Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis (Paperback)

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• This item: Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis by James A. Lichatowich

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Amazon.com Review
The image of salmon battling upstream through whitewater cataracts to spawn in their birthplace is integral to any happy vision of the Pacific Northwest. Sadly, because they face more insidious obstacles than swift currents, few people today actually witness this remarkable spectacle. Armed with exhaustive research and an ability to synthesize his findings into a concise, readable indictment of the status quo, Jim Lichatowich, a fisheries scientist for 30 years, traces the sudden decline of Northwest salmon populations following the onset of Euro-American settlement. He points a finger at the usual suspects: logging, mining, damming, grazing, irrigation, commercial fishing, and development. Moreover, he cites the political establishment for a failure of nerve. Since the shift from a Native American "gift" economy based on sustainability to a profit economy based on self-interest and short-term financial gain, the historically resilient salmon have met one adversary after another, with little or no help from the legal apparatus charged with their protection. In fact, federal and state governments have responded to the deepening crisis mainly by building fish hatcheries up and down the West Coast. Contrary to the beliefs of entrenched bureaucrats and sport fishermen, says Lichatowich, hatcheries have merely diluted the gene pools of wild stocks while allowing resource extractors to continue their multifarious operations and politicians to shirk their responsibilities. In 1960, for instance, after decades of declining runs, the Washington Department of Fisheries reported, incredibly (and characteristically), that new advanced management techniques would soon result in "salmon without a river"--more welcome news to those who would continue to exploit these iconic fish and their habitat. At the dawn of the 21st century hundreds of hatcheries still operate, yet Northwest salmon populations have decreased 95 percent.

Lichatowich is a learned and persuasive advocate for wild salmon. He's also eloquent, as in this description of his first visit to the Columbia River's Grand Coulee dam:

As I sat there wondering and swatting mosquitoes, the face of the dam lit up. It was the start of the nightly laser show.... Appropriately, the lasers sent a series of large green dollar signs floating through the darkness. Then a series of laser salmon swam across the face of the dam. Here were the ideal salmon, I thought, the fish that fit perfectly into our worldview. We have complete control over them--press a button and they appear; press another and they change from green to red; press another and they swim over the dam. Salmon and dams are compatible--as long as you are not particular about the kind of salmon.

