Wild Salmon Center Pressroom
Protecting the Last, Best Salmon Ecosystems
Summer 2007
Letter from the President
The past few months have seen very exciting developments for salmon ecosystems in the North Pacific. The Wild Salmon Center's efforts, with key partners in North America and the Russian Far East, have produced results that will have important, long-term impacts for salmon, watersheds and local communities.
As always, please contact me or other WSC staff with any questions. Thank you for supporting our work.
Guido Rahr, President and CEO
In this Issue
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We need your help to understand, study and protect Pacific salmon in perpetuity.North America Salmon Stronghold Partnership Launched
Nearly 50 leading experts in the field of salmon biology were asked to rate salmon and steelhead stocks in the Pacific Northwest for their relative health, diversity, and extent to which they have been impacted by fish hatcheries.
In June, the Stronghold Partnership, a group of state and federal agencies, tribal governments, conservation experts and nongovernmental organizations, identified shared values and discussed this science-based assessment that will guide the selection of priority watersheds most important to the long term survival of salmon and steelhead populations.
In the coming months, the Stronghold Partnership will work with local groups to develop collaborative approaches to salmon conservation to accelerate restoration and protection efforts in watersheds in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California.
The North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership is a public-private initiative to support the long-term conservation of the region's most important wild salmon rivers.
Read more about the North America Program
WSC Staff Celebrate Salmon Center Opening in Sakhalin
On May 24th, the Wild Salmon Center and Russian partners celebrated the opening of the Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (SSI) office in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. During the first meeting of the SSI Coordinating Committee, each member signed a cooperative agreement to facilitate collaboration between federal and regional government agencies, academic institutions, and local nongovernmental organizations. Sakhalin Energy Investment Corporation has been invited to join the committee along with several other prominent oil companies that operate in the region.
One committee member, Sakhalin Vice Governor Victor Nagorni, traveled to Portland, Oregon on July 10th. During his visit, the Vice Governor met with Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and the heads of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. They shared conservation strategies and explored how innovative solutions employed in Oregon can be applied to solve similar challenges facing salmon in Sakhalin.
The Vice Governor also visited the Cascade Streamwatch educational facility, and learned about restoration projects at the Resort at the Mountain. As in Oregon, public understanding of salmon and their fragile ecosystems is vital to the success of conservation efforts in Sakhalin.
Finally, a dinner was held in honor of the Vice Governor at the home of Wild Salmon Center President Guido Rahr. WSC Board Member and Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard also attended the event.
Dave Martin, Russian Far East Program Director, was invited by the Deputy Chairman of the Khabarovsk Territory Government to attend the Far Eastern International Economic Forum. The Forum will be held in Khabarovsk on September 18, 2007 and will focus on discussing effective strategies for promoting regional sustainable development.
Read the full Sakhalin Salmon Initiative and a list of over 300 engaged partners and stakeholders.
The Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (SSI) is a public-private partnership that promotes conservation and sustainable use of wild salmon on Sakhalin, an island off the Russian Far East mainland. Since 2004, this initiative has successfully brought together the local, regional and federal government; commercial and recreational fishing industries; indigenous communities; conservation groups; and scientists and academics.
Read more about the Russian Far East Program
Gaining Momentum on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula
WSC continues to work with the Wild Fishes & Biodiversity Foundation (WFBF) and the Kamchatka Administration to create a series of protected salmon areas that span over five million acres on the Kamchatka Peninsula. In early July a delegation of 40, including all the governors of the Russian Far East and federal officials, visited the Kol Biostation to see the newly created 500,000 acre Kol River Experimental Salmon Protected Area and learn about the work of WSC's local partners, the WFBF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Of the five river systems proposed for protection, the Opala and Oblukovina rivers, both in western Kamchatka, are moving quickly toward designation as Regional Salmon Refuges. Both rivers recently gained approval from the state ecology expertiza committee of the Kamchatka Administration. WSC and partners are now focused on gaining a gubernatorial decree in support of the creation of protected areas in these two pristine watersheds.
Further north, field teams are operating out of the Utkholok Biostation to gather necessary biological and geographic data necessary to support the creation of the Utkholok-Kvachina Rivers salmon protected area. Beginning in late July research teams from Moscow State University, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, and Flathead Lake Biological Station (University of Montana) will be operating out of both the Kol and Utkholok river biostations and continuing their research on salmon river productivity.
The goal of the Kamchatka Program is to support local efforts to secure the peninsula as a global stronghold for wild salmon and the many species they sustain. To accomplish this goal, the Wild Salmon Center is working in partnership with local and regional government agencies, Russian and international non-governmental organizations, scientific institutions and other stakeholders to support protection of Kamchatka's highly productive salmon ecosystems.
Read more about the Kamchatka Program
Hokkaido Taimen Symposium a Success
With support from Patagonia Japan, the Wild Salmon Center co-hosted an exciting event in Hokkaido, Japan this spring with local conservation partners. The Taimen Spawning Symposium brought together the local community of the Sarufutsu River with regional, national and international experts to celebrate the spring spawning season of Japan's largest freshwater fish, the Sakhalin taimen. This symposium was the first time such a diverse group of stakeholders assembled to learn about this critically endangered species and discuss conservation challenges and strategies on one of the last, great wild salmon strongholds in Japan. The event signified the beginning of a new cooperative constituency for formal taimen conservation in Japan.
Site Dam Removed at Shiretoko World Heritage
Since 2005, Wild Salmon Center staff has collaborated with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to advise the Government of Japan on its newest World Heritage Site, the Shiretoko World Heritage Site in northeast Hokkaido. While the WSC's formal review of the world heritage site proposal indicated that the abundance and diversity of salmon stocks made the Shiretoko region one of the most important salmon strongholds in Japan, the numerous dams in the region were likely having a significant impact on fish passage and the quality of aquatic habitat. WSC recommended that the government formulate a salmon management plan including 1) a thorough inventory of salmon populations and condition of aquatic habitat; 2) initiate a comprehensive monitoring plan; and 3) assess impacts and develop mitigation plans for the dams and other barriers to salmon migration.
In the subsequent two years, the Japanese government has taken a number of important steps to address the concerns raised in WSC reports. Steps include the development of a marine and river resources management plan. Most importantly, authorities have undertaken three dam modification and river restoration pilot projects. This is one of the first occasions that dams have been removed in Japan to facilitate salmon passage. WSC applauds the Japanese government for these initial efforts and look forward to continued progress.
WSC Receives Highest International Grantor Rating
On March 15, 2007 the Russian Federation government declared that six organizations, including the Wild Salmon Center, were to be added to the federal international grantor's list. Gaining the status of "honest and conscientious donor" and inclusion on the list indicates a high degree of recognition of WSC's efforts among key Russian decision makers. This achievement is the result of over four years of work by WSC staff and the recommendation and support of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Education and Science.