Salmon run thing of past?

Letter to the Editor

Eureka Times-Standard

April 9, 2008

Re “Salmon fishers show frustration,” April 2:

For time out of mind, the salmon have spawned up the Klamath River and the other rivers that dump their bounty into the Pacific Ocean on the North California coast. Native Americans and the early Europeans were impressed with the bounty of the great salmon spawns here in the Redwood Coast .

These once plentiful fish feed in the sea, then diligently work their way back up rivers to spawn in the places they were born.

Then came the spring of 2002. The federal Bureau of Reclamation on advice and pressure from Mr. Cheney diverted gigantic quantities of the Klamath River to farmers in the upper Klamath Basin . The depleted flows shrunk the river water to levels fatal to young salmon. Late September 2002, we find an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 salmon and other fish have perished in the river due to this diversion.

This year, the problem continues and the current season is in jeopardy, or at least faces a severe reduction in days of salmon fishing.

Our local economy is partially dependent on the yearly salmon run, and now it may be a thing of the past. Millions of years of evolution and natural spawning coming to a close as shadows hover over the deltas of the North Coast .

More than fishermen are affected by this poor planning and lack of conservation. We all pay in our lost heritage and natural bounty.

Robert Barker

Eureka

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Source:  http://www.times-standard.com/opinion/ci_8860602