[Fishlink] ~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 12/07/01<~~
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A WEEKLY QUOTA OF FISHERY SHORTS CAUGHT AND
LANDED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES
AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S
ASSOCIATIONS
VOL. 4, NO. 23 7 DECEMBER 2001
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PARRAVANO PARIS SPEECH TO GLOBAL CONFERENCE
ON OCEANS AND COASTS AT RIO +10. 4:23/01.
LEGGATT REPORT CONDEMNS BRITISH COLUMBIA SALMON
NET PEN AQUACULTURE OPERATIONS. 4:23/01.
NMFS SETTLES ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT LITIGATION
WITH CONSERVATION AND FISHING GROUPS. 4:23/06.
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA DUNGENESS CRAB PRICE FINALLY
SETTLED, NORTH STAYS TIED-UP. 4:23/09.
BPA BLASTED OVER MASSIVE KILLS OF COLUMBIA
RIVER SALMON. 4:23/12.
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4:23/01. PARRAVANO TELLS UN CONFERENCE
COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE
FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT: In a 5 December presentation before the
United Nations (UN)-sponsored "Global Conference on Oceans and
Coasts at Rio + 10", held this past week in France, PCFFA President
Pietro Parravano called for policies that consider fisheries "from the
ocean to the plate" in planning for sustainable development. Convened
at the UNESCO offices in Paris, the meeting is part of the preparation
for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, scheduled for next
September in Johannesburg, South Africa. That summit will assess the
progress made in the decade since the international environmental
conference held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Parravano emphasized the value of maintaining artisanal and
commercial fisheries, as part of economically diverse coastal economies,
in planning for development, and that said policies must be mindful of
the fundamentals of a healthy fishing industry: abundant fish stocks,
access to the fish, and markets for the fish. He stressed there were no
"silver bullets" to conserving fish, and the fisheries, cultures and
communities that depend on those stocks, chiding the proponents of
"three letter solutions" and their "cure du jours." Parravano went on to
say the protection of fisheries requires hard work and political will. "The
solutions often will require multiple actions, from sound fishing
regulations to tough habitat protections and strong pollution abatement
programs," he said in his speech that covered issues ranging from
overfishing and the threats of aquaculture to trade regulations and
seafood labeling. Parravano, the only commercial fisherman or
representative from the fishing industry making a presentation, appeared
on the "High Seas" panel of the conference with the UN Food &
Agriculture's (FAO) Serge Garcia, Dr. Daniel Pauly with the University
of British Columbia, Matt Gianni with Greenpeace, and Professor
Moritaka Hayashi with the Waseda University School of Law, among
others. Parravano's speech can be found on PCFFA's website at:
www.pcffa.org.
Also appearing at the Paris conference was Canada's Minister of
Fisheries & Oceans Herb Dhaliwal, who called for united global action
to protect the world's oceans. In 1997, he told the conferees, Canada
became the first country in the world to pass a national Oceans Act and
adopt the Rio vision of integrated management as a national mandate.
Canada is now in the process of finalizing a national oceans management
framework, and has launched pilot projects and a network of regional
offices to test the principles of integrated management in a variety of
real-life situations across the country. It has also incorporated integrated
management into the National Program of Action it developed in
response to the Global Program of Action (GPA) adopted by coastal
nations in 1995 to control pollution and protect the marine environment
from the impacts of land activities. The Minister's talk, however, came
on the heels of a scathing report on aquaculture in Canada and its
pollution of coastal waters and threat to native fish populations (see
4:23/02 below).
Minister Dhaliwal also used the Paris conference venue to announce
that the United Nations Agreement on Straddling & Highly Migratory
Fish Stocks (UNFA) would take effect 13 December with the 30 nations
required for ratification now having signed. The agreement establishes
guiding principles for the sustainable management of straddling and
highly migratory fish stocks, such as the precautionary approach and the
minimization of pollution, waste, discards and bycatch. Canada was one
of the first countries to sign it. The text of Dhaliwal's speech can be seen
at: www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
4:23/02. LEGGATT REPORT OUT, CALLS FOR CONTINUED
MORATORIUM ON SALMON FARMS IN BC, REMOVAL OF ALL
NET PENS BY 2005: The findings of the Canadian investigation into
the impacts of salmon net pen aquaculture operations in British
Columbia were released this past week (see Sublegals, 4:14/09). The
Report of the Leggatt Inquiry (named for former BC Supreme Court
Justice Stuart Leggatt, who headed the investigation) "Clear Choices,
Clean Waters," is the result of a review of BC's salmon farm industry
and eight days of public hearings in five communities. The report
presented findings that net-cage salmon farms are the cause of major
environmental damage to the coastal environment and pose a significant
threat to wild fish stocks. The report lists six recommendations for
mitigating damage, including removal of net-cage salmon farms by
2005. To the north, Alaska has a moratorium on all fish farms, and
hasn't experienced B.C.'s farm-induced pollution, parasite, or disease
problems so far. California and Oregon also prohibit salmon net pen
aquaculture operations. Alaskan fishermen and biologists, however,
have found escaped farm fish in both ocean and rivers as far north as the
Bering Sea. Escaped Atlantic salmon have successfully reproduced in
Canadian streams and add to the fear that this non-indigenous species
will invade wild fish habitat, spread disease, prey on and take food from
wild fish. B.C. also raises chinook and coho salmon, and escapes of
those species could genetically weaken local Pacific salmon stocks.
"These fish have no idea if they're wrapped in Maple Leaves or Old
Glory - we are finding them in Alaskan waters and are deeply
concerned," said Alaska Trollers Association Executive Director Dale
Kelley, who had testified before the Leggatt inquiry. She pointed to
Canada's and Alaska's obligation to protect both fish and fishermen
under the Pacific Salmon Treaty. "Leggatt's recommendations should be
acted on immediately and are right in line with the overarching
principles of the Treaty," stated Kelley. The Leggatt Report
(http://www.leggattinquiry.com/Report/InquiryReport.asp) recommends:
1. Remove all net-cage salmon farms from the marine environment
by 1 January 2005.
2. Remove responsibility for promotion of aquaculture from the
Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) and increase monitoring and
regulation of salmon farming by government regulators.
3. Increase involvement of communities, especially First Nations, in
consultation, partnership and ownership of salmon farming operations.
4. Maintain the moratorium on new farm sites with no further
expansion at existing sites; complete and update the Salmon Aquaculture
Review.
5. Apply the precautionary principle to regulation of the salmon
farming industry.
6. Require labeling and identification of farm salmon at the
consumer level.
