Representing recovery: Science and local control in the framing of U.S. Pacific Northwest salmon policy

Framing is a process of highlighting certain facets of reality to make specific issues more prominent, consequential, and memorable. Framing is important in policy debates because it affects what counts as knowledge, which actors are empowered or disenfranchised, and the forum for decision-making. This paper presents a discourse analysis of framing processes in Pacific Northwest salmon recovery policy. Analysis of testimony from more than 100 witnesses to six U.S. Congressional committees identified two prominent frames: one based on scientific discourse and another based on local control discourse. Actors used these frames to define the problem, outline solutions, support their positions, and undermine the positions of others. Results reveal distinctions between stakeholder groups in the frames that they do and do not use in policy debate, and the discussion addresses reasons for these differences. The results imply that the policy community has limited potential for creative decision-making to address salmon decline.