Political Economy of Pacific Northwest Salmon

摘要

Political Economy of Pacific Northwest Salmon Joel R. Hamilton University of Idaho Edible, storable, tradable, and mystical, salmon defined the economies and cultures of Northwest tribes for millennia before the arrival of Europeans. Salmon also drew European settlers. Twenty-five years after the journey of Lewis and Clark, packed and salted salmon found its way to U.S. and world markets. The first salmon cannery was built on the Columbia in 1866. While commercial harvest of all salmonid species peaked at 47 million pounds in 1911, harvest of the more valuable chinook had already peaked 25 years earlier. There are many lessons in the rise and demise of the Northwest commercial salmon harvest -- failure to understand salmon biology, and a tragic application of the tragedy of the commons with everyone rushing to exploit a resource that appeared to be free for the taking. In the 1860s, Mormon farmers began diverting tributary streams high in the Snake River country of southeast Idaho to grow irrigated crops. From this tentative start, irrigated agriculture grew to 7 million irrigated acres and became a cornerstone of the Pacific Northwest Economy. Irrigated crops use large amounts of water on which salmon once relied for spawning, rearing, and for their passage to the ocean and back. Irrigation diversion and storage changed the timing of river flows away from patterns salmon had evolved to require. The economics lesson here is one of alternative resource uses. Salmon and irrigation both need water — particular attributes of water — quantity, velocity, timing and quality. It was inevitable that growth of irrigated agriculture into one of the mega-industries of the Pacific Northwest should involve tradeoffs. Irrigation became one of the menu of reasons for the demise of salmon. There were other tradeoffs. It is no coincidence that the real decline of salmon harvest dates from the late 1920s, the start of the great era of dam building on the Columbia and its tributaries. Rivers were to be working rivers. Cheap electricity would stimulate agriculture and industry, promoting regional growth. Mainstem dams would accommodate barge navigation, and link even Lewiston, Idaho, to Pacific Rim markets. By the 1970s, dams blocked fish access to half their former spawning habitat. Idaho salmon had to pass eight dams,