4:23/03. NMFS REPORT ON SALMON NET PENS IN PACIFIC
NORTHWEST CALLED "WHITEWASH," "BLATANT PANDERING
TO AQUACULTURE INTERESTS": The National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) has released its report on the net-pen salmon farming
industry in the Pacific Northwest evaluating risks associated with this
form of aquaculture. In stark contrast to the extensive Leggatt Inquiry in
British Columbia, NMFS claims there is "very little to no risk" of the
escape of Atlantic salmon in the region or the impact of antibiotic
resistant bacteria on native salmonids. "It is no secret NMFS is
competing with the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] over which
agency will ultimately have aquaculture and its federal subsidies under
it," said PCFFA Executive Director Zeke Grader. "But one would have
thought there would be at least a scintilla of science and objectivity in
this report. Instead our federal fishery agency has dished up findings
clearly in conflict with all the known facts in this blatant pandering to
aquaculture interests." The report, "The Net-Pen Salmon Farming
Industry in the Pacific Northwest" can be found at:
http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/pubs/tm/tm49/TM49.htm.
4:23/04. SALMON FARMS MAJOR SOURCE OF POLLUTION IN
CHILE: On 28 November, Intrafish.com reported that new research in
Chile demonstrates that discharges from salmon farms in Regions X and
XI are equal to those which would be caused by four times the number
of human inhabitants of the zone. The study, carried out by the
Universidad de Los Lagos, also pointed out that the waste is discharged
without any kind of treatment. According to the newspaper La Tercera,
the research was commissioned by the environmental non-governmental
organization (NGO), Fundacion Terram.
The professor in charge of the survey, Alejandro Buschmann, said that
the waste from salmon farms is equivalent to that generated by a
population ranging between 2.7 and 4.1 million inhabitants. To see the
full text of the report, go to:
http://www.intrafish.com/article.php?articleID=18469.
4:23/05. IMPACTS OF AQUACULTURE TO BE CONSIDERED
AT ASLO MEETING IN VICTORIA: Abstracts for papers are being
called for on the "Potential Impacts of Aquaculture" for the American
Society of Limnology & Oceanography's (ASLO) summer meeting
scheduled for 10-14 June in Victoria, British Columbia. The theme for
this ASLO conference is 'Inter-disciplinary Linkages in Aquatic Sciences
and Beyond'. Known impacts of aquaculture include changes in nutrient
dynamics of sediments and water column, disease transmission, predator
control, harmful algal blooms, genetic conservation, sustainability, and
invasion biology to list only a few. The deadline for abstracts is 20
January 2002. For contact and submission information, go to:
http://aslo.org/victoria2002/index.html.
4:23/06. ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT PROTECTION SUIT
SETTLED: Thursday, 6 December, the case American Oceans
Campaign, et. al. v. Evans, Civil No. 99-982 GK (U.S. District Court,
Washington DC) was formally settled by consent order. This litigation
was brought in 1998 by a number of marine conservation groups and two
commercial fishing organizations (PCFFA and the Cape Cod
Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association) against the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) and all the federal fisheries management
councils to enforce the 'essential fish habitat (EFH)' provisions of the
Sustainable Fisheries Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1855(b)).
The EFH provisions were originally written by PCFFA and became law
in the 1996 Magnuson Act amendments. Under the statute the regional
fishery councils are required to identify and protect essential fish habitat
for each species. Rules for the implementation of the EFH provisions
were published in the 8 November 1999 Federal Register (64. Fed. Reg.
60731-66559). Since 1977, PCFFA has been pushing for stronger
habitat protection measures, asserting that catch restrictions alone,
without measures to protect habitats, flows and water quality, would not
be sufficient for the management and conservation of fish stocks.
The court, in a previous decision September 2000, found that the
federal fisheries management councils have generally done a poor job of
either the identification of EFH or the protection of EFH, or both, and
were particularly lax in protecting habitat from the impacts of fishing
operations themselves, a requirement of the 1996 amendments to the
Act. Though most modern fisheries avoid sea bottom habitat and thus
minimize habitat destruction, ongoing reef destruction and groundfish
nursery bed destruction by certain bottom trawl gear, excessively heavy
roller gear and other seabed dragger gear combinations still commonly
used in some federal fisheries have been of particular concern to
fisheries biologists and fishermen, and the Act's provisions were
intended also to require the agencies to fully assess and correct these
long standing problems so that all fisheries are more sustainable. (For an
annotated bibliography on fishing impacts on habitat see:
www.gsmfc.org/fishingimpacts.html.) The settlement provides for
enforceable deadlines for each regional management council to fully
implement the EFH provisions in each region, and for periodic reports to
the court from NMFS on implementation progress. Copies of the
settlement agreement, district court decision, and other materials are
available online at http://www.oceana.org/.
4:23/07. NMFS TO SPONSOR SYMPOSIUM ON EFFECTS OF
FISHING ON HABITATS: The National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) has announced it will sponsor a national "Symposium on
Effects of Fishing on Benthic Habitats" scheduled for 12-14 November
2002 in Tampa, Florida. According to NMFS, "The goal of the
symposium is to help ensure sustainable fisheries and healthy, diverse
ecosystems by advancing the scientific knowledge available to resource
managers to evaluate and appropriately manage fishing activities that
affect benthic habitat." A call for abstracts and papers will be issued this
month. For information on sessions and registration, go to:
http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/bh2002/.
Those wishing to be added to the symposium mailing list and receive
additional conference information, as it becomes available, should
e-mail: lori@esa.org.
4:23/08. RUSSIAN FISHERMEN APPEAL FOR ASSISTANCE IN
FIGHTING 'FISH MAFIA' AND RUSSIAN FISH AGENCY
CORRUPTION: The Russian-English publication Tikhookeansky
Vestnick (Northern Pacific) Magazine, the only voice of commercial
fishermen and fishing dependent communities in the Russian Far East, is
appealing worldwide for sponsors and subscribers to its publication and
to help support its ongoing efforts to rid their fisheries of rampant
government corruption and mismanagement, and to combat the
'sweetheart deals' quota system manipulated by what they call the 'Fish
Mafia' that largely still controls the Russian fisheries quota allocation
system. The magazine's repeated exposures since its beginning in
January 2000 of cozy government-factory trawler allocation deals that
have cut local Russian fishermen off from access to their own fisheries
in favor of giant foreign-owned factory trawlers have earned it a
worldwide reputation as a protector of fishing dependent communities in
Kamchatka and throughout the Russian Far East.
Fishermen in the Russian Far East are currently fighting against the
selling off of Russia's continental shelf oil and gas reserves within vitally
important fisheries areas that, if those developments proceed, are likely
to wipe out a major seafood source for the region (see Sublegals,
4:10/10). The magazine is on line in both English and Russian at:
http://npacific.kamchatka.ru. Donations to their work can be made to the
Charitable Public Fund of Bioresources Conservation of the Northern
Pacific (fund "Northern Pacific"). Since sending funds to Russia is
particularly difficult, before doing so you should contact Sergei
Vakhryn, Editor, for instructions by way of email at:
s.vakhrin@npacific.kamchatka.ru.
