Abstract
Anadromous salmonids are increasingly threatened by overfishing, overdependence on hatcheries, and loss of spawning grounds. This paper examines the Kushiro Wetland, a Ramsar site and Japan＇s largest protected wetland, as a potential area for promoting natural reproduction of anadromous salmonids. We argue that initiatives
to protect natural reproduction of anadromous salmonids and wetland conservation efforts as mutually beneficial
and necessary. Salmon is a keystone species that serves as a foundation for both the natural food web and the
global fishery industry, and therefore a crucial factor in shaping the future health of the wetland ecosystem and
the security of local people＇ livelihoods. First, this paper explores the benefits of naturally reproducing salmon
for both nature and society from the perspective of the wetland ecosystem, drawing from examples of wetland
conservation specific to natural reproduction of salmon. Second, by employing the framework of social-ecological
system analysis, this paper provides an overview of the local environmental history of the Kushiro River Basin by
examining how social-ecological interactions from the Meiji period to date has shaped the local ecology, with a
focus on wetland and salmon. Over the years, the development of logging, dairy farming, and salmon propagation
in the basin disconnected the mutually beneficial relationship between wetland and salmon by establishing and
moving salmon capture sites to further downstream along the Kushiro River and into the heart of the wetland.
Based on this analysis, this paper argues that natural reproduction of salmon in the Kushiro Wetland has the potential to reconnect lost ecological links and benefit the river basin ecology and the local community.
