Don't Count On It

Budget office wants to reduce disaster funds for West Coast fisherfolk

Posted at 10:14 AM on 13 Jun 2008

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."

source: The World, California Progress Report, Associated Press

ADVERTISING POLICY

Comments: (1 comment)

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have a Gristmill account, log in below. If you don't have a Gristmill account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.

"disaster funding," odd form of justice

"Prompt justice" is not something that the US government is at all good at. It is an unnecessary expression, anyway. If just recompense does not come in due course, then it is hardly just.

(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.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 2:04 AM on 15 Jun 2008

The comments of Grist users reflect the opinions of those individuals only, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Grist, its staff, its board members, their psychotherapists, or their aestheticians. Got it?