Wild Salmon Center

Last updated
Wild Salmon Center
AbbreviationWSC
Formation1992;32 years ago (1992)
FounderPete Soverel; Tom Pero
Type Nonprofit
94-3166095
Legal status 501(c)(3)
Headquarters Portland, Oregon
Region served
Northern Pacific Rim [1]
Staff
36
Website https://wildsalmoncenter.org/

The Wild Salmon Center (WSC) is an international conservation organization that works to protect wild salmon, steelhead, char, trout and the ecosystems on which these species depend. [2] Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, United States, the WSC works with communities, businesses, governments, and other non-profits to protect and preserve healthy salmon ecosystems in the North Pacific. [3] WSC programs range in location from Russia (in July 2023, the organization was recognized in Russia as “undesirable” due to harm to economic development), [4] Japan, Alaska, British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon, and California.

Contents

Background

The WSC was founded as a non-profit by Pete Soverel and Tom Pero in 1992, and was run entirely by volunteers during its first five years. Originally the WSC received funding for research and conservation through organizing angling trips to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East. These expeditions were a joint venture between the WSC and Moscow State University. In 1998, WSC hired Guido Rahr as executive director, formerly with the conservation organization Oregon Trout, where he developed an approach to salmon conservation that focused on proactive protection of the strongest remaining populations (stronghold strategy). The organization expanded rapidly between 1999 and 2010. A new organization called The Conservation Angler was created in 2003 to take over the ecotourism programs, allowing the WSC to focus solely on science and conservation. [5] One of the WSC programs, State of the Salmon, a science-based program created in 2003 in collaboration with Ecotrust, used data to track the health and trends of wild salmon populations. This data was then analyzed, and used to inform salmon management and conservation throughout the Pacific Rim. [6] While State of the Salmon has concluded, sustainable fisheries work continues with a new organization, Ocean Outcomes, which was incubated and launched by Wild Salmon Center in 2015. [7] Ocean Outcomes is a global fishery improvement organization targeting high risk fisheries - the fisheries that face the biggest conservation challenges and have the most to gain from improvements. O2 works hand-in-hand with commercial fisheries and local communities to improve the sustainability of global fisheries.

Stronghold Strategy

Adopted in 1999, the WSC has been focused on a proactive "salmon stronghold" conservation strategy as a regional and international approach to salmon conservation. [8] Salmon strongholds refer to river ecosystems that contain the most abundant and biologically diverse populations of wild salmon. Select areas on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin Island, and the Russian Far East mainland, as well as key watersheds in the lower 48 US States, British Columbia, Bristol Bay and much of Alaska are considered salmon strongholds. [9] As part of its efforts to protect habitat in Oregon, the Wild Salmon Center is a member of the North Coast State Forest Coalition. In identifying and then protecting salmon strongholds, the WSC aims to conserve healthy salmon stocks before they decline and ensure sustainable fish populations survive for the long term. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Salmon is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera Salmo and Oncorhynchus of the family Salmonidae, native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (Salmo) and North Pacific (Oncorhynchus) basins. Other closely related fish in the same family include trout, char, grayling, whitefish, lenok and taimen, all coldwater fish of the subarctic and cooler temperate regions with some sporadic endorheic populations in Central Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bering Sea</span> Sea of the northern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska and Russia

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and the Americas. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves. The Bering Sea is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator in Russian service, who, in 1728, was the first European to systematically explore it, sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable fishery</span> Sustainable fishing for the long term fishing

A conventional idea of a sustainable fishery is that it is one that is harvested at a sustainable rate, where the fish population does not decline over time because of fishing practices. Sustainability in fisheries combines theoretical disciplines, such as the population dynamics of fisheries, with practical strategies, such as avoiding overfishing through techniques such as individual fishing quotas, curtailing destructive and illegal fishing practices by lobbying for appropriate law and policy, setting up protected areas, restoring collapsed fisheries, incorporating all externalities involved in harvesting marine ecosystems into fishery economics, educating stakeholders and the wider public, and developing independent certification programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainbow trout</span> Fresh-water species of fish

The rainbow trout is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coastal rainbow trout(O. m. irideus) or Columbia River redband trout (O. m. gairdneri) that usually returns to freshwater to spawn after living two to three years in the ocean. Freshwater forms that have been introduced into the Great Lakes and migrate into tributaries to spawn are also called steelhead.

Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus) or Columbia River redband trout. Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and North America. Like other sea-run (anadromous) trout and salmon, steelhead spawn in freshwater, smolts migrate to the ocean to forage for several years and adults return to their natal streams to spawn. Steelhead are iteroparous, although survival is approximately 10–20%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinook salmon</span> Species of fish

The Chinook salmon is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, Quinnat salmon, Tsumen, spring salmon, chrome hog, Blackmouth, and Tyee salmon. The scientific species name is based on the Russian common name chavycha (чавыча).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sockeye salmon</span> Species of fish

The sockeye salmon, also called red salmon, kokanee salmon, blueback salmon, or simply sockeye, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it. This species is a Pacific salmon that is primarily red in hue during spawning. They can grow up to 84 cm in length and weigh 2.3 to 7 kg (5–15 lb). Juveniles remain in freshwater until they are ready to migrate to the ocean, over distances of up to 1,600 km (1,000 mi). Their diet consists primarily of zooplankton. Sockeye salmon are semelparous, dying after they spawn. Some populations, referred to as kokanee, do not migrate to the ocean and live their entire lives in fresh water.

<i>Oncorhynchus</i> Genus of fishes

Oncorhynchus is a genus of ray-finned fish in the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae, native to coldwater tributaries of the North Pacific basin. The genus contains twelve extant species, namely six species of Pacific salmon and six species of Pacific trout, all of which are migratory mid-level predatory fish that display natal homing and semelparity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolly Varden trout</span> Species of fish

The Dolly Varden trout is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. Despite the name "trout", it belongs to the genus Salvelinus (chars), which includes 51 recognized species, the most prominent being the brook, lake and bull trout as well as the Arctic char. Although many populations are semi-anadromous, riverine and lacustrine populations occur throughout its range. It is considered by taxonomists as part of the Salvelinus alpinus complex, as many populations of bull trout, Dolly Varden trout and Arctic char overlap.

Puget Sound salmon recovery is a collective effort of federal, state and local authorities and non-profit coalitions of universities, scientists, business and industry aimed at restoring Pacific salmon and anadromous forms of Pacific trout (Oncorhynchus) within the Puget Sound region. The Puget Sound lies within the native range of the Pacific Salmon (Oncorhynchus) and two sea-run forms of Pacific trout, the coastal rainbow trout or steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout. Populations of Oncorhynchus have seen significant declines since the middle of the 19th century due to over fishing, habitat loss, pollution and disease. Salmon species residing in or migrating through the Puget Sound to spawning streams include Chum, Coho, Chinook, Sockeye, and Pink salmon. Pacific salmon require freshwater rivers for spawning and most major tributaries of the Puget Sound have salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout spawning runs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coastal cutthroat trout</span> Subspecies of fish

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alaska salmon fishery</span>

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This page is a list of fishing topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salmon conservation</span>

The survival of wild salmon relies heavily on them having suitable habitat for spawning and rearing of their young. This habitat is the main concern for conservationists. Kita bisa bantu ikan salmon saat migrates dengan cara tidak memakan mereka land development, timber harvest, or resource extraction. These threats bring about the traditional methods of protecting the salmon, but a new movement aims to protect the habitats before they require intervention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquaculture of salmonids</span> Fish farming and harvesting under controlled conditions

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rivers Without Borders</span> American nonprofit

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental issues with salmon</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean Outcomes</span>

Ocean Outcomes (O2) is an international nonprofit organization which works with commercial fisheries, seafood industry, local communities, government, NGOs, and other fishery stakeholders to develop and implement solutions towards more sustainable fisheries. O2's work includes fishery assessments, fishery improvement projects (FIPs), buyer engagement programs, supply chain analysis, and other contractual fishery-related work. Founded in 2015, O2 has team members and fishery projects across Northeast Asia, including on the ground operations in China, Japan, and South Korea.

References

  1. "Salmon Strongholds".
  2. Chivers, C. J. (October 15, 2006). "Chivers, CJ. The New York Times. "Salmon Find an Ally in the Far East of Russia"". The New York Times.
  3. Portland, Wild Salmon Center 2001 NW 19th Ave Suite 200; Portland, OR 97209 © 2024 Wild Salmon Center. "Our Story".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. "Генпрокуратура признала нежелательной организацию защитников лосося". Rbc.ru (in Russian). 2023-07-18.
  5. Stanford: Graduate School of Business. "The Wild Salmon Center" May 28, 2003
  6. State of the Salmon accessed on: 05/15/2011
  7. Howk, Lori (February 10, 2015). "WSC Launches Ocean Outcomes".
  8. "Wild Salmon Center wants to Redirect..." The Oregonian. September 7, 2008.
  9. Oceanography. "Salmon Strongholds" September 2010 Vol. 23/3 P.14
  10. "Programs Wild Salmon Center: accessed on: 05/16/2011".