Direction Of Federal Salmon Plan Sparks Renewed Outrage
PORTLAND, Ore., June 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A broad-based coalition of fishermen, fishing businesses and conservation groups today expressed grave concern about the newest Bush administration salmon plan for the Columbia and Snake River Basin. The coalition stated that the “new” plan was anything but new, and in fact establishes roll-backs from current salmon protections in these rivers. The groups are in U.S. District Court before Judge James A. Redden in Portland today to formally respond to draft proposed actions put forth by the federal agencies, including the Army Corps. of Engineers and Bonneville Power Association, as the basis for a new, court-ordered biological opinion (BiOp) that will guide salmon recovery efforts in the Columbia and Snake Rivers for the next decade.
“Despite two years of work, clear rulings from the courts to correct these problems, and all its talk of ‘collaboration,’ the proposed actions offered by BPA and the Corps show us where the government is really headed — which is nowhere,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “The federal agencies were asked to take real steps toward long-term salmon recovery for our region. Instead they’ve come back with another plan that is all about protecting the status quo and not at all about the long-term recovery of salmon. And that’s really going to hurt West Coast fishing communities already struggling with cutbacks and shortened seasons.”
Salmon advocates are outraged that the actions proposed for the new draft plan show little change from the old one. In some areas, such as spill at the dams to help deliver baby salmon to the ocean, the new draft plan could specifically roll back gains currently in place. This comes despite recent confirmation from NOAA Fisheries that court-ordered spill in the spring of 2006 helped produce the best in-river survival for spring chinook salmon since the government began measuring in 1999. Despite these results, the proposed action sharply reduces those water releases.
While federal officials repeatedly insist that their plan is “on track,” this year’s low returns don’t bear that out. Only about 80,000 adult spring chinook crossed Bonneville Dam this year, the first of eight dams salmon must navigate during their upstream migration to Idaho through the Columbia/Snake river system. That is fewer than last year, significantly below the 10-year average, and only a fraction of the number needed for sustained recovery.
“The federal agencies can slice the numbers and spin the data any way they want, but the real bottom line is clear: fewer and fewer fish are returning each year, and the Bush administration has no intention of doing anything new or serious to actually help us,” said Jeremy Brown, a commercial salmon fishermen and member of the Washington Trollers Association. “We’ve had to spend as much time tied to the dock this year as we have fishing, and nothing the federal government is proposing suggests they intend to improve the situation.”
“This continuing decline has economic consequences,” said Liz Hamilton of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association. “Our fishing seasons have been shut down or drastically reduced this year, hurting the business of fishing guides and equipment suppliers. In many places, fishing was closed almost as soon as it opened. Boats remained in dock, guides were idle and millions of dollars destined for thousands of miles of river communities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho won’t be realized this year.”
Anglers made 175,000 trips in pursuit of spring chinook on the Columbia River in 2001 but only 70,000 this year, Hamilton said.
“This administration continues to disregard the economic value of these fish and the health of the rivers to people of the Northwest. How much longer can our leaders sit on the sidelines and watch this administration drive our region into salmon bankruptcy?” said James Schroeder, senior environmental policy specialist with the National Wildlife Federation. “Congress and particularly our Northwest leaders have the power to put this region on the right path, a path that leads to stable jobs, clean, affordable power, good fishing, abundant salmon, and places in the outdoors for our families to enjoy. It’s time to step up.”
Save Our Wild Salmon (SOS) is a nationwide coalition of conservation organizations, commercial and sport fishing associations, businesses, river groups, and taxpayer and clean energy advocates working collectively to restore healthy, self-sustaining and abundant wild salmon to rivers, streams and oceans of the Pacific Salmon states.
Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition
CONTACT: Therese Wells of Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition,+1-206-286-4455 ext. 107, therese@wildsalmon.org