Feb. 14, 2007
Sims to salmon managers: Prepare now for pending global warming impacts
Executive Ron Sims told an international salmon panel today that the potential impacts of global warming on fish stocks need immediate attention.
Addressing the Pacific Salmon Commission at its 22 nd annual meeting in Portland, Sims urged commissioners to support establishment of a working group to address climate change and its effects on salmon populations.
“The more I learn about climate change, the more I think that all of our discussions about managing precious natural resources such as salmon should start with a discussion about how we are going to prepare for and adapt to climate change,” Sims said.
He called on the commission to develop a working group comprised of harvest, habitat and hatchery managers to develop a climate change preparedness plan for salmon management.
“We have to develop the science and solutions together in response to climate change,” Sims said. “There is so much at stake here that it would be hard to overstate the importance of timely action. And the time to act is now.”
Sims encouraged commissioners to support the newly invigorated Puget Sound Partnership, the landmark collaborative effort committed to restoring the troubled water body and its fish and wildlife – including federally protected salmon populations.
“We are on the verge of reshaping the way Puget Sound is managed and setting a new course for stewardship of this critical body of water,” Sims said. “This new course is badly needed and long overdue, but needs the support of people who rely on and enjoy the resources Puget Sound provides.
“Having the support of the salmon harvest community would help ensure that Puget Sound continues to play its fundamental ecological role in the health of so many of the salmon we catch and send back to spawn.”
Sims also suggested that harvest managers acknowledge the major commitments habitat managers have made to protect and restore habitat and account for it in harvest regimes.
“We need an abundance and quality of fish to our rivers and streams that will support the long-term growth and health of our salmon populations and make the most of our habitat investments,” he said.
The Pacific Salmon Commission is a 16-person body with four commissioners and four alternates each from the United States and Canada, representing the interests of commercial and recreational fisheries as well as federal, state and tribal governments.
The commission was formed by the governments of Canada and the United States to implement the 1985 Pacific Salmon Treaty, which regulates harvest of Pacific salmon species bound for rivers along the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada.
More information