~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fisheries and Conservation News
from the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations
and the Insititute for Fisheries Resources
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IN THIS ISSUE:
(1) CANADA'S MIFFLIN FISHERY REDUCTION PLAN IMPLEMENTED
AGAINST OPPOSITION FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT
(2) B.C. OUTER COAST CHINOOK FISHERY CLOSED DOWN FOR
THE YEAR IN FACE OF DRAMATIC DECLINES
(3) US ESA LISTINGS RESUME WITH LISTING OF CALIFORNIA
RED-LEGGED FROG. LISTING SUPPORTED BY PCFFA AS
BENEFICIAL TO DEPRESSED SALMON RUNS.
(4) RON WYDEN LEADS 41 DEMOCRATIC SENATORS IN PLEDGE NOT
TO ALLOW ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ROLLBACKS IN US
(5) AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS CALLED MOST IMPERILED IN U.S.
(6) VARIOUS NEWS ITEMS ON FORESTS, THE LOGGING RIDER AND
SALMON PROTECTION IN THE NORTHWEST
(7) DOOLITTLE BILL TO ROLL BACK FISH PROTECTIONS IN
CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY SUSPENDED
(8) POWER PLANNING COUNCIL TAKING COMMENTS UNTIL
JUNE 17TH ON PROPOSED FISH AND WILDLIFE PROJECTS
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BUT FIRST -- QUOTABLE QUOTES:
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS ON
THE ENVIRONMENT
On Environmental Policy:
"I love the environment, but I'm cheap at loving the environment."
- Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) (Gannett News
Service, 2/16/95)
"...environmental policies are driven by a kind of emotional
spiritualism that threatens the very foundation of our society,
by eroding basic principles of our Constitution."
- Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) (Congressional Record, 1/31/96)
On the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:
"Arctic oil reserve."
- Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK), Chairman of the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee, giving his opinion of the
"real" name of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He explained,
"It never was ANWR." (Christian Science Monitor, 6/29/95)
On Clean Air and Global Warming:
"The science underlying the CFC ban is debatable." The agreement
to terminate the use of CFC's to reduce ozone depletion, "is the
result of a media scare."
- Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) (Washington Post, 10/27/95)
Note: The Nobel prize in chemistry had been awarded two weeks
earlier to three scientists for their work on ozone depletion.
Global climate change is "unproven at best and liberal claptrap at worst."
- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/25/95)
"It turns out a lot of [acid rain] is created by nature, not by
smokestacks."
- Malcolm (Steve) Forbes, Jr. (Boston Globe, 1/30/96)
On closing National Parks:
"I know that the extreme environmentalists would probably
assassinate me in the first six months, but for these first six
months, I'd have a whale of a good time ...If we take over, we're
going to do a parks closing commission. ...if you've been there
once [Great Basin National Park] you don't need to go again."
- Rep. James Hansen (R-UT), Chair of the Subcommittee on
National Parks, Forests, and Lands, on his parks agenda prior
to 1994 election (Denver Post, 11/6/1994)
"The question is not whether to close the parks, but how to
accomplish this goal."
- Rep. James Hansen (R-UT) (12/8/94 letter to Utah
constituents clarifying earlier park closure statements)
"Removing the park closure commission guts the bill."
- Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO) during the House Resources
Committee debate on an amendment to eliminate the park
closure commission provisions (5/17/95)
On DDT:
"Not harmful."
- Rep. Tom DeLay (Washington Post, 7/1/95)
On Endangered Species:
"I am trying to say 'time out' so that silly things will not
happen, so that bait fish... and salmon that are running the
wrong way in a stream will not take precedence over the rights of
farmers and ranchers... "
- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Congressional Record, 3/16/95)
On the EPA:
"At least if we don't close down the Environmental Protection
Agency, we at least put a snaffle bit on them and ride the pony
down."
- Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) on "This week with David Brinkley"
(12/18/94)
"The EPA, the gestapo of government, simply has been one of the
major clawhooks that the government has maintained on the backs
of our constituents."
- Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) (Washington Times, 7/95)
These riders keep the "unelected, overzealous bureaucrats from
implementing their own agenda."
- Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) (Congressional Record, 11/2/95),
arguing in favor of 17 "riders" in the EPA Appropriations bill.
On Offshore Oil Drilling:
"There certainly is an emotional outpouring of sentiment against
drilling on behalf of those that believe it is a pollutant."
