"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain
October 18, 2004
As reported in BushGreenwatch in late May, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), released a new plan for management of the Northwest's wild salmon--one that overturned 15 years of established fish recovery practice.
In the new scheme, hatchery-bred salmon will be counted along with wild fish when determining whether or not a salmon stock is entitled to protection under the Endangered Species Act. Hatchery fish are less genetically diverse than wild. They compete with them for food and spawning grounds, and can carry diseases into the wild fish population.
With only an estimated one in five west coast salmon now spawned in the wild, the administration may use its new policy to justify the end of federal protections for wild salmon, and thereby also remove the safeguards that have protected critical inland fish habitat from excessive logging, mining, development and agriculture.
Public comment on this proposed policy is being accepted until Wednesday, October 20.
The Bush Administration's proposed policy contradicts the government's own panel of highly respected salmon ecology experts. Six members of the panel opted to publish their report in the March issue of the journal Science after being told by federal officials to alter their findings -- including their conclusion that hatchery salmon are not biological substitutes for wild fish. [1]
"Pacific salmon are under threat of being eliminated to make way for development," said co-author and panel chairman Robert Paine at the time of the article's publication. "We should not open the legal door to maintaining salmon only in hatcheries. The science is clear and unambiguous; as they are currently operated, hatcheries and hatchery fish cannot protect wild stocks." [2]
But federal agencies have continued to pursue this and other policies that undercut salmon recovery. As reported in BushGreenwatch:
* In June, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) announced a plan to drastically reduce the amount of water flowing over the dams in the Columbia and Snake River systems, claiming this would cut energy costs to the region. This "summer spill" was essential to the success of fish passage from upriver to the sea, and was required under the federal plan to protect endangered and threatened Northwest salmon. [3]
The BPA twice lost in court this summer on the issue: both a federal judge and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the agency to continue releasing water over the Columbia and Snake River dams. [4]
* The U.S. Forest Service proposed the Biscuit Project, a massive timber cut over 30 square miles of southwest Oregon that burned in a 2002 fire. If it goes forward, the project will allow timber companies to log on some of the region's wildest and most fragile acres--including old-growth reserves, steep streambanks and riverbanks, and salmon spawning grounds. [5]
* The environmental advocacy group Earthjustice successfully sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to comply with the Endangered Species Act, by completing required consultations with NMFS on pesticide impacts on threatened and endangered Pacific coast salmon before approving the pesticides for use.
But in response the agencies announced a rule change in late July that allows EPA to conduct its own studies on pesticide impacts to wildlife, without consulting experts at NMFS or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. [6]
* In early September, the NMFS released a draft 10-year salmon recovery plan that rules out any possibility of removing dams on Columbia-Snake river system, in favor of dam operations and technology adjustments that salmon advocates call "stale and discredited" recovery techniques. Under this plan, dam operators will be in compliance with recovery efforts as long as they are not speeding up the rate of salmon kills. [7]
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TAKE ACTION
Submit comments to NMFS on the Hatchery Listing Policy via email: hatch.policy@noaa.gov, with "Hatchery Listing Policy" in the subject line.
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SOURCES:
[1] "Hatchery Salmon to Count as Wildlife," Washington Post, Apr. 29, 2004.
[2] University of Washington-Dalhousie University joint press release, Mar. 25, 2004.
[3] BushGreenwatch, Jun. 17, 2004.
[4] "Fish Spills Backed By Appeals Court," The Columbian, Aug. 14, 2004.
[5] BushGreenwatch, Jul. 7, 2004.
[6] BushGreenwatch, Sept. 1, 2004.
[7] BushGreenwatch, Sept. 21, 2004.
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