Play It Again, Salmon

Groups sue over federal plan for Northwest salmon

Posted at 2:05 PM on 17 Jun 2008

A handful of green groups filed suit Tuesday over the Bush administration's latest plan to protect salmon in the Northwest's Columbia Basin. The feds' proposal "calls for cutting several key salmon protection measures and comes with a price tag of more than half a billion dollars per year," the groups said in a statement. "While it includes some provisions for habitat, hatchery production, and predator control, it calls for no significant changes to the region's federal hydrosystem and ignores the four dams on the lower Snake River that do the most harm to the ... endangered salmon." The Clinton administration ruled in 2000 that the dams stay put for at least a decade; advocates warn that breaching them would mean losing an important source of clean power. But the litigious lot -- including Save Our Wild Salmon, Earthjustice, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, and Institute for Fisheries Resources -- say that salmon, and the livelihoods of fisherfolk, should be prioritized.

sources: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Oregonian, Associated Press, Earthjustice

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Comments: (2 comments)

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What about the fishermen?

In addition to green groups, this lawsuit was also filed by sport and commercial fishermen who depend on healthy wild salmon runs to make their income. It doesn't make sense that the fishermen are the only ones who have to sacrifice here -- why not the federal dams that keep increasing the numbers of fish they kill every year? It's unfair that fishermen and fishing guides are losing their jobs and while it's still business-as-usual for the dams, especially the four outdated ones on the Lower Snake River. The fish just aren't making it past those things, no matter how much taxpayer money is wasted on fish ladders and trucks. Last year, only four Snake River sockeye made it past those dams to their spawning headwaters in Redfish Lake, Idaho. The Bushies have abandoned fishermen.

by natbrandon78 at 3:30 PM on 17 Jun 2008

Salmon returns

The salmon are making it past the Snake River dams. In fact look at two watersheds adjoining each other and one is healthier than the other. One runs leaves the Columbia River and heads into the Blue Mountains. The other which happens to even be healthier continues up the Snake River through two dams and then into the Blue Mountains and this run has a lot more returning salmon and they must contend with at least 50 more miles of river and two additional "outdated" dams. The dams on the Snake River have some of the most state of the art technology found in the world to pass fish.

If you are worried about Sockeye salmon returning to Redfish Lake then maybe you need to talk to Idaho and their past actions of poisoning them out to clear the lake of them. That also had a large impact on the numbers so not all blame can be placed on the dams.

by hatley at 5:30 PM on 29 Jun 2008

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