Newsletter

Spring 2001: New Course Offerings

Pacific Salmon: God's Creatures? Or Mere Resources?
By Dr. Harry Cook

The Au Sable - Pacific Rim course: Pacific Salmon and Fisheries Stewardship (Biol 344) will discuss the many ecological, environmental, commercial and cultural topics that surround these fish. The course will run from June 7 to July 11, 2001. I look forward to teaching this course after doing research on fish, including salmon, for 35 years.

Five species of Pacific salmon migrate into rivers on the Pacific coast of North America: Sockeye, Chinook, Pink, Chum, and Coho. All hatch in fresh water and spend the first part of their lives in it. They migrate to the ocean and grow and mature into adults there. At maturity they migrate back to their spawning streams, spawn, and die. Interesting physiological adaptations are osmoregulation, homing, and lifecycle-related changes.

There is now convincing proof that our climate is changing, and that warmer climes are upon us. The temperature of the ocean is of crucial importance to salmon movements in the ocean. Quite apart from global warming, it is known that as the ocean warms during the summer the fish move North, for they have very precise upper temperature limits. During warm summers fish spend their summers near the Alaskan coasts while in cooler summers the fish also distribute themselves farther south. Climates move in cycles, or "regimes." These have a huge influence on the size of catch in the various areas of the coast of North America. Experts working in the Pacific Northwest and in British Columbia have published much information on the various factors that influence fish movements, abundance, and catches.

The Atlantic Ocean has one indigenous species of salmon. The Atlantic salmon spawns in streams on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. Aquaculture operations raising Atlantic salmon on the Pacific coast have caused much concern among naturalists and environmentalists about disease, and about the ecological and genetic impact of Atlantic salmon that have escaped.

When it comes to the care and protection of salmon, cooperation between Canada and the United States goes way back. Fish ladders and other stock-enhancing measures can be projects for international cooperation, but the main task of salmon commissions is the regulation of fishing in coastal waters and in rivers and streams. This regulation is done by the establishment of fishing days and non-fishing days in various waters, and it requires the wisdom of Solomon! In coastal waters, US and Canadian catches have to be about equal. Sports fishers also demand their fair share, and they too have to be part of the equation. Commercial fishing in the tidal areas of river mouths take another percentage, while river fishing by native peoples above the tidal parts of the river also requires a share. Finally, there has to be enough escapement for spawning to take place.

The 1985 Pacific Salmon Treaty governs fishing for Pacific salmon on our West Coast. However, after 1992 fisheries officials were unable to agree on catch shares for our two counties and on daily catches for the various interest groups, and this led to tensions.

Care of the rivers and spawning streams also impact salmon populations, and this topic, too, will be discussed in the au Sable course on Whidbey Island. Field trips will visit streams and enhancement projects.

With many salmon stocks now endangered or extinct, human responsibility is clear and not controversial to most people. Dr. Cal DeWitt has identified four Scriptural principles that impel us to care for our planet. The principle of fruitfulness is very relevant to native salmon populations. I quote DeWitt:

As the creator's … work brings fruit to the creation, so too should ours. …As Noah spared no time, expense, or reputation when the creatures were threatened with extinction, neither should we. …People may not destroy the fruitfulness upon which creation's fullness depends. …Human fruitfulness must not be accomplished at the expense of the rest of Creation.

Dr. Harry Cook is an Emeritus Professor of Biology at The King's University College in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta in the department of Biological Science.

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