- Rep. Bob Livingston, House Appropriations Committee
Chairman (R-LA) (Houston Chronicle 6/28/95)
On Regulatory Reform:
"Not that I can think of."
- Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) (Wall Street Journal , 3/4/95), when
asked if there were any federal regulations he would keep.
On the role of lobbyists:
"I don't think that's how good public policy should be made, but
I'm perfectly willing to get the free services of good lawyers in
drafting my views."
- Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA) (New York Times, 4/12/95)
Note: Sen. Gorton was responding to a reporter's question
about a Seattle Times report (4/7/95) that an industry coalition of
timber, agriculture and business interests wrote his Endangered Species
Act proposal. The article included the following quote from an internal
memo by Gorton's legislative aide:
"The coalitions delivered your ESA bill to me on Friday. ...I
know that you are anxious to get the bill introduced, however, it
is important that we have a better than adequate understanding of
the bill prior to introduction... This bill takes some getting
used to...."
On Safe Drinking Water:
"And I want to touch on cryptosporidium for a minute...this
disease can sometimes can be very helpful [to a physician],
because it helps us identify those people who in fact are in
immune compromise...."
- Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK) speaking at a safe drinking water
hearing before the Health and Environment Subcommittee of
the House Commerce Committee (1/31/96). More than 100
people died and hundreds of thousands were sickened in the
most recent outbreak of chryptosporidium in Milwuakee, WI.
=======================================================
(1) CANADA'S MIFFLIN FISHERY REDUCTION PLAN IMPLEMENTED
AGAINST OPPOSITION FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT
Canadian Federal Fisheries Minister Fred Mifflin's controversial plan to
reduce the size of the British Columbia fishing fleet by half from its
current
registration of 4,500 boats continued in effect May 24th when a petition by
the British Columbia Provincial Government and 14 commercial fishers to halt
the plan's implemention through court injunction failed. In the face of this
loss,
both Premier Glen Clark and Liberal Party leader Gordon Campbell said they
would continue pressing for control of the B.C. fishery to be turned over to
Provincial authority and away from federal authority.
"It is a sad day for independent fishermen in British Columbia and a real
blow
to some small coastal communities which depend on fishing." B. C. Premier
Clark was quoted as saying in the Vancouver Sun. It has become a heated
political issue in the Province, which is just days away from an election
which is likely to determine control of its government in a close race.
Few fishermen object to the fleet reduction itself, since there is clear
evidence the fleet is overcapitalized, particularly with last year's severe
salmon season cutbacks. In fact, a commission appointed with many
fishing industry representatives concluded that similar measures to reduce
the fleet catch size were necessary to conserve the resource and to keep the
industry economically viable. The salmon fishery in BC has been very poor
in recent years. According the government figures, the 1995 salmon
landed value (estimated at $80 million) was less than 40% of the average
annual value over the period of 1991-1994 ($205 million). As a result a
significant portion of the fleet is now below the financial break even point.
Also fishermen are generally in favor of converting what is now a derby
style open fishery to a more controlled fishery through quota systems of
some sort, so long as it results in an equitable distribution and better
resource conservation.
Unfortunately Minister Mifflin's plan allows "stacking" of licenses by
means of owners buying out other's licenses, which will likely result only
in the further concentration of the fleet into the hands of the bigger boats
at
the expense of smaller boat owners which generally do a more selective
and less wasteful job. Also, overall fishing effort may not in fact be
reduced in the buyout, only more spread out. Unless there is actual
reduction of fleet capacity (and not just numbers of boats) it is unclear
what (if any) conservation gains will be made.
The plan is coupled with an $80 million dollar (Canadian) voluntary license
buyout program. Since the larger boats are typically owned by processing
plants who have little interest in selling out and access to more capital,
the
fear is that the independent, community-based family fishermen will be
squeezed out of the industry as it gradually becomes consolidated in the
hands of a very few large processing plant boats. The Fishermen's Union
(UFAWU) characterizes the plan as a disaster for local fishing communities
and a probable failure on conservation grounds as well -- an opinion that is
shared by some environmental organizations as well as the B.C.
government. Recommendations for changes in the plan to prevent these
problems have so far gone unanswered by Minister Mifflin in Ottawa in
spite of protests, lawsuits and broad based opposition.
