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<H2 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Editorial: Klamath in crisis; With
salmon in abundance, fishing fleet runs aground on shoals of water
politics<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H2>
<H2 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Sacramento</SPAN></FONT></B></st1:place></st1:City><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> Bee –
7/3/05</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H2>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">A healthy stock of salmon is busy swimming
out in the Pacific Ocean, but authorities have restricted commercial fishing
operations throughout <st1:place w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place>
because of problems in one river. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">That would be the Klamath, where an anemic population of
salmon return each year to spawn. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><IMG class=OAS_adspace id=_x0000_i1039
height=1 src="mhtml:mid://00000194/!cid:image001.gif@01C58144.2FAFB250" width=1
border=0>Salmon return to the river of their birth to end their life cycle,
spawning just before they die. Between birth and death, the fish live in the
ocean. And while they're in the ocean, the salmon that were born in the Klamath
mingle with those that started life elsewhere. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">There's no way a fisherman
knows which is on the hook. A regulator can't tell, either. So to protect the
precious few salmon that are bound for the Klamath, the only recourse has been
to curtail ocean salmon fishing altogether. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The decision to limit
commercial salmon fishing has these mom-and-pop businesses angry and frustrated,
and understandably so. Consumers aren't getting much of a break on salmon prices
either. The situation smells of White House politics and misplaced priorities.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">Once one of the West Coast's
biggest salmon fisheries, the Klamath begins in <st1:State
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State> before snaking south to <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>, then west to
the ocean. Along the way, considerable water is taken from the river to sustain
thousands of acres of farm land, much of it devoted to potatoes.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The Klamath simply doesn't
have the water to deliver what the farmers desire and leave enough in the river
for healthy steelhead and salmon populations. Up and down the river, key
tributaries that once sheltered these fish are inhospitable because of excessive
groundwater pumping and historic logging practices, among other human
alterations. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">The Klamath crisis can be
wrongly portrayed as a fish-vs.-humans matter. In truth, it's more of a
humans-vs.-humans competition, with commercial fishermen and Indian tribes
downstream pitted against farmers upstream. The Bush administration has tended
to favor upstream interests in <st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State>, a state
that is more likely to back a Republican for president, over those in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>, which favors
a Democratic stronghold. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black">A more balanced management
policy would focus on restoring the salmon fishery, because it is the most
high-value crop that the Klamath's water sustains. But the situation along the
Klamath is anything but balanced. It is a mess. And now so is the entire salmon
season for commercial fishermen off the coast. So many fish, so little fishing,
so little regard for common-sense water policies.
#<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black"><A
href="http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13166233p-14009672c.html">http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13166233p-14009672c.html</A></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<H2 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><B><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
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