The federal government, having failed to support salmon to the point that California's fishing season was shut down altogether, may now yank support from fisherfolk. The Office of Management and Budget is requesting that the $170 million put aside as disaster funding for the West Coast salmon industry be reduced to $100 million to offset the increased cost of the 2010 census. (The Census Bureau had planned to use handheld computers to conduct its 2010 count, but a Florida-based contractor had cost overruns; the bureau will stick with a paper-based census, and taxpayers are stuck with the bill.) West Coast congressfolk on both sides of the aisle criticized the proposal to yank salmon funding as a solution. "The fishing community of Oregon is already suffering because of the flawed Bush policies in the Sacramento River basin," wrote Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). "They should not have to suffer again because the president has hired people in Florida who can't count. We've been there before."
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caniscandida Posted 7:04 pm
14 Jun 2008
(In fairness to Florida, I am sure that there are many Floridians who know how to count very well -- whether they have been always allowed to, is another story.)
More fundamentally, though, the long-term outlook for the salmon fisherfolk needs to be examined both by governmental agencies and by independent experts. And their prognoses regarding the health of salmon fisheries ought to be made known to the fisherfolk, the sooner the better.
"Disaster funding" is not the kind of help those people need, if it seems the salmon are never going to come back. They do not need money to tide them through a rough year; they need money to help them start up in a completely new livelihood.
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