4:23/09. CENTRAL CALIFORNIA CRAB SEASON FINALLY
OPENS; NORTH REMAINS OUT IN PRICE DISPUTE: On Tuesday,
3 December, seeing a break in the weather, the central California
(Sonoma County south) crab fleet agreed on a Dungeness price to settle
a tie-up that had been ongoing since 15 November (see Sublegals,
4:22/03; 4:21/01; 4:20/03; 4:19/01). The price finally settled on at $1.88
ex-vessel per pound, the lowest opening price in five years and
considerably below last year's start of $2.25. On Wednesday, vessels
from Bodega Bay to Monterey Bay began setting traps and the first crabs
started coming in. Generally, production has been slow and the crabs
smaller than usual. In the meantime, crabbers in northern California
(Mendocino County north), Oregon and Washington remain tied-up with
their own price dispute. To date, fish processors have only been willing
to offer $1.65 per pound for those crabs; this fishery had been set to open
1 December.
4:23/10: EPA TO MOVE FORWARD WITH HUDSON
DREDGING: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
announced 4 December that the nearly $465 million project to dredge the
upper Hudson River to remove sediment contaminated with
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) will be carried out (see Sublegals
4:6/20; 4:5/11). The agency had made an initial announcement in early
August of its decision to order the dredging. The EPA rejected General
Electric's (GE) plea to scale back the cleanup. GE used PCBs (an
insulating material) for more than 30 years at its factories on the Hudson,
until manufacture and use of the chemicals were banned in 1977. During
that time, an estimated 1.3 million pounds or more of PCBs leaked or
were dumped into the river, some of it under state permits. Economic
analysts have said the cost of the dredging will not harm GE earnings,
since the company had set aside reserves to pay the estimated cost. GE,
however, is expected to continue fighting the EPA, hoping to overturn
the decision and get out from under its responsibility for the cleanup.
Since 1937, PCBs have been suspected carcinogens. The contamination
of the Hudson destroyed one of the nation's most celebrated urban
commercial fisheries - that for shad. The cleanup is expected to be one
of the biggest and most complex environmental cleanup projects in the
history of the country. For more information go to:
http://riverkeeper.org/pcb/index.html.
4:23/11. HERRING FISHERY OFF TO SLOW START IN SAN
FRANCISCO BAY; FLAVORED ROE TO BOOST DEMAND FOR
ATLANTIC HERRING?: The San Francisco Bay herring roe fishery
opened 2 December. Fishing during the first week was slow but not
unusual for this first herring fishery to open each year along the Pacific
Coast (see Sublegals, 4:22/03). The "DH" gillnet fishery is open until 21
December, but there is no fishing on weekends. In January the "Odd"
and "Even" gillnet platoons begin their fishery in the Bay, and fishing
opens as well to the north in Tomales Bay, Humboldt Bay and Crescent
City. The total gillnet quota this year for San Francisco Bay is 4,130
tons. For more information, contact the California Department of Fish &
Game (CDFG) at: (650) 631-6758.
Demand for herring roe in Japan, the principal market for the product,
has declined due to that nation's economic recession over the past few
years. Now, WorldCatch, in a 2 December article, reports that
companies may be turning to flavored herring roe as an alternative to the
salted roe. Many companies turned to flavored roe for Atlantic herring
in the early 1980's to find a less expensive substitute for Pacific roe. In
the salted form, Atlantic roe was a flop, but when producers replaced the
salt with flavoring, a new Japanese market was born. A variety of
flavored products have since been developed, including roe marinated
soy sauce, mentai (spicy Korean style) flavored roe, and even roe packed
with mayonnaise. Other products combine herring roe with vegetable
and seafood products. To see the full text of the WorldCatch report, go
to: www.worldcatch.com.
4:23/12. BPA BLASTED OVER 2001 JUVENILE SALMON
SACRIFICE: In an economics report released 3 December by the Save
Our Wild Salmon Coalition titled "Failing Salmon, Failing People," the
total power cost savings that the Bonneville Power Administration
(BPA) actually achieved in summer 2001 by eliminating its spill
program for the Columbia has been quantified.
The termination of the spill program resulted in the worst loss of
Columbia River juvenile salmon and steelhead since any of the
Columbia river stocks have been listed under the federal Endangered
Species Act (ESA) (see Sublegals 4:01/02; 3:18/01; 3:15/10; 3:14/04).
The report, based on BPA's own numbers, concludes that if BPA had
kept the spill program going at 100 percent of required recovery plan
levels, the total additional cost to consumers would have only been about
38 cents/month for consumers in Seattle and only about 75 cents/month
for consumers in Portland over one year. Even for utilities that are 100%
dependent on BPA power, the maximum rate impact would have been
only an additional $1.50/month maximum over a one-year period. As a
result of BPA's decision to terminate the spill program, the juvenile
survival rates ESA listed Snake River steelhead plunged to only 16
percent, as compared to 68 percent in 2000, and chinook juvenile
survival rates were only 57 percent, nearly 20 percent lower than in
2000, both record lows. This means threatened and endangered
Columbia River fish returning as adults in 2004 and 2005 are likely to be
at record lows numbers. In 2001 the federal government spent hundreds
of millions of dollars in efforts to restore the 12 ESA listed salmon and
steelhead runs in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, while BPA was
simultaneously killing them in large numbers by refusal to permit the use
of water in the river as spill to help improve water quality and flush the
juveniles out to the sea. For a copy of the report see:
www.wildsalmon.org.
4:23/13. WASHINGTON'S GOLDSBOROUGH DAM
DISMANTLED: More than 100 years after the once great salmon runs
on Goldsborough Creek in the State of Washington were blocked by
dams, the last of a series of these dams has now been removed, reports
the 13 November Oregonian. The removal of the last Goldsborough
Dam in November opens up 14 miles of upstream habitat for coho,
chum, steelhead and cutthroat trout. The Simpson Timber Company
agreed in 1996 to remove the last 32-foot high dam, which stored water
for the company's mills at Shelton, at the urging of the Squaxin Tribe.
The total project cost $4.8 million, with part of the costs paid for by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE).
4:23/14. US ARMY CORPS SAYS SNAKE RIVER DAMS
SHOULD STAY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), which
operates the eight mainstem Columbia and Snake River hydropower
dams, has finally selected its preferred alternative in its lengthy Lower
Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasilibity Report and
Environmental Impact Statement issued in December 1999. Not
surprisingly, COE recommended against the decommissioning and
partial removal of the four lower Snake River dams (Ice Harbor, Lower
Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite Dams) and selected 'major
system improvements' as its preferred alternative. The Corps is thus
putting its faith in various proposed renovations and potential future
improvements to fish passage that it believes are likely to permit enough
fish to bypass the Snake River dams to prevent extinction, but which do
not require any of the existing dams to be entirely bypassed.
Critics of the COE decision point out that: (1) the effectiveness of the
proposed 'major improvements' is highly speculative and similar
improvements in the past have not been effective; (2) at least one of
those measures, increased spill, is subject to the unilateral veto of the
Bonneville Power Administration, (see 4:23/12 above); (3) the Corps is
still ignoring its obligations under the Clean Water Act and at least one
court order that will require additional efforts to improve water quality in
the Snake River that none of the proposed 'major system improvements'
really address, and that; (4) the total costs of all the required
improvements to try to technologically fix an inherently fish-hostile dam
and reservoir system in the Snake River are likely to exceed the value of
the relatively minimal economic benefits provided by the four lower
Snake River dams and will greatly exceed any economic costs likely to
occur if those four marginal dams were decommissioned.