So what to do? Lichatowich opines that we need a new "worldview," one that places natural resources within a context of respect and sustainability. He looks to state and federal governments to enforce the protections already granted by laws like the Endangered Species Act. And he sees evidence that public perceptions may be changing on such issues as habitat conservation and biodiversity; breaching four dams on the lower Snake River to aid fish passage would have been unthinkable even in the early 1990s. Whether this new worldview can save salmon in time is another question. --Langdon Cook --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Lichatowich is a well-known fisheries biologist who has contributed extensively to the literature on salmonid populations during his 25-year career. His book offers a biologist's view of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest, discussing the failure of restoration efforts, which have concentrated on returning salmon to the rivers without understanding the cause of the fish's decline. Two other works have recently covered this same subject: Freeman House's Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species (LJ 4/15/99) and Joseph E. Taylor III's Making Salmon: An Environmental History of the Northwest Fisheries Crisis (LJ 9/1/99). Totem Salmon is by far the easiest of the three to read, but Salmon Without Rivers and Making Salmon thoroughly address the complexity of the salmon crisis from both a biological and historical perspective. All three deserve a place in public and academic libraries. For a well-indexed, scholarly treatment of the problem, academic readers should also consider Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest (National Academy Pr., 1996) for reference needs.ABarbara Butler, Oregon Inst. of Marine Biology, Charleston
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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First Sentence:
Before the Endangered Species Act; before shopping centers covered streams with asphalt; before dams and dynamos harnessed the energy of wild rivers; before irrigation sucked rivers dry; before timber harvest robbed rivers of their protective forests; before fishermen's nets swept through the rivers and bays; before humans walked across the Bering Strait and into the Pacific Northwest; before glaciers gouged out Puget Sound; before the Oregon coast migrated away from Idaho; before all this, there were the salmon. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
propagated salmon, salmon refuges, salmon managers, fisheries executives, coho production, state fish commissioner, hatchery success, propagated fish, salmon management, mainstem dams, changing ocean conditions, fish culturists, troll fishery, chinook salmon eggs, immature salmon, artificial propagation, first salmon ceremony, cannery operators, salmon crisis, salmon habitat, salmon abundance, splash dams, hatchery program, wild coho, million sockeye Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Columbia River, Fraser River, Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, United States, Sacramento River, Puget Sound, Snake River, Hells Gate, North America, Van Dusen, Columbia Basin, Elwha River, Rogue River, John Day River, Hudson's Bay Company, Livingston Stone, Native Americans, Spencer Baird, Camp Creek, Endangered Species Act, Klamath River, San Francisco, Willis Rich, Alsea River New!
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11 Reviews 5 star:  (10) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.9 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   12 of 13 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Where have all the salmon gone?, October 22, 1999 By  Carmel Finley (finleyc@peak.org) (Corvallis, Or) - See all my reviews This review is from: Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis (Hardcover) If you ever wondered why taypayers spend $1 billion a year on salmon, but there aren't any fish to catch, this is the book for you. "Salmon Without Rivers" brings together the scientific, economic, political and social causes that have resulted in salmon decline. If there is a philosopher when it comes to Northwest salmon issues, it is Jim Lichatowich, and his book will provide context and insight for anybody who is interested in the preservation of these Northwest icons. A significant book, by a thoughtful and wise man. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   7 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A must read to understand the decline of Pacific Salmon, December 13, 1999 By  Jere W. Retzer (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews This review is from: Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis (Hardcover) Pacific Salmon have been on the decline for well over a hundred years despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent on hatcheries and recovery programs. This book makes clear where we went wrong and points positive directions to begin recovery. Extremely readable, impressively documented and written with the passion of someone who clearly loves the Pacific Northwest environment Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A captivating, human, informed book, January 16, 2001 By  "godlove" (Middletown, CA USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis (Hardcover) As a freelance author writing a piece about salmon for a California-based magazine, this book was indispensible and eye-opening. It is unfailingly sensitive and intelligent about salmon, discussing the fish as fellow creatures in the "natural economy" in which we all live, rather than as mere commodities in the "industrial economy" that has transformed the West in the last 150 years. It is fascinating about the geology that shaped the salmon's environment, the evolutionary history of the fish, the relationship between Native Americans and salmon in the Northwest, and it provides a detailed history of the many factors that have led to the salmon's decline, including habitat destruction, misbegotten hatchery programs, overfishing, dams, mining, grazing, irrigation. If you like to read books about ecology, the creatures of the earth, fish, or the Northwest--you can't go wrong. This is a wonderful book. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 11 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars Salmon without Rivers Clearly the best source for the decline of Northwest anadramous fisheries. If readers want the truth, the bottomline, on the disastrous condition of those fish runs, this is the... Read more Published 2 months ago by Logan J. Bennett 5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Morrison This is a must read book for anyone interested in salmon, rivers and the ecology and history of the Pacific Northwest. Excellent information and a good read. Published on September 11, 2005 by Peter Morrison 5.0 out of 5 stars Great read This is an excellent book that documents the history of salmon, how native Americans viewed them and how modern Americans view them. Read more Published on August 2, 2005 by Jeremy Lucas 4.0 out of 5 stars Pacific Northwest Salmon History Book Salmon Without Rivers is a great book of historical facts. It includes many issues like; original salmon locations/populations, "Economy over Environment" issues, and the... Read more Published on December 2, 2003 by Beth Carpenter 5.0 out of 5 stars Save the salmon and us A thoroughly researched and impassioned presentation including the history of salmon, their decline, why billions of tax dollars in restoration efforts have had paltry returns,... Read more Published on December 24, 2000 by Mike Callahan 5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone that loves the Northwest! I lived my whole life in this area and I had no idea the full extent of the damage we have done. Mr. Read more Published on October 28, 2000 by Aim Far 5.0 out of 5 stars important beginning point If you want to start to understand the current controversy, read this book first. His commodification theme is quite important. Read more Published on October 2, 2000 5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you pay attention to the world around us! Definitely a book that should be read by anyone who cares about nature. What is happening to the northwest salmon is indicative of what is going on in the rest of the... Read more Published on December 17, 1999 by Tom Hiscox Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 11 customer reviews...

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