VANCOUVER, Wash. —
Trying to apply what they called a “common sense solution’’ to saving
salmon, three members of Congress suggested Tuesday cutting back on the numbers
of fish that can be killed by fishermen.
“I have trouble, my little brain can’t understand, how it’s OK to
slaughter the fish?’’ said Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican, who was
joined by Reps. Brian Baird and Norm Dicks, both Democrats from Washington, for
the first of three informal hearings to hear from various interest groups.
Their approach provoked
criticism from environmental groups, who say dams are responsible for killing
many more salmon than fishing.
It also raised fears among
American Indian tribes, whose treaty rights have guaranteed that they can fish
both wild and hatchery-raised salmon. The two types of fish can be distinguished
because most hatchery-raised salmon have had their fin clipped — a move that
was implemented two years ago through legislation sponsored by Dicks.
“Catch-and-release is not part
of our culture,’’ said Ron Suppah, the chairman of the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs. “The old way is that the Creator placed us here and the
Creator also placed our food here. What we promised the Creator is that we would
take care of our brethren fish.’’
All three congressmen stressed
that dams, as well as the habitat of the fish and hatchery practices, cannot be
ignored, but the government has spent billions of dollars making dams safer for
fish and improving their habitat — and still salmon are declining.
“We are increasingly hearing
from those who are paying the bills for these efforts and experiencing the
impacts of additional regulations on their lives that they don’t understand
how we can ask them to support such costs and at the same time continue to
harvest the wild salmon we’re trying to protect,’’ said Dicks.
The lawmakers grilled several
officials with government agencies in charge of regulating salmon about the
Endangered Species Act, asking them how it is that salmon can be listed as
protected under the act, yet still be fished.
“Here’s my problem with the
Endangered Species Act: We don’t take any eagles. We don’t take any
wolves,’’ said Dicks. But when it comes to salmon, he said, fishermen are
still allowed to take the endangered fish.
“That just doesn’t make any
sense to me,’’ he said.
Sport and commercial harvests are
regulated by state and federal agencies, and none allow fishermen to keep wild
fish that are listed as threatened or endangered. However, fishing is allowed on
rivers and in the ocean where protected fish are caught inadvertently, and some
of them die after they are released.
Earlier this year, the Bush
administration put 131 strains of hatchery salmon under Endangered Species Act
protection along with their wild cousins, but allowed those raised artificially
to still be harvested by fishermen.
The meetings came on the heels of
an opinion by U.S. District Judge James Redden, who blasted the Bush
administration for its proposed plan to make hydroelectric dams in the
Salmon have been declining for
more than a century due to over-harvest, dam mortality, habitat destruction, and
misguided hatchery practices that diluted the gene pool and flooded rivers with
fish ill-suited to survive in the wild. There are currently 26 species of salmon
and steelhead in the
The idea of regulating fish
harvest was welcomed by several groups — especially commercial and sports
fishermen, many of whom say they have already been using the catch-and-release
technique.
“Our jobs are going down the
toilet and our fish are going down the drain. The No. 1 thing we can do is have
our fishermen take only the marked fish,’’ said Liz Hamilton, executive
director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association.
“Mass marking is a tool for us
to fish. If we don’t know what we’re seeing, how do we know what we’re
saving?’’
It was also applauded by
government agencies and by groups representing Northwest utilities.
“Northwest families and
businesses are funding the world’s most expensive salmon recovery
effort,’’ said Terry Flores, director of a group representing farmers,
irrigators and electric utilities and the former director of hydroelectric
licensing for PacifiCorp.
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