Independent Scientists Find Obama's Salmon Plan Additions "Inadequate"

American Fisheries Society’s review reveals flaws with risky and insufficient salmon measures

February 17th, 2010 - This week, the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society also released a scientific review of the Obama Administration's proposed additions to its Columbia Basin salmon plan.  The society's assessment concludes that the addendum, issued by the government last September and known as the Adaptive Management Implementation Plan or AMIP, is not aggressive, rigorous, or specific enough to help bolster imperiled runs of wild salmon and steelhead.  The American Fisheries Society is the world's largest and oldest organization of fisheries professionals; its 3,500-member Western Division covers the 13 western states and British Columbia, including the entire Columbia Basin. 

In its review, AFS's Western Division stated that while the AMIP includes some measures that are helpful to salmon, those actions are still "inadequate for ensuring the protection of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin."  Further, the review concludes that the AMIP "does not always use the 'best scientific information,'" while its Rapid Response Actions – a central feature of the government's salmon plan postscript – are neither rapid nor particularly responsive.

"With this review, the independent scientists of the American Fisheries Society have shed some much-needed light on a topic that has already generated quite a bit of heat," said Jim Martin, former chief of fisheries for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "These experts looked at the AMIP and asked two all-important questions: does it do enough to help struggling salmon, and does it utilize the best science?  Unfortunately, the answer to both questions appears to be no."

Read the Western Division of AFS's review of the Obama Administration’s AMIP.

More on the "science" and process in building Obama's Salmon Plan.