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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:7.5pt;background:white'><b><font size=4
color=black face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>Help fishing industry<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:7.5pt;background:white'><b><font size=4
color=black face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>A Register-Guard Editorial<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:7.5pt;background:white'><b><font size=4
color=black face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>The Register Guard – 1/10/07<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;display:none;font-weight:
bold'>Bottom of Form<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>I</span></font></b><font size=4><span
style='font-size:14.0pt'>f the West Coast's beleaguered fishing industry
doesn't get federal disaster assistance soon, there may be no fleet left when -
and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>if</span></i> - the salmon some day
return. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Last year, Congress spent oceans of time discussing the plight of
coastal fisheries and restructured the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act, the premier federal law regulating ocean fisheries. Thanks
to a monumental push by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Gordon Smith, R-Ore.; and
Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the law included a formal declaration that the West
Coast fishing industry is facing an economic disaster. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Yet Congress failed to approve a single dollar of actual aid for the
fishermen, seafood processors, communities and businesses that lost tens of
millions of dollars when the federal government imposed sharp fishing
restrictions on a 700-mile stretch of the coasts of <st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>.
It's a glaring example of dysfunctional governance: recognizing a full-bore
disaster and then doing nothing to help. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>At least <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State></st1:place>
heard the cry of fishermen. In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Salem</st1:City></st1:place>,
the legislative Emergency Board last year approved $1 million in emergency
assistance. Despite controversy over how the money was distributed, the money
has helped some fishermen, although many remain on the brink of losing their
boats and livelihoods. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Much more assistance is needed, along with a full-throttle federal
effort to fix the real cause of the salmon crisis: a <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath
River</st1:place> that once supported vibrant salmon runs but that, thanks to
federal mismanagement, has become one of the nation's most troubled waterways. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Last week, Wyden, Smith and Boxer introduced a bill to provide more
than $60 million in immediate assistance. With early salmon return data
indicating that fishing will remain severely restricted for the 2007 season,
Congress should waste no time in approving an aid package that is critical to
the fishing industry - and to coastal communities in <st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Ultimately, however, the future of the fishing industry depends on
restoring Klamath salmon runs, which have suffered precipitous declines because
of drought, a proliferation of disease and parasites that afflict fish, dams
that hinder migration and river flows lowered by excessive water diversions to
farmers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>In revising the Magnuson-Stevens Act, lawmakers had the foresight to
include an unprecedented order for federal fishery managers to fast-track a
recovery plan for endangered Klamath coho runs. The new Democratic majority in
Congress should flex its oversight muscles to make sure the Bush administration
actually produces a plan that will restore the Klamath's former bumper crops of
salmon. Lawmakers should keep firmly in mind that it was the administration's
mismanagement of the Klamath that led to the current salmon crisis. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Congress must act soon to save both the West Coast's salmon fishing
industry and the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place>. Time's running
short for both.</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=2 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=2 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place>, Chair</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=2 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>California Trout,Inc., Advisor</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address
style="BACKGROUND-POSITION: left bottom; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(res://ietag.dll/#34/#1001); BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat-x"
tabIndex="0" w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font size=2 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
size=2 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=2 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font size=2
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>, <st1:State
w:st="on">CA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=2 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=2 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><em><i><font face="Times New Roman">bwl3@comcast.net</font></i></em></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><em><i><font face="Times New Roman">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</font></i></em></a></span></font></i><em><i><font
size=2 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:blue'> </span></font></i></em><em><i><font size=2 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></font></i></em><i><font
size=2 color=blue><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=2 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'>http://</span></font></u></i></em><i><font
size=2 color=blue><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'><a
href="http://www.fotr.org"><em><i><font face="Times New Roman">www.fotr.org</font></i></em></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=2 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'>http://</span></font></u></i></em><i><font
size=2 color=blue><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'><a
href="http://www.caltrout.org"><em><i><font face="Times New Roman">www.caltrout.org</font></i></em></a></span></font></i><i><font
size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:blue;font-style:italic'> </span></font></i><i><font size=2 color=blue><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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