To date, more than 20% of the fleet has signed up for the buyout program,
far more than the amount of money available to satisfy all requests, and
more than double the number originally expected. More than 1000 boat
owners have not yet responded one way or the other by May 25th. Many
feel that this is their only opportunity to sell out rather than become
victim
to government-sponsored fleet cannibalism caused by additional fishing
restrictions.
The deadline for the program is June 30th, by which time all the money
available will be spent or committed. A Fleet Reduction Committee
composed of fishermen and interest groups as well as independent advisors
will be reviewing the proposals starting in early June. (Report from
FishLink News Service summarizing Canadian news sources and
interviews)
=====================================================
(2) B.C. OUTER COAST CHINOOK FISHERY CLOSED DOWN FOR
THE YEAR IN FACE OF DRAMATIC DECLINES
The Canadian fisheries department is closing down all commercial and
sportfishing for chinook salmon along B.C.'s outer coastline this summer
because of an unprecedented collapse of chinook stocks. The Federal
Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced the closure May 24th,
blaming the collapse on El Nino warm water currents a few years ago.
The warmer currents drew in hundreds of millions of mackerel that
devoured juvenile chinook all along Vancouver Island's west coast
between 1992 and 1994. Brian Riddel, DFO's senior chinook biologist is
quoted in the Vancouver Sun as saying that ocean survival rates were cut
by more than 90% during this time and the chinook in some rivers are close
to the brink of extinction. "We have never seen a reduction in survival of
this magnitude," said Paul Sprout, operations branch manager for the
department. "The margin for error is none. We are down to tens of
females in the spawning population on some rivers."
Riddel said the situation is worse than 1995, when similar closures were
imposed, and predicts only minor improvement in 1997. However, the
department does not expect recreational fishing in other areas such as the
Skeena, Nass and Fraser Rivers to be greatly affected because those stocks
are in relatively better shape.
This news adds yet more fuel to the raging controversy between Canada
and Alaska on overfishing of Candian stocks. According to Riddell, the
number of chinook returning to west coast B.C. streams could be boosted
by as much as 37% if Alaska were to curtail a fishery that targets B.C.,
Washington and Oregon north migrating chinook. Mifflin has called on
Alaska to cooperate in imposing similar conservation measures, and several
Canadian political figures have renewed calls for tougher measures, such as
a resumption of transit tariffs on all U.S. fishing boats travelling through
Canadian waters to Alaska, if the US does not cooperate on conservation
measures. Canada also has the option of once again suing in U.S. federal
court, as they successfully did last year, to halt Alaskan seasons.
U.S. negotiators on their part have criticised Canadian overfishing of
already severely depressed lower 48 coho stocks which migrate into
Canadian waters, particularly in light of the probable listing of those
stocks
under the US Endangered Species Act in the near future. The State of
Washington estimates that even with a zero directed harvest of these coho
in U.S. waters, Canadian overfishing alone makes it impossible for
Washington to achieve minimum escapement goals.
Negotiations on the Pacific Salmon Treaty are currently stalled, with no
breakthroughs on these key issues likely in the near future. (Report from
FishLink News Service summarized from news sources)
====================================================
(3) US ESA LISTINGS RESUME WITH LISTING OF CALIFORNIA
RED-LEGGED FROM. LISTING SUPPORTED BY PCFFA AS
BENEFICIAL TO DEPRESSED SALMON RUNS.
On May 20th, the US Fish and Wildlife Service met its federal court
imposed deadline to list the California red-leggged frog under the US
Endangered Species Act, marking the first listing decision under the ESA
since the lifting of a 15-month Congressionally imposed listing moratorium.
The moratorium was lifted as part of last-minute budget negotiations last
month which kept the US federal goverment from another dramatic
closure. Congressional opponents of the ESA used both moratoriums and
budget defunding as weapons to gut the ESA or to force radical legislative
changes it which would have blunted its impact.
The California red-legged frog, believed to be Mark Twain's "celebrated
jumping frog" of Calaveras County, is extinct in 75% of its historic range,
and is now confined to a California central coastal streams. In only 4 areas
are its populations above 350 adults each.
PCFFA immediately praised the decision, noting that protections for the
frog will also help restore many of the same coastal streams in which
salmon runs and other fish species are also depressed, and that this will be
good for the California economy.
