Review of Salmon Management in British Columbia: What Has the Past Taught Us?

Over the past 30 years our knowledge, experience, and ability in managing anadromous salmonids in British Columbia have increased significantly. However, the complexity of human influences on habitat and fish continues to frustrate attainment of fisheries management goals. There remains a huge gap between knowing how to manage to an ecologically sustainable maximum and actually achieving it, while allowing for beneficial uses of the resource. This chapter briefly reviews the lessons learned in managing Pacific salmonids. In public policy, we have learned the value of keeping hydroelectric dams off main salmon rivers and maintaining a current Pacific Salmon Treaty. In addition, we generally recognize the need for developing and maintaining strong habitat legislation, and keeping fisheries management separate from social welfare support, but progress in these areas is slow. In management policy we have learned that wild fish must be accorded the highest priority, that commercial fleets are overcapitalized and must be reduced in size, and that area licensing can improve manageability of commercial fisheries. Operational measures that have proven effective under certain circumstances include catch and release fisheries, selective and terminal fisheries, limited entry fisheries, stock-specific management, and planning for enhancement and recreation. Largely through trial and error, salmon management in British Columbia is evolving into a practical framework that aims to conserve the resource, is equitable and fair for all sectors, and is sustainable, both biologically and economically, over the long term. The process has been abetted by the elimination of policies that have proven ineffective or deleterious, by the publicity surrounding recent downward trends in salmon stock abundance, and by the emergence of operational measures that can be selectively applied to remedy specific problems. If we remain true to our commitment to place the resource ahead of special interests, then salmon and steelhead should regain some semblance of their former abundance.