COE has forwarded its recommendations to the other members of the
Federal Caucus (which includes the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS), the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA), among others) for their input before the release of its final
Record of Decision (ROD) and Final Environmental Impact Statement
(FEIS), which it expects to publish in early 2002. For a copy of their
statement as well as downloadable copies of the many other documents
in this analysis go to: http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/lsr.
4:23/15. KLAMATH RESTORATION PACKAGE PROPOSED
FOR FARM BILL: Negotiations between Oregon U.S. Senators Ron
Wyden and Gordon Smith, and California Senators Dianne Feinstein and
Barbara Boxer has resulted in draft Klamath Basin water reform
legislation to be inserted as an amendment into the Senate version of the
Farm Bill.
The Senate version, S. 1731, the "Agriculture, Conservation & Rural
Enhancement Act of 2001" is one of the more important measures still
being considered by the U.S. Congress, which is months overdue in
finalizing a federal budget. The compromise language would create a
ten member multi-agency federal agency task force to develop a
five-year plan of action within six months of passage for reforming the
Upper Klamath Basin's greatly over-subscribed water allocation system,
and would then redirect $175 million in existing Department of
Agriculture conservation programs specifically to the Klamath Basin to
be distributed as grants under supervision of that task force to fund
measures in accordance with that plan, through fiscal year 2006.
Negotiations on final amendment language are ongoing. The Farm Bill
is a huge undertaking, with over 900 pages, and debate on the bill is
likely to take considerable time. The fate of this amendment is uncertain.
To review the bill, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov. To view the 5 December
Oregonian supporting editorial go to:
http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf
/html_standard.xsl?/base/editorial/10075569331534962.xml
4:23/16: SOCIOECONOMICS SYMPOSIUM CALL FOR
PAPERS: The Socioeconomics Section of the American Fisheries
Society (AFS) has announced a special symposium proposed for the
132nd AFS Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, 18-22 August
2002. The title of this symposium is "Fisheries and Aquatic Habitat
Management: Socioeconomic Aspects." Persons interested in presenting
a paper should send the following information by 13 December to Ray
Rhodes at: rhodesr@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us: (1) Author Name(s); (2)
Contact Information (email, mailing address, and telephone); and (3)
Presentation title. For additional information regarding the 2002 AFS
Annual Meeting, visit the Internet site for this meeting at:
http://www.fisheries.org/annual2002/.
4:23/17: 100TH ISSUE OF SUBLEGALS; NEW WEBSITE AND
PLEDGE DRIVE: This Sublegals marks the 100th issue since PCFFA
and IFR jointly began it as a weekly Internet newsletter in January 2000.
It was designed as a replacement for PCFFA's decades old newsletter,
Friday, providing a less expensive and more timely means of getting
information out to subscribers. It has been a labor of love (sometimes
late) for the two organizations; it currently receives no advertising
revenue, grant funds, nor subscription fees. With the next issue, we are
starting a 'pledge drive' (ala public television and public radio) for the
last two weeks of December and first two weeks of January with lots of
great gifts (with our famous 'sarcastic fringehead' logo) for readers
willing to pledge small donations. The next issue also marks the
opening of Sublegals' very own website with printable current and past
issues and, eventually, an index of all issues and a calendar. The new
website is: www.sublegals.net.
4:23/18. PERSONNEL CHANGES AT PCFFA/IFR: Persons
contacting the PCFFA or IFR offices or may wish to note some
personnel changes. HELEN KIER, who served as PCFFA office
manager extraordinaire for the past 16 years has retired, or at least
partially, and has been promoted to Office Manager Emeritus.
ALLISON VOGT, who served the past year as an Americorps volunteer
in the IFR office steps in to take over administrative duties (and as
Sublegals Editor) before she leaves for graduate school next September.
NICOLE BROWN is the new development officer, serving half time for
each organization, and will be responsible for fund raising efforts.
NATASHA BENJAMIN, IFR's Fisheries Program Officer, was married
24 November and returns 13 December. MOLLY THOMAS, the first
editor of Sublegals, who last worked on IFR's Klamath Resource
Information System (KRIS), has left for Boulder, Colorado and a change
of scenery. Finally, KY RUSSELL and MICHELLE WALLAR are the
two new Americorps volunteers who began their year of service in the
IFR office in October.
NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit news items,
comments or any corrections to Allison Vogt, Editor at:
ifrfish@pacbell.net or call the IFR/PCFFA office with the news and a
source at either: (415) 561-FISH (Southwest Office) or (541) 689-2000
(Northwest Office).
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<BR> ~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 12/07/01<~~
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<BR> A WEEKLY QUOTA OF FISHERY SHORTS CAUGHT AND
<BR> LANDED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES
<BR> AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S
<BR> ASSOCIATIONS
<BR>
<BR> VOL. 4, NO. 23 7 DECEMBER 2001
<BR>##########################################################
<BR>
<BR>PARRAVANO PARIS SPEECH TO GLOBAL CONFERENCE
<BR>ON OCEANS AND COASTS AT RIO +10. 4:23/01.
<BR>
<BR>LEGGATT REPORT CONDEMNS BRITISH COLUMBIA SALMON
<BR>NET PEN AQUACULTURE OPERATIONS. 4:23/01.
<BR>
<BR>NMFS SETTLES ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT LITIGATION
<BR>WITH CONSERVATION AND FISHING GROUPS. 4:23/06.
<BR>
<BR>CENTRAL CALIFORNIA DUNGENESS CRAB PRICE FINALLY
<BR>SETTLED, NORTH STAYS TIED-UP. 4:23/09.
<BR>
<BR>BPA BLASTED OVER MASSIVE KILLS OF COLUMBIA
<BR>RIVER SALMON. 4:23/12.
<BR>
<BR>#########################################################
<BR>
<BR>4:23/01. PARRAVANO TELLS UN CONFERENCE
<BR>COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE
<BR>FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT: In a 5 December presentation before the
<BR>United Nations (UN)-sponsored "Global Conference on Oceans and
<BR>Coasts at Rio + 10", held this past week in France, PCFFA President
<BR>Pietro Parravano called for policies that consider fisheries "from the
<BR>ocean to the plate" in planning for sustainable development. Convened
<BR>at the UNESCO offices in Paris, the meeting is part of the preparation
<BR>for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, scheduled for next
<BR>September in Johannesburg, South Africa. That summit will assess the
<BR>progress made in the decade since the international environmental
<BR>conference held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
<BR>
<BR>Parravano emphasized the value of maintaining artisanal and
<BR>commercial fisheries, as part of economically diverse coastal economies,
<BR>in planning for development, and that said policies must be mindful of
<BR>the fundamentals of a healthy fishing industry: abundant fish stocks,
<BR>access to the fish, and markets for the fish. He stressed there were no
<BR>"silver bullets" to conserving fish, and the fisheries, cultures and
<BR>communities that depend on those stocks, chiding the proponents of
<BR>"three letter solutions" and their "cure du jours." Parravano went on to
<BR>say the protection of fisheries requires hard work and political will. "The
<BR>solutions often will require multiple actions, from sound fishing
<BR>regulations to tough habitat protections and strong pollution abatement
<BR>programs," he said in his speech that covered issues ranging from
<BR>overfishing and the threats of aquaculture to trade regulations and
<BR>seafood labeling. Parravano, the only commercial fisherman or
<BR>representative from the fishing industry making a presentation, appeared
<BR>on the "High Seas" panel of the conference with the UN Food &
<BR>Agriculture's (FAO) Serge Garcia, Dr. Daniel Pauly with the University
<BR>of British Columbia, Matt Gianni with Greenpeace, and Professor
<BR>Moritaka Hayashi with the Waseda University School of Law, among
<BR>others. Parravano's speech can be found on PCFFA's website at:
<BR>www.pcffa.org.