"What's good for the frog is also good for salmon," says PCFFA's
Executive Director Zeke Grader in a statement released May 24th. "All
this tells us is the message we should already be hearing -- we have to
restore the health of California's damaged watersheds or we will
permanently lose our economically valuable salmon, in addition to frogs
and a host of other species, from California's biological treasure chest."
Amphibians are key indicator species for the health of an aquatic
ecosystem, and are particularly sensitive to a wide variety of environmental
factors, including acid rain, increased water temperature and water
pollution. Scientists are alarmed at the world-wide disappearance of many
amphibian species whose roles in their ecosystems are important, blaming
their demise largely on environmental degradation.
It could take an unspecified "matter of months" for the Fish and Wildlife
Service to catch up with the long list of species needing listing, FWS
director Molly Beattie told the Los Angeles Times in unveiling the agency's
plans to resume listings.
A copy of PCFFA statement on the red-legged from listing follows:
*************************
FISHERMEN DEFEND LISTING OF
CALIFORNIA RED-LEGGED FROG
(Statement May 24, 1996)
The west coast's largest commercial fishing industry organization today
came to the defense of the listing of the California red-legged frog under
the Endangered Species Act. The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations (PCFFA) says that measures to protect this amphibian will
also help protect watersheds critical to salmon production, which in turn
will help restore many California fishing jobs.
The California red-legged frog is one of the key indicator species for the
health of California's damaged coastal watersheds. Many of the factors
which are leading to the decline of the red-legged frog are also affecting
the health of California's most valuable salmon populations. The current
range of the California red-legged frog (now all in coastal areas) and
California's salmon overlap throughout the northern third of the frog's
range, and historically overlapped to a far greater extent.
"What's good for the frog is also good for salmon," says PCFFA's
Executive Director Zeke Grader. "All this tells us is the message we
should already be hearing -- we have to restore the health of California's
damaged watersheds or we will permanently lose our economically
valuable salmon, in addition to frogs and a host of other species, from
California's biological treasure chest."
Amphibians have long been considered key indicator species for the health
of an ecosystem, and are particularly sensitive to a wide variety of
environmental factors, including acid rain, increased water temperature and
water pollution. Scientists are alarmed at the world-wide disappearance of
many amphibian species whose roles in their ecosystems are important.
The California red-legged frog is that state's largest native frog species,
but
has already become extinct in 75% of its historic range. Today the species
inhabits only coastal streams primarily in the central coast of California,
but
in only four small areas are its population numbers above 350 adults each.
Salmon declines have resulted in tens of thousands of lost jobs in
California. "California's coastal and inland streams are facing a biological
holocaust," commented Grader. "All our efforts to restore the region's
salmon runs and other inland fish species can benefit from ESA protections
to save the red-legged frog. Restoring these streams means more
fishermen, more food, and more jobs throughout the State."
*********************
====================================================
(4) RON WYDEN LEADS 41 DEMOCRATIC SENATORS IN PLEDGE
NOT TO ALLOW ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ROLLBACKS IN US
"We have a responsibility to the American people to protect the
quality of the air and water, to preserve our natural resources, and to
advance the safety of our communities through cleanup of hazardous
wastes. In keeping with that responsibility, we will steadfastly oppose
efforts to bring back legislative proposals to weaken environmental
protections in the remaining weeks and months of this Congress."
--- Democratic senators Earth Day letter
Forty-one Democratic U.S. senators, led by newly elected Oregon Senator
Ron Wyden, released an Earth Day letter to Senate Majority Leader Robert
Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, pledging to block the attempted
rollback of environmental and health and safety protections through the end
of this Congress. The number is significant, because it is the number of
senators needed to block any bill through a "filibuster," or sustained Senate
debate. The senators decried current attacks on the Safe Drinking Water
Act and the Endangered Species Act. They condemned weaker standards
for discharges into rivers and lakes, delays in the cleanup of hazardous
waste sites and attacks on the community right-to-know principle, and
pledged to insist on adequate funding for the EPA.
