One more story very much related to the Amazon situation. First we could not
see how this abundance ever could stop. Then it started to collapse and we
found the process impossible to reverse.
john
----- Original Message -----
From: Jamie Saunders <jamie.saunders@bradford.gov.uk>
To: Permaculture UK <PermacultureUK@listbot.com>
Cc: Dave Melling <dave.melling@bradford.gov.uk>; Danny Jackson
<danny.jackson@bradford.gov.uk>; Anne Heeley <anne.heeley@bradford.gov.uk>
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2000 1:28 PM
Subject: [PermacultureUK] Ecosystems - invaluable research
> Permaculture UK - The views expressed on this list are not necessarily
those of the Permaculture Assoc. (Britain) http://www.permaculture.org.uk
>
> Implications for 'sustainable design' and for biodiversity planning ...
>
> http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-06-02.html
> Ecosystem Keystone: Salmon Support 137 Other Species By Ed Hunt OLYMPIA,
> Washington, July 6, 2000 (ENS) - More than 137 species of fish and
wildlife
> - from orcas to caddisflies - depend on the Northwest salmon for their
> survival, a revelation that makes salmon recovery efforts of far greater
> importance than the protection of a single species. A new report released
> by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has found that salmon play a
> vital role in watershed health, transporting nutrients from the ocean back
> to the watershed. The discovery could spark major changes in fishery and
> hatchery management and the direction of salmon recovery efforts in the
> future. "It's not just salmon, it's the ecosystem," said Jeff Cederholm,
a
> salmon research scientist with Washington Department of Natural Resources,
> principal author of the report. "We need to start giving out the whole
story
> of what made the ecosystem; it's an abundance of fish on the spawning
> grounds."
>
> Orcas, also known as killer whales, rely on salmon for their food (Photo
> courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Northwest
species
> now struggling because of depleted salmon runs include the bald eagle,
> grizzly bear, black bear, osprey, harlequin duck, Caspian tern and river
> otter. "They are all so closely tuned with the pacific salmon that many
of
> these populations are in decline, partially due to declining food supply,"
> Cederholm said. The report, "Pacific Salmon and Wildlife," is a
> collaboration of a number of organizations through Washington Department
of
> Fish and Wildlife and Department of Natural Resources. It brings together
> 500 scientific studies and decades of research to document the vital role
> salmon play in the overall health of ecosystems. Pacific salmon are
unique
> in that they die after they reproduce. When salmon return from the ocean,
> they bring vital nutrients with them to the watersheds where they were
> hatched. Through their decomposing carcasses, the salmon spawning process
> offers a vital source of food not just for salmon and other fish species,
> but for a whole host of organisms in the watershed. Prior research has
> documented that salmon rely on the decomposing salmon carcasses as a major
> food source. National Marine Fisheries Service biologist Robert Bilby
found
> that 40 to 60 percent of the stomach contents of young salmon and
steelhead
> could be traced to salmon carcasses. When salmon carcasses were placed in
> streams, the density of young coho salmon in those streams increased
> compared to other sites. The weight and amount of fat found in the coho
> increased wherever the carcasses were put in the river. The healthier and
> better fed salmon are before they leave their home watershed, the better
> chance they have of returning to spawn.
>
> Spawning salmon (Photo courtesy Cmdr. John Bortniak, NOAA Corps) Earlier
> this year, researchers calculated that due to declining salmon runs, just
> five to seven percent of the nutrients originally delivered by salmon to
> streams is now available. The streams are starving from lack of salmon,
and
> that lack of salmon is hurting the ability of the next generation of
salmon
> to survive. Cederholm, who has been studying the link between salmon
> nutrients and ecosystem health for more than a decade, said he thinks the
> salmon life cycle evolved as a "primitive form of childcare." By going out
> into the ocean, feeding and storing nutrients, then returning to their
> stream of origin to spawn and die enriches the habitat, giving the young
> salmon a better chance for survival. "They achieved total ecosystem
> enrichment," Cederholm says. "Salmon really are a keystone species. ...
For
> example, the reestablishment of the grizzly bear may be impeded by not
> having the primary food source it evolved with. The abundance of all these
> things is interrelated." Of the 137 species documented as dependent on
> salmon, 41 are mammals including orcas, bears and river otters, 89 are
> birds, including bald eagles, Caspian terns and grebes, five are reptiles
> and two are amphibians. "Production is based on food and space and you
must
> have both," Cederholm said. "Pacific salmon are the food base for much of
> what lives in the watershed."
