Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis

by Jim Lichatowich

"Fundamentally, the salmon's decline has been the consequence of a vision based on flawed assumptions and unchallenged myths.... We assumed we could control the biological productivity of salmon and 'improve' upon natural processes that we didn't even try to understand. We assumed we could have salmon without rivers." --from the introduction From a mountain top where an eagle carries a salmon carcass to feed its young to the distant oceanic waters of the California current and the Alaskan Gyre, salmon have penetrated the Northwest to an extent unmatched by any other animal. Since the turn of the twentieth century, the natural productivity of salmon in Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho has declined by eighty percent. The decline of Pacific salmon to the brink of extinction is a clear sign of serious problems in the region. In Salmon Without Rivers , fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich offers an eye-opening look at the roots and evolution of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest. He describes the multitude of factors over the past century and a half that have led to the salmon's decline, and examines in depth the abject failure of restoration efforts that have focused almost exclusively on hatcheries to return salmon stocks to healthy levels without addressing the underlying causes of the decline. The Throughout, Lichatowich argues that the dominant worldview of our society -- a worldview that denies connections between humans and the natural world -- has created the conflict and controversy that characterize the recent history of salmon; unless that worldview is challenged and changed, there is little hope for recovery. Salmon Without Rivers exposes the myths that have guided recent human-salmon interactions. It clearly explains the difficult choices facing the citizens of the region, and provides unique insight into one of the most tragic chapters in our nation's environmental history.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Nature, History, Ecology, Biology

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little out of date now but I still learned a lot. Didn’t really think about how bad fish hatcheries are for native Salmon

[Jon Wlasiuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The five Pacific salmon species are the living memory of landscapes falling before the instrumentalist logic of modern capitalism. Lichatowich places the collapse of Pacific salmon fisheries in the rapid transformations of the anthropocene: habitat destruction, overharvest, and hatchery technology. Hatchery technology offered the modernist dream of “salmon without rivers,” but only served to endanger and extinguish wild populations.

Lichatowich focuses on the ideas that allowed the failure of hatcheries to continue for more than a century. Our optimism that technology could offer a shortcut to economic stability came at the price of an ecological perspective that places salmon in a community entirely ignored by market relations. His solution is simple and unthinkable: if we remove the hand of humanity from the land and restore habitat, the salmon will follow.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to throw this book through a window by the end of it. Not the fault of the book or the author, but the information he had to provide. My family is of one of the Chinook tribes that make up the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde in Oregon. This is my heritage. And it was just really hard to stomach.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read Bruce Brown's Mountain in the Clouds, which was great, and depressing. But Lichatowich goes a step further than Brown to acknowledge that it isn't just specific technologies or actions that are destroying salmon, but our culture's very mindset that enables these technologies and actions. This is one of the most important books I've read recently.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and reasonably concise summary of how the salmon of the Pacific Northwest became the conservation nightmare that they are today. Although the book is getting a bit older now, it's still well worth reading for anyone interested in fisheries on the west coast. While most discussions I've read concerning the challenges facing salmon populations tend to focus on the impacts of fishing and hydroelectric dams, Lichatowich also details the many other industries that have had important roles in destroying spawning habitat and exterminating populations. This process began with some of the first Europeans in the region - the fur trappers. They began the degradation of the salmon's ecosystem by exterminating most of the beavers, whose ponds were once vital rearing areas for young salmon. In many cases this was done as a matter of policy by Canadian/British trappers who hoped that the loss of beaver populations would deter the expanding United States from wanting to claim the lands that would eventually become Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The trappers were followed by miners, cattle and sheep ranchers, irrigators, loggers, and (once canning technology was sufficiently developed) industrial-scale commercial fishermen. Each of these industries is given a chapter describing their historical and ongoing impacts on salmon, and I thought these summaries alone would make the book worth picking up for any salmon biologist. Following closely on these insults, came early efforts at conserving salmon runs that focused on artificial propagation in fish hatcheries. However, it took the better part of a century for these facilities to incorporate science into their basic operations and overall they seem to have done much more harm than good. This long history is detailed at great length, and takes on even more significance when the hatcheries were called upon to try to save the salmon from the impacts of the dam building spree of the mid-20th Century in spite of having failed to protect the populations in much less modified river systems. Lichatowich also spends a lot of time contrasting the Western/industrial worldview that has been at the root of the salmons' problems with that of the Native Americans who viewed the salmon as a precious gift rather than a farm-able commodity, and ends by calling for a change of attitudes towards the natural world as being the most important step in saving the salmon from extinction.

[Emilee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although not a genre I would usually read, it was fascinating to read about the geological changes in the PNW and how the Salmon have adapted to these changes. It definitely is a tale that human activity can even upset the most adaptable of creatures and hopefully are actions in the future can continue to preserve them.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great breakdown of the history of salmon on the West coast. This was assigned to me in a class and was a great read, but it's a very bleak subject. The settler, corporate, and government antics will have you wanting to rip your hair out and the plight of the salmon will have you in mourning for the Earth that has been taken from us for personal profit.

[Viki Sonntag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and great analysis. Essential reading on the ill will of white culture expressed towards forest and river ecosystems and their inhabitants. Depressing to read how greedy and how very little self aware a lot of us are.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting history of the Pacific Northwest through the lens of salmon and their decline. Easy to read, and should probably be required reading for salmon researchers. Not very objective - Lichatowich's personal opinions shine through. But the history he gives of the hatchery programs, and earlier the logging, mining, trapping, harvesting, canning, and irrigating industries, is fascinating. And the history of these industries and programs is appalling. I read this while working on a paper comparing hatchery and wild Chinook - pretty timely for me (though the book had been sitting on my shelf for years).

[Sue Blake]

Fascinating and sad perspective on how much we have changed the natural systems that have supported salmon and who knows what other systems/species including ourselves. And changed it dramatically with far fewer people than exist today. We typically attribute our current challenges to overpopulation and growth but this book is a great illustration of why it isn't that black and white.

[Stephanie Warnement · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting book about the history of the salmon decline in the Pacific Northwest. Even if you're not in the fisheries field you can appreciate this book. It shows us that technology is not going to fix all environmental problems and can, in fact, do the complete opposite.

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book for people who know very little of the Pacific salmon crisis - it's chock full of information. Unfortunately, it's also a little repetitive and messy chronologically. Could have seriously used more editing and streamlining. I still enjoyed it though!

[Paulette Lichatowich]

This is an excellent book. If you are concerned about wild salmon or wild fish, this book will help explain how our worldview is preventing their recovery. This is my husband's first book and of course I recommend it.

[Ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read for anyone in the northwest or who loves salmon!!

[Damien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was assigned to read this book for a class I am taking. I really enjoyed it. It opened my eyes to the damage we do as humans, when we think we are "helping".

[Brian Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you want to know about salmon and the problems they face? And it's entertaining!

[Travis Duke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inside look at the dwindling resource known as salmon in the Pacific Northwest. A great history lesson and insight about the current problems hatcheries face and the epidemic of over fishing.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

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[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does a good job of sharing fact-based information in a storytelling style. I like that it seemed to not have too much of a political bias either for either side.