[env-trinity] Times Standard Editorial: Big words, little help by Congress for fishing

[Tom Stokely]

NORTH COAST SALMON FISHERY RELIEF:

Editorial: Big words, little help by Congress for fishing

Eureka Times-Standard – 12/18/06

 

There were a whole lot of words from Congress in the recently closed session but not a lot of money where its mouth is concerning fisheries assistance. 

 

The good news was that the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the nation's foremost ocean fisheries law, was renewed, and included a precedent-setting order for federal fishery managers to fast-track a plan for recovery of endangered coho salmons runs in the Klamath River. 

 

The bad news is that senators and House members adjourned without funding disaster relief for fishermen and associated businesses hurt by the nearly total closure of the 2006 salmon season off the Pacific coast from Morro Bay to the Columbia River -- including Humboldt County. 

 

The spending bill for emergency aid was the victim of the post-election paranoia about special-interest earmarks related to the Abramoff scandal. The aid could have been part of temporary measures to keep the government funded through mid-February, but lawmakers closed that door for fear it would open the door to billions of dollars in farm subsidies. Ironically, the Magnuson-Stevens Act included a $25 million federal loan to help buy out some of the seine-boat salmon fishermen in Alaska to thin their ranks. The Alaska situation is a self-inflicted wound caused by overfishing of pink salmon. (The co-sponsor of the act, by the way, is Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska.) 

 

The salmon disaster on the North Coast, on the other hand, was caused in large part by federal mismanagement of the Klamath River spawning waters that spread parasites that killed thousands of salmon in 2002 and 2003. 

 

The crews of more than 1,000 fishing boats in California and Oregon depend upon coho for much of their income. The crab season looks as if it will be a good one, but not all fishermen benefit from that catch, and salmon runs also are expected to remain low for the 2007 season. 

 

The new Congress must act quickly to fund assistance to keep the North Coast fishing industry viable in the short term, but also should keep the pressure on the federal government to follow through on a long-term turnaround to protect the endangered coho salmon. #
http://www.times-standard.com/opinion/ci_4859994

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