Tag Archives: Curry Cunningham Ph.D

Coronavirus: Specter of overescapement shouldn’t influence fisheries decisions

The management of sustainable salmon fisheries in Alaska is based on a ‘fixed escapement policy’ where the goal is to allow enough salmon into our rivers and lakes to fill the spawning habitat, and on average produce maximum or optimum long-term fishery yield. When more fish enter streams than targeted by escapement goals, this is referred to as ‘overescapement’ by fishery scientists and managers. So then, if salmon fisheries are restricted in the summer of 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis, will the resulting ‘overescapement’ cause damage this year, or in future years, to salmon or their ecosystems? >click to read< 07:52