A Common Fate: Endangered Salmon and the People of the Pacific Northwest (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The efforts of professional and volunteer environmental groups to save the salmon populations are chronicled here by Cone, a staff member of the Oregon Sea Grant, a research project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State University. Salmon numbers, the author stresses, have declined sharply owing to habitat loss and damage, inadequate passage and flows regulated by hydropower, agriculture and logging projects. Throughout 1990 and 1991, in an unprecedented public forum, federal and state agencies, utilities and environmental groups met in Portland, Ore., to formulate a program. Among the movers and shakers in organizing the meetings were Gordon Reeves (Forest Service), Willa Nehlsen (Northwest Power Planning Council) and Bill Bakke (Oregon Natural Resources Council). Publication of Pacific Salmon at the Crossroads by the American Fishers Association, a study that grew out of these meetings, has helped influence public discussion, according to Cone, but the forum's report to President Clinton failed to spur Congress to allocate funds to implement the group's proposals. This forceful book could have an impact.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Pacific salmon are born in a river or stream, swim out to the open ocean where they may live for up to six years, and then as adults leap up rivers and waterfalls to return to their natal streams to mate and spawn. The subtle relationship between salmon and their habitats, which makes this migration possible, has been gradually degraded as a result of logging, the construction of dams, and water pollution. Cone, a science journalist and author of Fire Under the Sea (LJ 7/1/91), recounts the battles between ecologists, biologists, and conservation-minded lawyers and the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management over the protection of the dwindling salmon population. Detailed descriptions of coho salmon spawning surveys, a historical account of the 19th-century fur trade, the development of the salmon canning industry, and a discussion of traditional Indian hunting and fishing customs are interspersed with biographical material on several activist scientists. For specialized collections in fisheries, public policy, and local history of the Northwest. (Photos not seen.)-Judith B. Barnett, Pell Marine Science Lib., Univ. of Rhode Island, Kingston
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Oregon State University Press; Revised edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870713914
• ISBN-13: 978-0870713910
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,328,643 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On top of its issue, February 28, 2000

By	canth? Miller (U.S.) - See all my reviews

Joseph Cone's book, "A Common Fate: Endangered Salmon and the People of the Pacific Northwest," tells a story that combines over two hundred years of U.S. history with the prurient facts of salmon and political science. Cone, in unflinching detail, and with a flair for dramatic storytelling, chronicles the ins and outs of the on-going battle to save the Pacific Northwest salmon runs and their surrounding watersheds. The overview of the salmon issue this book provides is astounding. From all sides' viewpoints, from Gordon Reeves, a fish researcher and ecologist with the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the U.S. Forestry Service in 1988, to people like Mike Draper, spokesperson for The Western Council of Industrial Workers and Antone Minthorn, council chairman of the General Council of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Cone weaves a tale that can be described as nothing short of sordid. Elucidating the deceptions, feints and dodges of bureaucratic interests and what motivates them as well as he does the struggles, fears, and hopes of the environmental activists, Cone shows an in depth knowledge of both salmon biology and political policy, all the while moving his story throughout Pacific Northwest and salmon history. Flashback narratives back to the very beginning of Pacific Northwest history with the arrival of James Cook, Robert Grey, on through Lewis and Clark and John Jacob Astor provide a sense of historic perspective on the abundance and exploitation of this incredible fish. Cone chronicles the wasteful days of the Hapgood & Hume canneries, where, after a day's work, if the canners couldn't keep up with supply, hundreds of fish would be shoveled back into the water, wasted. He describes the migrant cannery fishermen and the disputes between gill-netters, those who used fish traps, and the canneries themselves, the strikes and violence associated with them as everyone struggles to take all they can in a living description of human economist Garrett Hardin's essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons." He describes with harrowing precision the two steps forward, one step back dance of environmental policy, as environmentalist minded scientists cross swords with policy makers and industrial advocates, as treaties and alliances are formed and broken again and again over the same ground year after year, decade after decade. He shows again and again the complexity of the issues, the difference between conservation and preservation, and the fact that thus far, in the struggle between fish and man, man has won time and time again, and that time for the Pacific Northwest salmon is running out. Though one review on the back of the book suggests that Cone offers up cooperation as the solution to the salmon crisis, in truth, "A Common Fate" illustrates the fallacy of cooperation between the two sides of industry and environment. The evidence he presents illustrates clearly that, as the industrialists call for a "balance" to be struck, in truth, the salmon are systematically being balanced out of existence. For anyone looking for a clear, concise overview of the issues surrounding the salmon crisis in an easy to read format, this book comes highly recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book on salmon populations in the Pacific NW., September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This book covers many of the studies done on the salmon populations here in the Pacific Northwest. The information comes from many experts, who do not have a political or business agenda...people who truly care about the survival of all the ecosystems involved.

2 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A plodding tome of bureaucratic bungling, March 28, 1999

By A Customer

Salmon , as a species , are no where near to being extinct, as this book would lead one to believe. Can we improve on the way we as U.S. Citizens treat our Environment? Certainly!!! Do we have the will to do it? Who Knows???