| Summary: | n evaluation of the history of efforts to reverse the long-term decline of Pacific Salmon provides instructive policy lessons for recovering Atlantic Salmon. From California to southern British Columbia, wild runs of Pacific salmon have universally declined and many have disappeared. Whether in response to the requirements of the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the Canadian Species at Risk Act, or other laws, billions have been spent in so-far failed attempts to reverse the decline. The annual expenditure of hundreds of millions continues, but a sustainable future for wild salmon remains elusive. Despite documented public support for restoring wild salmon, the long-term prognosis for a sustainable future appears problematic. Fisheries biologists and others continue to craft restoration plans, but an easy, painless, effective approach has yet to emerge that will actually restore and sustain most runs of wild salmon in the region. For both Pacific and Atlantic salmon, restoration options exist that offer both ecological viability and appreciably lower social disruption, but these options also have more modest restoration objectives.
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