<BR>
<BR>Also appearing at the Paris conference was Canada's Minister of
<BR>Fisheries & Oceans Herb Dhaliwal, who called for united global action
<BR>to protect the world's oceans. In 1997, he told the conferees, Canada
<BR>became the first country in the world to pass a national Oceans Act and
<BR>adopt the Rio vision of integrated management as a national mandate.
<BR>Canada is now in the process of finalizing a national oceans management
<BR>framework, and has launched pilot projects and a network of regional
<BR>offices to test the principles of integrated management in a variety of
<BR>real-life situations across the country. It has also incorporated integrated
<BR>management into the National Program of Action it developed in
<BR>response to the Global Program of Action (GPA) adopted by coastal
<BR>nations in 1995 to control pollution and protect the marine environment
<BR>from the impacts of land activities. The Minister's talk, however, came
<BR>on the heels of a scathing report on aquaculture in Canada and its
<BR>pollution of coastal waters and threat to native fish populations (see
<BR>4:23/02 below).
<BR>
<BR>Minister Dhaliwal also used the Paris conference venue to announce
<BR>that the United Nations Agreement on Straddling & Highly Migratory
<BR>Fish Stocks (UNFA) would take effect 13 December with the 30 nations
<BR>required for ratification now having signed. The agreement establishes
<BR>guiding principles for the sustainable management of straddling and
<BR>highly migratory fish stocks, such as the precautionary approach and the
<BR>minimization of pollution, waste, discards and bycatch. Canada was one
<BR>of the first countries to sign it. The text of Dhaliwal's speech can be seen
<BR>at: www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/02. LEGGATT REPORT OUT, CALLS FOR CONTINUED
<BR>MORATORIUM ON SALMON FARMS IN BC, REMOVAL OF ALL
<BR>NET PENS BY 2005: The findings of the Canadian investigation into
<BR>the impacts of salmon net pen aquaculture operations in British
<BR>Columbia were released this past week (see Sublegals, 4:14/09). The
<BR>Report of the Leggatt Inquiry (named for former BC Supreme Court
<BR>Justice Stuart Leggatt, who headed the investigation) "Clear Choices,
<BR>Clean Waters," is the result of a review of BC's salmon farm industry
<BR>and eight days of public hearings in five communities. The report
<BR>presented findings that net-cage salmon farms are the cause of major
<BR>environmental damage to the coastal environment and pose a significant
<BR>threat to wild fish stocks. The report lists six recommendations for
<BR>mitigating damage, including removal of net-cage salmon farms by
<BR>2005. To the north, Alaska has a moratorium on all fish farms, and
<BR>hasn't experienced B.C.'s farm-induced pollution, parasite, or disease
<BR>problems so far. California and Oregon also prohibit salmon net pen
<BR>aquaculture operations. Alaskan fishermen and biologists, however,
<BR>have found escaped farm fish in both ocean and rivers as far north as the
<BR>Bering Sea. Escaped Atlantic salmon have successfully reproduced in
<BR>Canadian streams and add to the fear that this non-indigenous species
<BR>will invade wild fish habitat, spread disease, prey on and take food from
<BR>wild fish. B.C. also raises chinook and coho salmon, and escapes of
<BR>those species could genetically weaken local Pacific salmon stocks.
<BR>
<BR>"These fish have no idea if they're wrapped in Maple Leaves or Old
<BR>Glory - we are finding them in Alaskan waters and are deeply
<BR>concerned," said Alaska Trollers Association Executive Director Dale
<BR>Kelley, who had testified before the Leggatt inquiry. She pointed to
<BR>Canada's and Alaska's obligation to protect both fish and fishermen
<BR>under the Pacific Salmon Treaty. "Leggatt's recommendations should be
<BR>acted on immediately and are right in line with the overarching
<BR>principles of the Treaty," stated Kelley. The Leggatt Report
<BR>(http://www.leggattinquiry.com/Report/InquiryReport.asp) recommends:
<BR>
<BR>1. Remove all net-cage salmon farms from the marine environment
<BR>by 1 January 2005.
<BR>2. Remove responsibility for promotion of aquaculture from the
<BR>Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) and increase monitoring and
<BR>regulation of salmon farming by government regulators.
<BR>3. Increase involvement of communities, especially First Nations, in
<BR>consultation, partnership and ownership of salmon farming operations.
<BR>4. Maintain the moratorium on new farm sites with no further
<BR>expansion at existing sites; complete and update the Salmon Aquaculture
<BR>Review.
<BR>5. Apply the precautionary principle to regulation of the salmon
<BR>farming industry.
<BR>6. Require labeling and identification of farm salmon at the
<BR>consumer level.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/03. NMFS REPORT ON SALMON NET PENS IN PACIFIC
<BR>NORTHWEST CALLED "WHITEWASH," "BLATANT PANDERING
<BR>TO AQUACULTURE INTERESTS": The National Marine Fisheries
<BR>Service (NMFS) has released its report on the net-pen salmon farming
<BR>industry in the Pacific Northwest evaluating risks associated with this
<BR>form of aquaculture. In stark contrast to the extensive Leggatt Inquiry in
<BR>British Columbia, NMFS claims there is "very little to no risk" of the
<BR>escape of Atlantic salmon in the region or the impact of antibiotic
<BR>resistant bacteria on native salmonids. "It is no secret NMFS is
<BR>competing with the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] over which
<BR>agency will ultimately have aquaculture and its federal subsidies under
<BR>it," said PCFFA Executive Director Zeke Grader. "But one would have
<BR>thought there would be at least a scintilla of science and objectivity in
<BR>this report. Instead our federal fishery agency has dished up findings
<BR>clearly in conflict with all the known facts in this blatant pandering to
<BR>aquaculture interests." The report, "The Net-Pen Salmon Farming
<BR>Industry in the Pacific Northwest" can be found at:
<BR>http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/pubs/tm/tm49/TM49.htm.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/04. SALMON FARMS MAJOR SOURCE OF POLLUTION IN
<BR>CHILE: On 28 November, Intrafish.com reported that new research in
<BR>Chile demonstrates that discharges from salmon farms in Regions X and
<BR>XI are equal to those which would be caused by four times the number
<BR>of human inhabitants of the zone. The study, carried out by the
<BR>Universidad de Los Lagos, also pointed out that the waste is discharged
<BR>without any kind of treatment. According to the newspaper La Tercera,
<BR>the research was commissioned by the environmental non-governmental
<BR>organization (NGO), Fundacion Terram.
