Intersecting Freshwater and Marine Systems: Chinook Salmon and the Three Revolutions in Fishery Management

Three fundamental fishery “revolutions” are contemporaneously underway in both freshwater and marine environments.  The first is the implementation of management based on sustainability and ecosystem concepts.  The second is the transition from management based on open access or regulated open-access to approaches founded on incentives, market principles, and property rights.  The third but less noticed revolution is the development of electronic information systems to support more efficient and innovative use of fishery data.   To illustrate how these “revolutions” can intersect across freshwater and marine environments, a case study is developed based on U.S. West Coast Chinook salmon, a species whose life cycle includes freshwater and marine habitats.   The study is drawn from an ongoing collaborative research project evaluating how new genetic and information technologies can be used to improve salmon utilization and conservation.  Results support the premise that the institutional and technological changes resulting from the intersection of our three “revolutions” have major implications for changing the way salmon -- and other fisheries -- are managed in freshwater and marine systems.