Following are names of the 41 senators who signed the Earth Day letter,
alphabetized by state:
AR: Bumpers, Pryor; CA: Boxer, Feinstein; CT: Dodd, Lieberman; DE:
Biden; FL: Graham; HI: Akaka, Inouye; IL: Simon, Mosely-Braun; IA:
Harkin; KY: Ford; MD: Mikulski, Sarbanes; MA: Kennedy, Kerry;
MI: Levin; MN: Wellstone; MT: Baucus; NE: Exon, Kerrey; NV:
Bryan, Reid; NJ: Bradley, Lautenberg; NM: Bingaman; NY: Moynihan;
ND: Conrad, Dorgan; OH: Glenn; OR: Wyden; RI: Pell; SD: Daschle;
VT: Leahy; VA: Robb; WA: Murray; WV: Rockefeller; WI: Kohl,
Feingold
(From ESA Action 4/26/96)
====================================================
(5) AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS CALLED MOST IMPERILED IN U.S.
Freshwater aquatic animals "are the most imperiled group of species in the
US," The Nature Conservancy says in a report on the "silent crisis" facing
freshwater aquatic ecosystems released April 28th. The report says that
over 15% of freshwater species are imperiled in Alabama, Florida, Georgia
and Tennessee, with the arid West the region with second greatest threats
to its aquatic biodiversity. Mussels and other species in the Southeast are
threatened by pollution, sedimentation, and damming and channelization;
in the West, water diversion and competition from non-native species
are also factors. (GREENLines 4/29/96)
[Editors Note: This parallels a recent AFS report indicating that roughly
30% of all fish species which occur in the US are at risk of extinction,
largely due to these same factors. See American Fisheries Society, "Status
of Freshwater Fishes of the United States: Overview of an Imperiled
Fauna." Fisheries, Vol. 19, No. 1 (January, 1994).]
====================================================
(6) VARIOUS NEWS ITEMS ON FORESTS, THE LOGGING RIDER
AND SALMON PROTECTION IN THE NORTHWEST
KLAMATH SUIT: The Klamath Tribes of southern Oregon have
filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service, charging the federal
government with shirking its responsibility to preserve traditional
hunting and fishing grounds, says High Country News. When the
tribe relinquished some 20 million acres to the Forest Service in
1954, a treaty required the agency to protect forest resources for the
tribes. Tribal leaders say that eight timber sales under the "logging
without laws" rider on the Winema and Fremont NF will cause
declines in mule deer and fish. "We are forced to file this lawsuit
to preserve our traditional way of life," Jeff Mitchell, chairman of
the Klamath Tribes told High Country News. (WAFC Bulletin 4/29/96)
SONGBIRD RULING: The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 could
"force the federal government to rethink a wide variety of projects" if a
recent ruling in Atlanta federal court stands, says the Atlanta Journal
Constitution. In a decision that for now impacts only the
Chattahoochee NF, Judge Frank Hull said logging will kill 2,000 to
9,000 young birds in violation of the Bird Treaty Act. The judge
ordered the agency to halt cutting until September 15. "What I'm
hoping for is this will compel the [Forest Service] to set up a network
of habitat protection zones for songbirds," said Peter Kirby of The
Wilderness Society.
KILL THESE BILLS: The GOP can demonstrate its commitment to the
environment by killing Sen. Larry Craig's "forest health" bill and Rep.
Don Young's National Wildlife Refuge "Improvement" Act, says a Los
Angeles Times editorial. Sen. Craig's forest health bill, S. 391,
"would do anything but protect and restore forests on federal
lands. Instead, the bill would make permanent the so-called salvage rider."
The two measures "would diminish federal protection of wilderness lands"
and are "an early test" of the depth of the "conversion" of the GOP on
environmental issues, the Times says. "By acting quickly to reject these
two destructive bills, Senate Republicans can validate the GOP's new
claims to environmental stewardship."
LANDSLIDES LINKED TO CLEARCUTTING: A recent survey
commissioned by the Pacific Rivers Council finds a high correlation
between clearcutting and landslides. The survey looked at 651 landslides in
the Cascade and Coast Range of Washington and Oregon and found that
90% of the landslides occurred in clearcut forests. The Portland Oregonian
reports that 71% of the landslides occurred in areas clearcut within the last
15 years while 23% took place in older clearcuts. Survey authors
William Weaver and Danny Hagans of the consulting firm Pacific
Watersheds Associates, said that clear-cutting and road building have
"primed many parts of the forested landscape for greatly increased
rates of watershed erosion, landsliding and sedimentation.
