Friday,
June 30, 2006
Story appeared in Editorials section
By now, it's clear that thousands of salmon fishermen and owners of related businesses face economic ruin this year in California and Oregon.
To protect runs of fish in the Klamath River, commercial fishermen are limited to taking 75 salmon per week from the ocean in a shortened season. It's not enough to pay for fuel, even with salmon prices topping $20 per pound in some markets.
Fishing advocates are seeking $81 million in disaster aid from the Bush administration for affected communities. The Commerce Department is balking, saying it can't release such aid until the reduced season ends and the economic impact is calculated.
Rebuffed, the House passed an amendment Wednesday that specifies $2 million for salmon relief. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced yesterday he would seek $35 million in state funds to help the industry.
It's hard to know why the Bush administration is balking. Some have suggested the White House doesn't want to appear to be accepting responsibility for a Klamath fish kill three years ago that led to the current salmon collapse. All we know is the White House moved quickly to help fishing communities on the Gulf Coast devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It should do the same for suffering salmon ports on the West Coast.
At the same time, environmentalists and fishing advocates need to stop blaming the Bush administration for all the woes of the Klamath River. As the National Academy of Sciences pointed out a few years ago, Klamath salmon are dying a death of many, many cuts -- including logging, erosion and hydroelectric dams. Water diversions from the federal irrigation project in Oregon are part of the problem, but not the only one.
Disaster aid, of course, is just a Band-Aid for fishermen. What they really want is a Klamath River that supports healthy stocks of salmon. As they fight over aid payments for fishermen, California, Oregon and the White House need to keep their focus on the bigger challenge ahead.