>
> Bald eagles depend on salmon for food (Photo by Robert Fields courtesy
U.S.
> Fish & Wildlife Service) When the salmon disappear, their importance
becomes
> evident. Cederholm points to the example of McDonald Creek in Glacier
> National Park. In 1981, more than 600 bald eagles gathered to feed on
> kokanee salmon carcasses. When an non-native shrimp was introduced in an
> adjacent lake, the shrimp competed with the salmon for an important food
> source - zooplankton - and the salmon run failed. By 1989, only 25 eagles
> were found at McDonald Creek. The loss of salmon caused what Cederholm
calls
> an "ecosystem collapse." "We think we see one little change," said
> Cederholm. "But behind it, it's the whole ecosystem." The Washington
> Department of Fish and Wildlife has been placing hatchery salmon carcasses
> in streams to try and restore some of the lost nutrients. Andy Appleby,
> aquaculture coordinator for the hatchery division of Washington Department
> of Fish and Wildlife said the state distributed 120,000 carcasses in 23
> watersheds last year as part of the state's nutrient enhancement program.
> Now entering its fifth year, the nutrient enhancement program has doubled
> every year, Appleby said, and there are plans to continue expanding the
> program. Oregon also has a smaller, but growing carcass distribution
> program. Cederholm says the nutrient enhancement program is a good
stopgap
> measure to get much needed nutrients back into the streams, but it is a
far
> cry from what is needed to restore streams to their historically nutrient
> rich state.
>
> Some hatchery practices can adversely affect wild fish (Photo courtesy
> OAR/National Undersea Research Program) Historically, salmon carcasses
> likely totaled three to five tons, for every kilometer of stream every
year,
> Cederholm said. "Anything that gets marine derived nutrients on the
spawning
> ground must happen right now to give wild fish a boost." Cederholm thinks
> change must occur in how salmon harvesting is managed.Todays salmon
harvests
> are based on a system called Maximum Sustained Yield under which the
number
> of fish allowed to spawn is based on generating the greatest number of
> harvestable fish. The report says managing using this measure drastically
> reduces the number of fish that should be reaching the watershed to spawn,
> and the nutrients in the stream, creating a spiral of lost production.
New
> harvest strategies need to be developed that address the nutrient delivery
> to freshwater ecosystems, yet there is little information available on
which
> to base these harvest levels. Sport and commerical fishing have already
> been cut back to return more fish to the spawning grounds. Yet, Cederholm
> says in the short term, drastic measures need to be taken to make sure all
> wild fish get to their spawning streams.
>
> Fourteen Pacific Northwest populations of salmon and steelhead, like this
> chinook salmon, are listed as threatened (Photo courtesy Pacific Northwest
> National Laboratory) "We are very much in an emergency situation,"
Cederholm
> said. "So I have this personal view that we must stop killing these wild
> fish, we must stop impeding their progress to the spawning grounds. If
Gresh
> is right, if we are returning just five percent of these nutrients to the
> spawning ground, we must rebuild those runs. The wild fish that are left
are
> the nucleus to start from." "All Northwest wild salmon must escape the
> fishery," Cederholm stressed. That includes all fishing, and all
incidental
> killing of wild salmon, direct or indirect, including commercial fishing,
> and even the mortality related to catch and release of sport fishing."
> Cederholm says hatchery production serves no purpose other than to
> "perpetuate the false idea that salmon are still abundant." Record numbers
> of fish passed the counting stations on the Columbia River this spring,
yet
> almost all are hatchery fish. "I think we should unilaterally get rid of
> any semblance of artificial production and put the money we're spending on
> hatcheries into restoring natural production," Cederholm said. "The money
> invested in hatcheries over the years has been a waste of money. It gives
a
> false perception of abundance and takes money away from habitat
protection.
> I can't believe with the level of science we have now, we continue to
> perpetuate artificial fish production." The report: "Pacific Salmon and
> Wildlife: Ecological Contexts, Relationships, and Implications for
> Management," is available from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
> To get a copy of the report, email: johnsdhj@dfw.wa.gov
> <mailto:johnsdhj@dfw.wa.gov> Ed Hunt is the editor of "Tidepool: News for
> the Rain Forest Coast."
>
> © Environment News Service (ENS) 2000. All Rights Reserved.
>
>
>
> Jamie
>
> Jamie Saunders
> Sustainability Co-ordinator (Policy)
> City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
> t:01274 754123
> f:01274 754933
> e:jamie.saunders@bradford.gov.uk
>
>
>
>
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