"FIX FROM FISH": The loss of salmon in the Pacific Northwest would
mean more than the end of a symbol, says an AP article discussing the
scientific value of salmon to the region's ecosystems. Salmon are the
"very circle of life," returning to mountain streams the organic matter
washed downstream to the ocean, fertilizing trees along streams, and
feeding killer whales, other fish, birds, mammals, and insects, the
story says. "The salmon is the one animal that penetrates the whole
Northwest ecosystem," fisheries consultant Jim Lichatowich told the AP.
"GREENING OF GINGRICH": Speaker Newt Gingrich must "figure out a
way to control a handful of retrograde Republican colleagues who still
cannot grasp that Americans do not want their basic environmental laws
trifled with," says the New York Times. A recent Times editorial says
Gingrich has "some serious proselytizing to do" to stop attacks by
Reps. Tom DeLay, Don Young, Richard Pombo, and Jim Hansen on the
ESA, EPA, and federal lands. The paper recommends that Gingrich might
also "pass the word to Bob Dole that [GOP] senators are doing little to
'reposition' the party on environmental issues," citing efforts of Sen.
Larry Craig "to make permanent the infamous 'timber salvage' rider."
The Times says that "if we can take the Speaker at his word," bills
"the Youngs, Pombos and DeLays are promoting" won't come to a vote.
(These items were reposted from a newsletter by Republicans for
Environmental Protection, drawn primarily from GREENLines)
====================================================
(7) DOOLITTLE BILL TO ROLL BACK FISH PROTECTIONS IN
CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY SUSPENDED
The decision by Rep. John Doolittle (R-4th CA) to suspend further efforts
to reopen the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act in this
Congress was "a victory for the environment, a victory for California
businesses, and a victory for fishermen," says Zeke Grader of the Pacific
Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA). "Congressman
Doolittle and his corporate agriculture sponsors would like us to think that
Californians need to choose between a healthy environment and a healthy
economy. We don't," Grader said.
Doolittle's legislation was written to "repeal or gut most of the important
reforms in the CVPIA," says the California group Share the Water, of
which PCFFA is a founding member. In the end, Doolittle's bill was
opposed by urban and coastal legislators of both parties as an obvious
effort to roll back years of needed reforms which help coastal businesses by
restoring the fishing industry. Recent good salmon fishing seasons in
California are directly attributable to water reforms in the Central Valley,
which in turn have been driven by ESA listings of the delta smelt and other
fish species in the Delta.
===================================================
(8) POWER PLANNING COUNCIL TAKING COMMENTS UNTIL
JUNE 17TH ON PROPOSED FISH AND WILDLIFE PROJECTS
PORTLAND, Ore., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The Northwest Power
Planning Councilis inviting public comments on a list of projects to protect
and enhance fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin. The projects
were prioritized by state, federal and Indian tribal fishery managers for
funding by the Bonneville Power Administration in Fiscal Year 1997,
which begins September 1, 1996.
The public comment period ends on June 17. After that, the fishery
managers will review comments and submit a final list of projects to the
Council for approval in August. For a copy of the draft list of projects,
call
the Council's central office in Portland, 800-222-3355, and request
Document 96-9. Written comments may be addressed to Mark Walker,
Public Affairs Director, Northwest Power Planning Council, 851 S.W.
Sixth Avenue, Suite 1100, Portland, OR, 97201.
The region's fishery managers are prioritizing projects in response to an
agreement last fall between the Clinton administration and Congress. That
agreement established a fixed budget for the Bonneville Power
Administration's efforts to protect and enhance fish and wildlife in the
Columbia River Basin.
In the budget agreement, Bonneville agreed to provide over the next six
years an average of $252 million per year to fund fish and wildlife projects
-- dam modifications, improvements to fish hatcheries and habitats,
research, monitoring and evaluation programs, and more. In addition,
Bonneville's fish and wildlife budget pays for hydropower that could not be
generated because water is held in storage reservoirs in winter for release
in the spring to help juvenile salmon migrate to the ocean. Under average
water conditions, these so-called "foregone revenues" will total $183
million a year, bringing the average annual fish and wildlife budget to $435
million.
Approximately half of the $252 million that will be spent on projects is
obligated to work imposed by Congress or through the Endangered
Species Act. Examples include funding for the Lower Snake River
Compensation Program hatcheries and the construction debt for fish
ladders and screens at the federal dams. The remainder, about $127
million, is available to pay for other projects. The current prioritization
process will determine which projects will be funded from that $127
million.
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END OF THIS ISSUE
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