Salmon Management and the Search for Values

This perspective addresses the role of human values in North American salmon management. Salmon resources have been aided and harmed by technology, and managers must carefully assess how current and future technologies will be used to manage salmon. Effective managers must be knowledgeable of fishery science and human values. The science in fishery management is the objective, logical, and systematic method of obtaining reliable knowledge about fishery resources. The art in fishery management involves our values, that is, what we judge to be good, desirable, and important in the long run. A rational management plan is a selective embodiment of the values of the manager or of the organization or society that the manager represents. More surveys are needed to assess the values of the public toward salmon resources. Several potentially desirable directions are discussed for future salmon management in the Pacific Northwest.