OREGON PROPOSES COHO HATCHERY ZONE





        The Oregon Coho Plan replaces a listing of coho as a federal


protected species from Cape Blanco to the Columbia River.  A purpose of the


Oregon Plan, according to the MOA between Oregon and the National Marine


Fisheries Service is to: "restore natural coastal salmon populations and


fisheries to productive and sustainable levels..."  





        But not for the Salmon River on Oregon's north coast, the area where


the largest, most troubling coho salmon decline is evident, The plan is to


delete natural production..  According to an Oregon Department of Fish and


Wildlife memo of May 5, 1997, the Salmon River coho would be dropped as a


wild coho salmon stream by administrative action on the part of the ODFW


commission.  





        This means that wild coho salmon would no longer be protected under


the state's wild fish management policy, and the whole watershed would be


turned over to hatchery coho production.  This move is in stark contrast to


the best available scientific information that endorses the protection of


biological diversity among and within native salmonid populations.  This is


vital to the conservation of the species and the benefits they supply society.





        As a result of the Salmon River Hatchery and decades of excessive


harvest rates in the Ocean directed at hatchery  fish by the state of Oregon


and the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the ODFW says: "...a


self-sustaining wild coho population no longer existed in the Salmon River."


The ODFW staff is recommending the state wildlife commission "remove the


Salmon River wild coho from the wild fish population list."





        This proposal would concentrate the release of hatchery coho in the


Salmon River to feed the industrial fishery in the ocean, should it ever


reopen.  By concentrating hatchery coho production in the Salmon River, the


memo suggests, would  zone the Salmon River as a hatchery stream and lead to


"minimal hatchery coho smolt releases into other watersheds and thereby


protect wild coho."





        The threat of listing wild coho salmon as a federal protected


species has caused the state of Oregon to rethink its coho management


program.  Rather than dump hatchery fish in every watershed to subsidize the


industrial ocean fisheries, the plan is to now zone the coast into hatchery


watersheds.  The Salmon River proposal is the first effort by the ODFW to


accomplish this goal without publicly announcing it, preferring to accomplish


the plan piecemeal.  This proposal comes early in the Oregon Coho Plan


process and is probably  no accident, for it would allow the state to begin


implementing its hatchery zone plan before the species is potentially


listed by the National Marine Fisheries Service.  





        The memo states that 90% of the naturally spawning coho are of


hatchery origin since 1990, and only 82 naturally produced coho, on average,


return to 42 miles of spawning habitat in the Salmon River basin.  The


Oregon Coho Plan calls for 42 wild fish per mile.  This means the Salmon


River is getting only about 2 coho spawners per mile.





        The proposal to delete the Salmon River from the wild fish policy


and releasing the ODFW from meeting agency standards for wild coho salmon in


the watershed would effectively expand the Hatchery Management Extinction


Zone of the lower Columbia River coho streams to coastal watersheds.  On the


Columbia River, the coho spawners have declined to less than one adult per


mile.  In the 1970s the ODFW decided to maximize the harvest of Columbia


River hatchery coho by eliminating any wild coho spawning requirements in


tributaries, saying that by releasing hatchery smolts into these tributaries


natural production could be maintained.  Well, that theory did not work out,


and the National Marine Fisheries Service said the lower Columbia River coho


were not warranted for listing because no distinct native population could be


found to list.  This creates the odd circumstance where coho are declared


extinct when there are coho salmon around.  But they are all hatchery coho.





        Oregon scientists have raised the issue that once a native coho


population declines to a very low level, conservation efforts do not result


in an increase in the population size.  For example, drastically reduced


harvest rates have not resulted in increased coho adult spawners in the


lower Columbia River nor in northern Oregon coastal streams south of the


Columbia River.  One theory goes, that there are so few spawners that the


fish cannot find mates. There is also the theory that the predator base has


built up around hatchery coho releases  and creates a barrier to native coho


recovery.   





        This scenario is the logical result of the industrial model of


fishery management where the native coho, and the biological diversity they


represent, are less important to fishery management than are hatchery coho


bred and released in extensive hatchery system for harvest.   





        Under Governor Kitzhaber's Oregon Coho Plan, the state is flirting


with disaster if it proceeds to zone the coastal watersheds for hatchery


coho salmon production and ignores the science that says this approach is a


formula for failure.  The evidence is in, but the state of Oregon is still


dedicated to its old ways.  The industrial model of salmon management over


the last 120 years has caused the wild coho to decline to 5% of its historic


abundance, closed fisheries, and reduced benefits to society.  The proposal


to delete the Salmon River coho from the list of wild coho streams in Oregon


continues the myth of Industrial fish management when Oregon should be


actively carrying out a strategy to restore its native coho salmon. 





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