National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Front Matter
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Research Council. 2006. Review of the Draft Research and Restoration Plan for Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (Western Alaska) Salmon. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11562.
×

Summary

This is the second of two reports prepared by the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Review of Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (Western Alaska) Research and Restoration Plan for Salmon. The NRC was requested by the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (AYK) Sustainable Salmon Initiative (SSI) to help it develop a research and restoration plan to understand and reverse declines in salmon populations in the AYK region (Figure 1-1). To respond to that request (detailed statement of task in Chapter 1), this committee described in its first report what a research and restoration plan should contain and how it should be developed. (Appendix A has the summary of that report.) That report described three frameworks as examples for looking at the human–salmon problem. It recommended ways to develop and prioritize research questions based on the frameworks, and it discussed the relationship of restoration to the research. This report evaluates that plan.

The plan is thoughtful and has much to commend it. However, it is longer than it needs to be, and the long section on salmon life history could be usefully replaced by a section that deals with factors that affect salmon productivity. The commendable principles of the research plan, the criteria for identifying research topics, and the intellectual model that the plan is based on are not well connected to the specific research questions that receive high priority, listed toward the end of the plan. In other words, it is not clear how the AYK SSI arrived at the questions from the principles.

The committee’s specific conclusions and recommendations are provided in Chapter 6. In addition to the need for shortening, clarifica-

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Research Council. 2006. Review of the Draft Research and Restoration Plan for Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (Western Alaska) Salmon. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11562.
×

tion, and a better explanation of how the research questions were derived from the principles, this committee also recommends the following:

  • The relationship between the AYK SSI Salmon Research and Restoration Plan and other ongoing research programs in the region should be made clearer, including the degree to which the AYK SSI intends to depend on other programs’ information or to complement their research.

  • Capacity building is well defined in the draft plan, but the plan should provide more specifics on how it plans to build capacity.

  • This committee endorses the program’s approach of focusing early requests for proposals (RFPs) on retrospective analyses, based on the need to catalog, assemble, and synthesize existing data as an important early step in the program.

  • Administration of this, like any, scientific program is a significant undertaking and requires the full attention of a dedicated and qualified individual. Therefore, the AYK SSI should hire a full-time, dedicated science director to manage the plan.

  • There is insufficient separation between those who write the science plan and the RFPs and who evaluate research proposals, and the investigators who submit research proposals. As a result, there is some conflict of interest, which needs to be avoided.

  • The draft research plan should focus more attention on management tools such as biological escapement goals, because they are critical to managing salmon fisheries and they affect sustainability.

  • Metadata for the region contained in the North Pacific Ecosystem Metadatabase should be assessed early in the program.

  • The plan does not adequately integrate the concept of local and traditional knowledge throughout the document. Local and traditional knowledge and capacity building, although related and both critical to the plan’s success, are distinct, and they should each be clearly communicated with more specifics on how to better integrate them into the plan.

The committee is optimistic about the research and restoration plan and looks forward to seeing it develop important and timely results.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Research Council. 2006. Review of the Draft Research and Restoration Plan for Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (Western Alaska) Salmon. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11562.
×
Page 1
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Research Council. 2006. Review of the Draft Research and Restoration Plan for Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (Western Alaska) Salmon. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11562.
×
Page 2
Next: 1 Introduction »
Review of the Draft Research and Restoration Plan for Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (Western Alaska) Salmon Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $29.00 Buy Ebook | $23.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Declines in the abundance of salmon in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (AYK) region of western Alaska in the late 1990s and early 2000s created hardships for the people and communities who depend on this resource. Based on recommendations from a 2004 National Academies report, the AYK Sustainable Salmon Initiative (SSI) developed a research and restoration plan to help understand the reasons for this decline and to help support sustainable management in the region. This report reviews the draft plan, recommending some clarification, shortening, and other improvements, with a better focus on the relationship between the underlying intellectual model and the research questions, and a clearer discussion of local and traditional knowledge and capacity building.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!