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Field note

Salmon in 1938: Bonneville Dam · 597

[596] [read-salmon-10-196] In 1938, the field log for Salmon is headed “Bonneville Dam.” The figure kept beside that heading is 1938. It is a count or a date from the work, not a rank of the species’ worth. A zoo birthday card does not replace the log. DOC, Phillip Island, Taiaroa Head and kakapo-style ICU projects are the southern English conservation dialect.

Anadromous fishes that move ocean fat onto spawning gravels -- and into forests, treaties and hydropower fights. Most Oncorhynchus (Pacific) are semelparous. Salmo salar can spawn more than once. The postcard of corpses on gravel is a Pacific-weighted image. Isotope studies show marine nitrogen in riparian trees and songbirds. Bears and eagles are the visible vectors; the trees keep the receipt.

What did the Elwha dam removals show? After 2011-14, sediment flushed and salmon recolonised reaches above the old dams faster than some models feared -- a rare full-height teardown. Are hatcheries a solution or a delay? They keep harvest numbers up and can dilute wild fitness. The argument is now about proportions, not existence.

Why are Atlantic salmon a different politics? Wild S. salar collapsed in much of Europe and New England. Farmed Atlantic salmon in net pens are a separate industry with sea-louse and escape files. Many Alaska runs are still large and limited-entry managed. That success is not transferable to a heavily dammed Columbia without the same habitat.

Keep 1938, “Bonneville Dam,” and 1938 together or the note on Salmon stops being that year’s record.1938

Figures to keep

Year of the note
1938
Figure to keep
1938
Species
Salmon
Line in the log
Bonneville Dam

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