ABSTRACT
Recent review articles have indicated a widespread decline in the status of anadromous salmonid stocks from the U.S. West Coast. Many factors contribute to this decline and complicate attempts to generalize about the causes and solutions of the problem. For society to manage anadromous fish resources in a sustainable manner, it is important to carefully review and interpret available information on stock status and improve monitoring efforts. Several lessons emerge from the data and reports to date. First, each stock is unique and should be managed accordingly. At the same time, stocks are a product of the interactions among many freshwater, estuarine, and oceanic conditions. They cannot be managed successfully in a context that is separate from the watersheds and oceans they inhabit. Many of our technological and engineering approaches related to hatcheries and dam passage ignore this basic ecological principle. Finally, resource managers and scientists must strive to improve long-term monitoring of stock status data. A joint U.S./Canada coastwide tracking and reporting system is proposed to monitor stock status data and evaluate efforts to restore sustainable fisheries.
