Re: NANFA-- summary of Klamath River flow ruling and status

Bruce Stallsmith (fundulus_at_hotmail.com)
Tue, 07 May 2002 13:56:02 -0400

<x-flowed>
Interestingly, mainstream Republicans like the Bush administration seem to
support selected "socialist" schemes for certain constituencies, mostly
notably farmers. That's the only good explanation for the federal
government's position on the Klamath Basin water supply, since these farmers
would tend to be a Republican constituency. In the bigger picture, the
just-passed Senate bill reinstituting agricultural price supports is a good
example. The farmers who benefit from this policy change are largely in
states that recently showed up as red in the 2000 presidential election,
i.e. Republican. This begs the question, are Pacific commercial fisherman a
Democratic constituency? I honestly don't know; these fishermen are
certainly taking a hit on this issue.

--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A

> The current fishermen's lawsuit is only the first test of the Bureau
>of
>Reclamation's 10-year water plan, and only challenged flows for the month
>of
>May 2002. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is expected to
>release a "jeopardy" opinion soon on the water plan itself, requiring
>considerably higher in-river flows to remain in the river to prevent salmon
>extinction. This NMFS BiOp is, however, now almost a month overdue and
>there are rumors it is being blocked for political reasons by
>Administration
>officials because it will require far more water to the lower river than
>the
>Bureau is proposing or willing to give up. The Bureau's water plan cannot
>be
>finalized, however, until after both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
>the National Marine Fisheries Service have finalized their respective
>BiOps,
>which must be completed by the expiration dates of the current "interim
>measures" on June 1. For more information on the ruling contact: Glen
>Spain, PCFFA Northwest, (541)689-2000 or by email to: fish1ifr_at_aol.com.
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
</x-flowed>