Developing sustainable salmon management in Willapa Bay, Washington

Abstract

This article describes a community‐based approach to salmon restoration and management in Willapa Bay, Washington. Willapa Bay is an area rich in natural resources, historically oriented toward extraction activities, and with increasing threats to its fishery resource. Members of the community have rejected the traditional blend of agency and industry decision‐making control over the resource and are conducting a process that includes a diverse set of participants. The article describes the process as it nears the end of the planning phase and beginning of the implementation phase of salmon restoration. It identifies obstacles to achieving sustainable salmon management, including lack of coordination and consistency among fishery managers, limited participation by important stakeholder groups that leads to political roadblocks, and unavailability of important scientific and socioeconomic data and analysis. It also describes the long‐term goals of consistent, adaptive, and participative salmon management in Willapa Bay.

Key words:

• fisheries
• management
• restoration
• salmon
• stakeholders
• sustainable
• watershed