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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Zeke Grader
[mailto:zgrader@ifrfish.org] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Saturday, June 27, 2009 6:38 AM<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Press Release - Fishermen Tell Salazar - Don't Make Salmon
Scapegoat<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Press Release<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>For
Immediate Release: Saturday, June 27, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Contact:
Dick Pool (925) 963-6350<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Dr. Mark Rockwell (530) 559-5759<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Captain Mike Hudson (510) 407-0046<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Captain Roger Thomas (415) 760-9362<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Zeke Grader (415) 606-5140<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-size:16.0pt'>Fishermen to Interior Secretary: Don’t Make Fish
the Scapegoat<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-size:16.0pt'>For Valley Unemployment and Water Woes<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>SAN FRANCISCO, June 27 – A coalition of commercial and
recreational fishermen and allied businesses are calling on Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar to let science and facts be his guide when he meets with growers
and water agencies on Sunday in Fresno. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The fishing groups warn that protections for fish in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay are critical for the
livelihoods of thousands of Californian’s along the coast. Some
agricultural leaders and water contractors, along with a few members of
Congress, have blamed the San Joaquin Valley’s high unemployment and
economic woes on protections for fish - including measures to make sure there
is enough water for fish survival. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“We feel the pain of unemployed farm workers. Salmon
fishermen have been out of work for two years now because of the total closure
of the fishery,” said Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Pacific
Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), which represents
working men and women in the West Coast commercial fishing fleet.
“But don’t make the fish or their protections a scapegoat for the
problems of the San Joaquin Valley.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Experts have pointed out that the San Joaquin Valley’s
unemployment rates have historically been much higher than the rest of the
State. A switch to less labor-intensive crops has added to the problem while
cutbacks in water deliveries to growers are mainly due to the current drought,
not protections for fish, say fishing groups.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“We’ve had a long history of political meddling
with fishery protections by water interests that have left fish vulnerable and
resulted in tremendous losses to our fishing economy and the jobs it
represents. We’re sympathetic with those in the Valley currently
without jobs, but we’ve had tremendous job losses in recreational fishing
businesses and among commercial fishermen over the years because no one was
looking out for the water needs of the fish,” noted Dr. Mark Rockwell of
the Northern California Federation of Fly Fishers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“This is a fish and people problem, not a fish versus
people problem,” continued Rockwell.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>In June the National Marine Fisheries Service put in place
its scientifically-peer reviewed biological opinion for state-federal water
operations in the Delta to protect endangered winter and spring-run chinook
salmon and sturgeon. That BiOp establishes fish protection measures
including some restrictions on the diversion of fresh water flows critical for
fish survival and essential for maintaining the Delta estuarine ecosystem. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The fishing groups point out that past efforts to put in
place science-based protections have been overridden by water politics including
the killing of the State Water Resources Control Board’s October 1988
draft order for Delta flows and, more recently, 2004 biological opinions for
salmon and Delta smelt that were found inadequate, when Bush Administration
officials overruled scientists in favor of state and federal water contractors.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“The issue here is not jobs versus fish, it is jobs
versus jobs and food versus food,” emphasized Dick Pool, a fishing gear
manufacturer and head of Water 4 Fish. “Currently there are 23,000
commercial and recreational people unemployed because California’s salmon
fishery is shut down. This has taken$1.4 billion out of the State’s
economy.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The Central Valley historically has been the second-largest
salmon producing river system in the lower 48 states – second only to the
Columbia. Its salmon, include four runs of chinook, the most valuable of the
five runs of Pacific Salmon. Wild-caught salmon are considered among the
top 10 foods for nutritional value, along with various vegetables, fruits and
nuts. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“Fish are our livelihood. Our coastal communities and
people depend on sustainable fisheries to support families and the
infrastructure of communities,” according to Captain Roger Thomas, a
charter fishing boat skipper and president of the Golden Gate Fishermen’s
Association. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The fishing groups whose main emphasis has been with the
protection of those fish having commercial and recreational value, also warn
that even the tiny Delta Smelt, protected by a biological opinion issued by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has a beneficial role in the ecosystem.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“These small fish are our warning light about the
health of the estuary. They tell us whether the system is well or dying,”
explained Grader. “Allowing their extinction would be as foolish as
ripping warning lights out of the cockpit of a jet airliner. In both instances
it would be putting people’s lives in danger.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>At the meeting in Fresno with Secretary Salazar on Sunday,
fishing representatives are offering to work with growers to find solutions to
farm water problems without sacrificing science-based fish protection.
Fishing groups have worked successfully with farmers in the Sacramento
Valley. They also plan to invite Secretary Salazar to affected fishing
communities, allowing him to see the full breadth of the problem.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“I want our farms to have all the water they need to
grow their broccoli, lettuce, bell peppers and other great veggies for us. We
cannot have a good salmon dinner without vegetables,” said Captain Mike
Hudson, a commercial fisherman who regularly sells his catch at Farmer’s
Markets. “But we all need to come to a solution that will allow our
fish to thrive along with farmers.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>-30-<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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