The New 49’ers and a
coalition of North State and other
organizations is demanding that the State of
California end the “widespread and wanton”
destruction of the threatened Coho salmon
and other fish in the Klamath River by the
very people who claim to be guardians of the
environment.
In a petition filed today
with the California Department of Fish and
Game & Fish and Game Commission, the
coalition calls for a repeal of the favored
treatment it has given to the Karuks, an
Indian tribe that routinely takes countless
salmon from the river with no oversight by
state, federal, or even Tribal regulators.
The Petition can be found at:
www.goldgold.com/legal/harvest_petition_final_3-2-09.pdf
Although the Karuk Tribe has
no federally-recognized fishing rights, the
Commission has given the Karuks special
rights to take salmon from an otherwise
closed portion of the Klamath River. “At a
time when the federal government is poised
to ban ocean salmon fishing for the second
year in a row, it makes no sense for the
State to turn a blind eye to the wholesale
slaughter of salmon by the Tribe,” according
to Mike Higbee of Grants Pass, Oregon.
The Klamath River Basin has
been the subject of countless environmental
battles over the years, with the Karuks and
their extremist environmental supporters
fighting to ban farming, hydroelectric
power, logging, mining and other activities
in the Klamath River Valley. They constantly
claim that they are trying to protect the
fisheries, but at the same time they demand
that State and Federal authorities allow the
Karuks free rein to exploit natural
resources.
In response to earlier
complaints, Fish and Game acknowledged not
only that it does nothing to regulate Karuk
fishing, but also that it has no idea how
many Coho salmon and other fish are taken
from the river by members of the Tribe. Some
studies indicate that the Karuks take 1,000
fish a year, but those may be gross
underestimates of the actual damage done to
this fragile fish population.
No regulators take account of
how many fish the Tribe kills, and no one
knows whether the salmon actually wind up on
the dinner table—as State officials claim—or
how many might wind up in restaurants and at
markets. No one knows because no one is
watching.
“We want to level the playing
field. The State imposes strict controls on
farmers, power producers, loggers, miners
and others who want to make productive use
of our natural resources. Even recreational
fishermen are subject to tough state
control. Only the Karuks are exempt,” says
James Buchal, an attorney based in Portland,
Oregon who filed the Petition on behalf of
the coalition.
The coalition’s petition says
the State has irresponsibly given special
fishing rights to the Karuks – and only the
Karuks -- even though the federal government
has refused to do so. The State’s position
is not only legally indefensible, it is also
unconstitutional, the petition says. The
California Constitution says no individual
or group may be “granted privileges or
immunities not granted on the same terms to
all citizens.” “Fish and Game is clearly
granting special privileges to the Karuks in
clear violation of the Constitution,”
according to Mr. Buchal.
“We file this petition
reluctantly. We believe that the vast
majority of Karuks simply want to live in
peace. A few leaders of the Tribe, however,
have teamed up with well-financed
environmental extremists to turn the North
State into a political battleground. They
are hell-bent on destroying the very
industries which provide jobs and promote
economic growth for their own members and
everyone else,” said Dave McCracken, a
leader of one mining organization which has
spent years in court defending against law
suits filed by the Karuk Tribe.
Speaking on behalf of the
coalition, a local resident of he Klamath
River, Jim Foley pointed out that it is very
irresponsible for the State of California to
impose crippling regulatory burdens upon
everyone else, while completely ignoring the
Karuks who are likely killing more salmon
than all other activities combined.
–30--
For more information,
contact:
Dave McCracken, President, New 49’ers:
(530) 493-2012
James Buchal, Attorney at Law: (503)
227-1011
Jim Foley: (530) 465-2211
Mike Higbee: (541) 944-6197
(Permission to post from
the New 49'ers)
