Salmon, Steelhead and Climate Change in the Pacific Northwest: A Waterside Chat with Bob Rees

04/25/23 • 55 min

Bob Rees of the Northwest Guides and Anglers Association joined Waterside Chat host Tom Sadler on April 19, 2023 to talk about salmon, steelhead and conservation in the Pacific Northwest. Among many topics, they discussed:
* How climate change and forest-clearing have raised water temperatures in many streams to the point that juvenile salmonids cannot thrive and often can't survive at all. Fish are a forest product, like timber, and forest management needs to take their survival into account
* How the Snake River Dams have damaged or destroyed salmon runs that local communities have relied on for many years
* How fishing guides and others whose livelihoods depend on healthy stocks of salmon and steelhead are working together to change public policy around fisheries and conservation.
* Why even an email or a letter to a legislator or the Board of Forestry can make a difference
* Tips for fishing in Oregon waters this year
Mentioned in this episode:

The Marine Fish Conservation Network’s Waterside Chat series connects people who depend on healthy oceans and fisheries with the issues that directly affect them and their communities. Each episode the Network’s Deputy Director Tom Sadler talks with different guests about ocean policy and fisheries management topics. He engages them in genuine and thoughtful conversations about what policy decisions mean for people’s livelihoods, communities, recreation, and coastal ways of life.
Join the Network's email list to learn about future Waterside Chats.

Previous Episode

It's All About the Food System: A Waterside Chat with Justin Zeulner of The Wave Foundation

The Wave Foundation Founder and President Justin Zeulner joined host Tom Sadler for a Waterside Chat on February 28, 2023, about The Wave's large-scale approaches to food programs around equity, environmental stewardship, diversity and resilience, with an emphasis on local production and healthy communities.
The organization's big goals involve systemic change in the ways we feed ourselves as a society, but The Wave pivoted during Covid to providing services in the Pacific Northwest, particularly to rural and tribal communities not being effectively served by food banks and other traditional interventions. The Wave distributed eight million pounds of healthy, sustainably grown and culturally appropriate food in two years of the pandemic, including food boxes based around Alaska salmon or tribal-caught Columbia River salmon and filled out with other products grown locally in the Northwest.
The food box program and The Wave's work to introduce locally and sustainably grown ingredients to sports arenas and other large public venues have had ripple effects, since a commitment to purchase allowed farmers to invest in capacity and grow their operations. Learn more about how Justin's time as a pioneering snowboarder sparked his interest in conservation, and how his experience with Paul Allen and the Green Sports Alliance helped The Wave come together.
The Marine Fish Conservation Network’s Waterside Chat series connects people who depend on healthy oceans and fisheries with the issues that directly affect them and their communities. Each episode the Network’s Deputy Director Tom Sadler talks with different guests about ocean policy and fisheries management topics. He engages them in genuine and thoughtful conversations about what policy decisions mean for people’s livelihoods, communities, recreation, and coastal ways of life.

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Managing Gulf Fisheries for the Long Term: Waterside Chat with Eric Brazer

Eric Brazer joined host Tom Sadler for a Waterside Chat on April 26th, 2023. Eric is the deputy director of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders' Alliance, a member of the Network’s Policy Council, and a voice on behalf of science-based management of Gulf Red Snapper and other species. Among many other things, Eric and Tom discussed:

How despite years of fisheries conservation successes, the Gulf is telling us it's in trouble. Populations of fish such as gag grouper have declined to their lowest level on record, prompting huge cuts in fishing quotas.
The need for ecosystem management rather than managing individual species in isolation.
The need for fisheries managers to have experience in fisheries management or on the water. The Gulf management council has more people named "Bob" serving on it right now than it does actual commercial fishermen.
How the Shareholder Alliance’s Quota Bank that helps reduce red snapper discards in the eastern Gulf by holding participants to a high standard of accountability in a market-based system.
The Alliance's policy work to support good science and data, to educate regional and federal regulators, and to play an active role in shaping our commercial fishing regulations.
Their work with the Gulf Wild brand program, supporting a seafood traceability program built by fishermen for fishermen.
How the Alliance fosters the next generation of conservation-minded fishermen.
The complex effects of climate change on Gulf fish populations.

More about the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders' Alliance: https://shareholdersalliance.org/
More about the Gulf Wild program: https://gulfwild.com/
The Marine Fish Conservation Network’s Waterside Chat series connects people who depend on healthy oceans and fisheries with the issues that directly affect them and their communities. Each episode the Network’s Deputy Director Tom Sadler talks with different guests about ocean policy and fisheries management topics. He engages them in genuine and thoughtful conversations about what policy decisions mean for people’s livelihoods, communities, recreation, and coastal ways of life.
Join the Network's email list to learn about future Waterside Chats: https://conservefish.org/join-our-email-list/