risks as such.