<BR>The professor in charge of the survey, Alejandro Buschmann, said that
<BR>the waste from salmon farms is equivalent to that generated by a
<BR>population ranging between 2.7 and 4.1 million inhabitants. To see the
<BR>full text of the report, go to:
<BR>http://www.intrafish.com/article.php?articleID=18469.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/05. IMPACTS OF AQUACULTURE TO BE CONSIDERED
<BR>AT ASLO MEETING IN VICTORIA: Abstracts for papers are being
<BR>called for on the "Potential Impacts of Aquaculture" for the American
<BR>Society of Limnology & Oceanography's (ASLO) summer meeting
<BR>scheduled for 10-14 June in Victoria, British Columbia. The theme for
<BR>this ASLO conference is 'Inter-disciplinary Linkages in Aquatic Sciences
<BR>and Beyond'. Known impacts of aquaculture include changes in nutrient
<BR>dynamics of sediments and water column, disease transmission, predator
<BR>control, harmful algal blooms, genetic conservation, sustainability, and
<BR>invasion biology to list only a few. The deadline for abstracts is 20
<BR>January 2002. For contact and submission information, go to:
<BR>http://aslo.org/victoria2002/index.html.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/06. ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT PROTECTION SUIT
<BR>SETTLED: Thursday, 6 December, the case American Oceans
<BR>Campaign, et. al. v. Evans, Civil No. 99-982 GK (U.S. District Court,
<BR>Washington DC) was formally settled by consent order. This litigation
<BR>was brought in 1998 by a number of marine conservation groups and two
<BR>commercial fishing organizations (PCFFA and the Cape Cod
<BR>Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association) against the National Marine
<BR>Fisheries Service (NMFS) and all the federal fisheries management
<BR>councils to enforce the 'essential fish habitat (EFH)' provisions of the
<BR>Sustainable Fisheries Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1855(b)).
<BR>The EFH provisions were originally written by PCFFA and became law
<BR>in the 1996 Magnuson Act amendments. Under the statute the regional
<BR>fishery councils are required to identify and protect essential fish habitat
<BR>for each species. Rules for the implementation of the EFH provisions
<BR>were published in the 8 November 1999 Federal Register (64. Fed. Reg.
<BR>60731-66559). Since 1977, PCFFA has been pushing for stronger
<BR>habitat protection measures, asserting that catch restrictions alone,
<BR>without measures to protect habitats, flows and water quality, would not
<BR>be sufficient for the management and conservation of fish stocks.
<BR>
<BR>The court, in a previous decision September 2000, found that the
<BR>federal fisheries management councils have generally done a poor job of
<BR>either the identification of EFH or the protection of EFH, or both, and
<BR>were particularly lax in protecting habitat from the impacts of fishing
<BR>operations themselves, a requirement of the 1996 amendments to the
<BR>Act. Though most modern fisheries avoid sea bottom habitat and thus
<BR>minimize habitat destruction, ongoing reef destruction and groundfish
<BR>nursery bed destruction by certain bottom trawl gear, excessively heavy
<BR>roller gear and other seabed dragger gear combinations still commonly
<BR>used in some federal fisheries have been of particular concern to
<BR>fisheries biologists and fishermen, and the Act's provisions were
<BR>intended also to require the agencies to fully assess and correct these
<BR>long standing problems so that all fisheries are more sustainable. (For an
<BR>annotated bibliography on fishing impacts on habitat see:
<BR>www.gsmfc.org/fishingimpacts.html.) The settlement provides for
<BR>enforceable deadlines for each regional management council to fully
<BR>implement the EFH provisions in each region, and for periodic reports to
<BR>the court from NMFS on implementation progress. Copies of the
<BR>settlement agreement, district court decision, and other materials are
<BR>available online at http://www.oceana.org/.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/07. NMFS TO SPONSOR SYMPOSIUM ON EFFECTS OF
<BR>FISHING ON HABITATS: The National Marine Fisheries Service
<BR>(NMFS) has announced it will sponsor a national "Symposium on
<BR>Effects of Fishing on Benthic Habitats" scheduled for 12-14 November
<BR>2002 in Tampa, Florida. According to NMFS, "The goal of the
<BR>symposium is to help ensure sustainable fisheries and healthy, diverse
<BR>ecosystems by advancing the scientific knowledge available to resource
<BR>managers to evaluate and appropriately manage fishing activities that
<BR>affect benthic habitat." A call for abstracts and papers will be issued this
<BR>month. For information on sessions and registration, go to:
<BR>http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/bh2002/.
<BR>Those wishing to be added to the symposium mailing list and receive
<BR>additional conference information, as it becomes available, should
<BR>e-mail: lori@esa.org.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/08. RUSSIAN FISHERMEN APPEAL FOR ASSISTANCE IN
<BR>FIGHTING 'FISH MAFIA' AND RUSSIAN FISH AGENCY
<BR>CORRUPTION: The Russian-English publication Tikhookeansky
<BR>Vestnick (Northern Pacific) Magazine, the only voice of commercial
<BR>fishermen and fishing dependent communities in the Russian Far East, is
<BR>appealing worldwide for sponsors and subscribers to its publication and
<BR>to help support its ongoing efforts to rid their fisheries of rampant
<BR>government corruption and mismanagement, and to combat the
<BR>'sweetheart deals' quota system manipulated by what they call the 'Fish
<BR>Mafia' that largely still controls the Russian fisheries quota allocation
<BR>system. The magazine's repeated exposures since its beginning in
<BR>January 2000 of cozy government-factory trawler allocation deals that
<BR>have cut local Russian fishermen off from access to their own fisheries
<BR>in favor of giant foreign-owned factory trawlers have earned it a
<BR>worldwide reputation as a protector of fishing dependent communities in
<BR>Kamchatka and throughout the Russian Far East.
