The "No Kilowatt Left Behind Act"....

[JoseCuervo]

Fishermen rallying AGAINST Dubya and his plans to end fishing in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. If he is gonna try and end fishing, why not start with Bass fishing??

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today, hundreds of fishermen will rally in an attempt to save one of the oldest and most important traditions and ways of life in the Pacific Northwest -- salmon and steelhead fishing. Repeated attempts by federal agencies to counteract and eliminate salmon protections by not requiring adequate water flows, attempting to curtail summer spill and allowing the dams to create salmon-lethal high temperatures in the river have rallied this group of disparate fishermen to come together to say that they won't be ignored any longer. Salmon mean business and the future of the Northwest economy depends upon them.

" This no-kilowatt-left-behind salmon recovery plan is an insult ," said Charles Hudson, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. "Fishermen have endured too many slow days while Enron executives turned them into quick cash. Federal agencies must understand that if they turn their backs on fishing communities, they're turning their backs on the region's oldest and most enduring economy."

The most recent attempt to wreak undo harm on fishermen comes in the form of NOAA Fisheries' Federal Salmon Plan, the federal government comprehensive plan on salmon recovery. While dams are allowed to kill up to 90 percent of salmon populations, the plan ignores the facts and states that the dams cause "no jeopardy" to salmon. Meanwhile thousands of Northwest fishermen are left to divvy up the remaining few fish.

"Now is the time for a real plan with real recovery measures based on sound science not political expediency," said Glen Spain, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association. "The agencies are trying to turn the clock backwards to failed half-measures of the past that nearly resulted in our industry's extinction. Salmon mean business. It makes sense to do what is necessary to bring these salmon runs, this industry and the tens of thousands of jobs it represents back to full economic health."

The 2001 salmon season gave the Northwest a taste of what a real fishing season could bring. As a result of good ocean conditions, spring chinook came back in numbers that had not been seen in decades. Although the populations did not reach levels set by scientists necessary for long-term recovery, they allowed extensive fishing seasons, bringing more than $15.4 million in mainstem sportfishing alone and nearly triple the average personal income in coastal communities that rely on commercial fishing. In Idaho, river communities felt a huge boost with angler money at times reaching more than 20 percent of all sales. Statewide, Idaho estimated $90 million economic boon due to sportfishing.

"All we want is what we've been promised again and again -- healthy, sustainable salmon runs and a plan to get us there," said Liz Hamilton, NW Sportfishing Industry Association. "We are close to just one El Nino away from population collapses and the ensuing collapse of our salmon fishing industry. We are jaded from a decade of watching federal agencies avoid meeting the requirements laid out by their own scientists to recover salmon."

Federal agencies have repeatedly suppressed sound science in salmon policies. A bi-partisan bill before the House of Representatives that currently has 110 co-sponsors called the Salmon Planning Act (HR 1097) would put politics in the backseat and let sound economic and scientific work take the place of backroom deals.

"The federal agencies' policies have repeatedly ignored the interests of displaced commercial fishermen and fishing dependent communities. Our natural resource communities have already faced increases in poverty, suicide, divorce, alcoholism and unemployment," said Oliver Waldman, Salmon for All. "We can have strong salmon runs and a stronger rural economy, but the federal government policies have instead made us a victim of distant political engineering."

Once the home to the greatest salmon fishery in the world from southern California to southeast Alaska, the Northwest now boasts 27 endangered or threatened species of salmon, and as a result, severe unemployment and poverty in rural fishing communities.

"Governor Kulongoski and Oregon's support to continue releasing water over the dams for juvenile salmon was a huge victory for fishermen in the Northwest," said Norm Ritchie, NW Association of Steelheaders. "But there are additional fights to come over this new plan and we need the continued support of the Governor and other leaders to help put our economy back on track."