<BR>
<BR>Fishermen in the Russian Far East are currently fighting against the
<BR>selling off of Russia's continental shelf oil and gas reserves within vitally
<BR>important fisheries areas that, if those developments proceed, are likely
<BR>to wipe out a major seafood source for the region (see Sublegals,
<BR>4:10/10). The magazine is on line in both English and Russian at:
<BR>http://npacific.kamchatka.ru. Donations to their work can be made to the
<BR>Charitable Public Fund of Bioresources Conservation of the Northern
<BR>Pacific (fund "Northern Pacific"). Since sending funds to Russia is
<BR>particularly difficult, before doing so you should contact Sergei
<BR>Vakhryn, Editor, for instructions by way of email at:
<BR>s.vakhrin@npacific.kamchatka.ru.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/09. CENTRAL CALIFORNIA CRAB SEASON FINALLY
<BR>OPENS; NORTH REMAINS OUT IN PRICE DISPUTE: On Tuesday,
<BR>3 December, seeing a break in the weather, the central California
<BR>(Sonoma County south) crab fleet agreed on a Dungeness price to settle
<BR>a tie-up that had been ongoing since 15 November (see Sublegals,
<BR>4:22/03; 4:21/01; 4:20/03; 4:19/01). The price finally settled on at $1.88
<BR>ex-vessel per pound, the lowest opening price in five years and
<BR>considerably below last year's start of $2.25. On Wednesday, vessels
<BR>from Bodega Bay to Monterey Bay began setting traps and the first crabs
<BR>started coming in. Generally, production has been slow and the crabs
<BR>smaller than usual. In the meantime, crabbers in northern California
<BR>(Mendocino County north), Oregon and Washington remain tied-up with
<BR>their own price dispute. To date, fish processors have only been willing
<BR>to offer $1.65 per pound for those crabs; this fishery had been set to open
<BR>1 December.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/10: EPA TO MOVE FORWARD WITH HUDSON
<BR>DREDGING: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
<BR>announced 4 December that the nearly $465 million project to dredge the
<BR>upper Hudson River to remove sediment contaminated with
<BR>polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) will be carried out (see Sublegals
<BR>4:6/20; 4:5/11). The agency had made an initial announcement in early
<BR>August of its decision to order the dredging. The EPA rejected General
<BR>Electric's (GE) plea to scale back the cleanup. GE used PCBs (an
<BR>insulating material) for more than 30 years at its factories on the Hudson,
<BR>until manufacture and use of the chemicals were banned in 1977. During
<BR>that time, an estimated 1.3 million pounds or more of PCBs leaked or
<BR>were dumped into the river, some of it under state permits. Economic
<BR>analysts have said the cost of the dredging will not harm GE earnings,
<BR>since the company had set aside reserves to pay the estimated cost. GE,
<BR>however, is expected to continue fighting the EPA, hoping to overturn
<BR>the decision and get out from under its responsibility for the cleanup.
<BR>Since 1937, PCBs have been suspected carcinogens. The contamination
<BR>of the Hudson destroyed one of the nation's most celebrated urban
<BR>commercial fisheries - that for shad. The cleanup is expected to be one
<BR>of the biggest and most complex environmental cleanup projects in the
<BR>history of the country. For more information go to:
<BR>http://riverkeeper.org/pcb/index.html.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/11. HERRING FISHERY OFF TO SLOW START IN SAN
<BR>FRANCISCO BAY; FLAVORED ROE TO BOOST DEMAND FOR
<BR>ATLANTIC HERRING?: The San Francisco Bay herring roe fishery
<BR>opened 2 December. Fishing during the first week was slow but not
<BR>unusual for this first herring fishery to open each year along the Pacific
<BR>Coast (see Sublegals, 4:22/03). The "DH" gillnet fishery is open until 21
<BR>December, but there is no fishing on weekends. In January the "Odd"
<BR>and "Even" gillnet platoons begin their fishery in the Bay, and fishing
<BR>opens as well to the north in Tomales Bay, Humboldt Bay and Crescent
<BR>City. The total gillnet quota this year for San Francisco Bay is 4,130
<BR>tons. For more information, contact the California Department of Fish &
<BR>Game (CDFG) at: (650) 631-6758.
<BR>
<BR>Demand for herring roe in Japan, the principal market for the product,
<BR>has declined due to that nation's economic recession over the past few
<BR>years. Now, WorldCatch, in a 2 December article, reports that
<BR>companies may be turning to flavored herring roe as an alternative to the
<BR>salted roe. Many companies turned to flavored roe for Atlantic herring
<BR>in the early 1980's to find a less expensive substitute for Pacific roe. In
<BR>the salted form, Atlantic roe was a flop, but when producers replaced the
<BR>salt with flavoring, a new Japanese market was born. A variety of
<BR>flavored products have since been developed, including roe marinated
<BR>soy sauce, mentai (spicy Korean style) flavored roe, and even roe packed
<BR>with mayonnaise. Other products combine herring roe with vegetable
<BR>and seafood products. To see the full text of the WorldCatch report, go
<BR>to: www.worldcatch.com.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/12. BPA BLASTED OVER 2001 JUVENILE SALMON
<BR>SACRIFICE: In an economics report released 3 December by the Save
<BR>Our Wild Salmon Coalition titled "Failing Salmon, Failing People," the
<BR>total power cost savings that the Bonneville Power Administration
<BR>(BPA) actually achieved in summer 2001 by eliminating its spill
<BR>program for the Columbia has been quantified.
<BR>
<BR>The termination of the spill program resulted in the worst loss of
<BR>Columbia River juvenile salmon and steelhead since any of the
<BR>Columbia river stocks have been listed under the federal Endangered
<BR>Species Act (ESA) (see Sublegals 4:01/02; 3:18/01; 3:15/10; 3:14/04).
<BR>The report, based on BPA's own numbers, concludes that if BPA had
<BR>kept the spill program going at 100 percent of required recovery plan
<BR>levels, the total additional cost to consumers would have only been about
<BR>38 cents/month for consumers in Seattle and only about 75 cents/month
<BR>for consumers in Portland over one year. Even for utilities that are 100%
<BR>dependent on BPA power, the maximum rate impact would have been
<BR>only an additional $1.50/month maximum over a one-year period. As a
<BR>result of BPA's decision to terminate the spill program, the juvenile
<BR>survival rates ESA listed Snake River steelhead plunged to only 16
<BR>percent, as compared to 68 percent in 2000, and chinook juvenile
<BR>survival rates were only 57 percent, nearly 20 percent lower than in
<BR>2000, both record lows. This means threatened and endangered
<BR>Columbia River fish returning as adults in 2004 and 2005 are likely to be
<BR>at record lows numbers. In 2001 the federal government spent hundreds
<BR>of millions of dollars in efforts to restore the 12 ESA listed salmon and
<BR>steelhead runs in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, while BPA was
<BR>simultaneously killing them in large numbers by refusal to permit the use
<BR>of water in the river as spill to help improve water quality and flush the
<BR>juveniles out to the sea. For a copy of the report see:
<BR>www.wildsalmon.org.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/13. WASHINGTON'S GOLDSBOROUGH DAM
<BR>DISMANTLED: More than 100 years after the once great salmon runs
<BR>on Goldsborough Creek in the State of Washington were blocked by
<BR>dams, the last of a series of these dams has now been removed, reports
<BR>the 13 November Oregonian. The removal of the last Goldsborough
<BR>Dam in November opens up 14 miles of upstream habitat for coho,
<BR>chum, steelhead and cutthroat trout. The Simpson Timber Company
<BR>agreed in 1996 to remove the last 32-foot high dam, which stored water
<BR>for the company's mills at Shelton, at the urging of the Squaxin Tribe.
<BR>The total project cost $4.8 million, with part of the costs paid for by the
<BR>U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE).
<BR>
<BR>4:23/14. US ARMY CORPS SAYS SNAKE RIVER DAMS
<BR>SHOULD STAY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), which
<BR>operates the eight mainstem Columbia and Snake River hydropower
<BR>dams, has finally selected its preferred alternative in its lengthy Lower
<BR>Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasilibity Report and
<BR>Environmental Impact Statement issued in December 1999. Not
<BR>surprisingly, COE recommended against the decommissioning and
<BR>partial removal of the four lower Snake River dams (Ice Harbor, Lower
<BR>Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite Dams) and selected 'major
<BR>system improvements' as its preferred alternative. The Corps is thus
<BR>putting its faith in various proposed renovations and potential future
<BR>improvements to fish passage that it believes are likely to permit enough
<BR>fish to bypass the Snake River dams to prevent extinction, but which do
<BR>not require any of the existing dams to be entirely bypassed.
<BR>
<BR>Critics of the COE decision point out that: (1) the effectiveness of the
<BR>proposed 'major improvements' is highly speculative and similar
<BR>improvements in the past have not been effective; (2) at least one of
<BR>those measures, increased spill, is subject to the unilateral veto of the
<BR>Bonneville Power Administration, (see 4:23/12 above); (3) the Corps is
<BR>still ignoring its obligations under the Clean Water Act and at least one
<BR>court order that will require additional efforts to improve water quality in
<BR>the Snake River that none of the proposed 'major system improvements'
<BR>really address, and that; (4) the total costs of all the required
<BR>improvements to try to technologically fix an inherently fish-hostile dam
<BR>and reservoir system in the Snake River are likely to exceed the value of
<BR>the relatively minimal economic benefits provided by the four lower
<BR>Snake River dams and will greatly exceed any economic costs likely to
<BR>occur if those four marginal dams were decommissioned.
<BR>
<BR>COE has forwarded its recommendations to the other members of the
<BR>Federal Caucus (which includes the National Marine Fisheries Service
<BR>(NMFS), the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S.
<BR>Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Bureau of Indian
<BR>Affairs (BIA), among others) for their input before the release of its final
<BR>Record of Decision (ROD) and Final Environmental Impact Statement
<BR>(FEIS), which it expects to publish in early 2002. For a copy of their
<BR>statement as well as downloadable copies of the many other documents
<BR>in this analysis go to: http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/lsr.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/15. KLAMATH RESTORATION PACKAGE PROPOSED
<BR>FOR FARM BILL: Negotiations between Oregon U.S. Senators Ron
<BR>Wyden and Gordon Smith, and California Senators Dianne Feinstein and
<BR>Barbara Boxer has resulted in draft Klamath Basin water reform
<BR>legislation to be inserted as an amendment into the Senate version of the
<BR>Farm Bill.
<BR>
<BR>The Senate version, S. 1731, the "Agriculture, Conservation & Rural
<BR>Enhancement Act of 2001" is one of the more important measures still
<BR>being considered by the U.S. Congress, which is months overdue in
<BR>finalizing a federal budget. The compromise language would create a
<BR>ten member multi-agency federal agency task force to develop a
<BR>five-year plan of action within six months of passage for reforming the
<BR>Upper Klamath Basin's greatly over-subscribed water allocation system,
<BR>and would then redirect $175 million in existing Department of
<BR>Agriculture conservation programs specifically to the Klamath Basin to
<BR>be distributed as grants under supervision of that task force to fund
<BR>measures in accordance with that plan, through fiscal year 2006.
<BR>Negotiations on final amendment language are ongoing. The Farm Bill
<BR>is a huge undertaking, with over 900 pages, and debate on the bill is
<BR>likely to take considerable time. The fate of this amendment is uncertain.
<BR>To review the bill, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov. To view the 5 December
<BR>Oregonian supporting editorial go to:
<BR>http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf
<BR>/html_standard.xsl?/base/editorial/10075569331534962.xml
<BR>
<BR>4:23/16: SOCIOECONOMICS SYMPOSIUM CALL FOR
<BR>PAPERS: The Socioeconomics Section of the American Fisheries
<BR>Society (AFS) has announced a special symposium proposed for the
<BR>132nd AFS Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, 18-22 August
<BR>2002. The title of this symposium is "Fisheries and Aquatic Habitat
<BR>Management: Socioeconomic Aspects." Persons interested in presenting
<BR>a paper should send the following information by 13 December to Ray
<BR>Rhodes at: rhodesr@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us: (1) Author Name(s); (2)
<BR>Contact Information (email, mailing address, and telephone); and (3)
<BR>Presentation title. For additional information regarding the 2002 AFS
<BR>Annual Meeting, visit the Internet site for this meeting at:
<BR>http://www.fisheries.org/annual2002/.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/17: 100TH ISSUE OF SUBLEGALS; NEW WEBSITE AND
<BR>PLEDGE DRIVE: This Sublegals marks the 100th issue since PCFFA
<BR>and IFR jointly began it as a weekly Internet newsletter in January 2000.
<BR>It was designed as a replacement for PCFFA's decades old newsletter,
<BR>Friday, providing a less expensive and more timely means of getting
<BR>information out to subscribers. It has been a labor of love (sometimes
<BR>late) for the two organizations; it currently receives no advertising
<BR>revenue, grant funds, nor subscription fees. With the next issue, we are
<BR>starting a 'pledge drive' (ala public television and public radio) for the
<BR>last two weeks of December and first two weeks of January with lots of
<BR>great gifts (with our famous 'sarcastic fringehead' logo) for readers
<BR>willing to pledge small donations. The next issue also marks the
<BR>opening of Sublegals' very own website with printable current and past
<BR>issues and, eventually, an index of all issues and a calendar. The new
<BR>website is: www.sublegals.net.
<BR>
<BR>4:23/18. PERSONNEL CHANGES AT PCFFA/IFR: Persons
<BR>contacting the PCFFA or IFR offices or may wish to note some
<BR>personnel changes. HELEN KIER, who served as PCFFA office
<BR>manager extraordinaire for the past 16 years has retired, or at least
<BR>partially, and has been promoted to Office Manager Emeritus.
<BR>ALLISON VOGT, who served the past year as an Americorps volunteer
<BR>in the IFR office steps in to take over administrative duties (and as
<BR>Sublegals Editor) before she leaves for graduate school next September.
<BR>NICOLE BROWN is the new development officer, serving half time for
<BR>each organization, and will be responsible for fund raising efforts.
<BR>NATASHA BENJAMIN, IFR's Fisheries Program Officer, was married
<BR>24 November and returns 13 December. MOLLY THOMAS, the first
<BR>editor of Sublegals, who last worked on IFR's Klamath Resource
<BR>Information System (KRIS), has left for Boulder, Colorado and a change
<BR>of scenery. Finally, KY RUSSELL and MICHELLE WALLAR are the
<BR>two new Americorps volunteers who began their year of service in the
<BR>IFR office in October.
<BR>
<BR>NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit news items,
<BR>comments or any corrections to Allison Vogt, Editor at:
<BR>ifrfish@pacbell.net or call the IFR/PCFFA office with the news and a
<BR>source at either: (415) 561-FISH (Southwest Office) or (541) 689-2000
<BR>(Northwest Office).
<BR>
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<BR>If you have any trouble subscribing or unsubscribing, contact
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<BR>This publication, however, may be freely reproduced and circulated
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