From: EcoNet (via Jym Dyer) <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,alt.native,talk.environment,ca.environment
Subject: NEWS: Harshest Salmon Laws Yet (But Sharks Doing Better?)
Followup-To: alt.native,talk.environment,ca.environment
Date: 29 Sep 1992 18:41:15 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: jym@remarque.berkeley.edu

[From EcoNet ecotopia.news Conference]

Harshest Salmon Rules Yet

by Tim McKay

On the heels of no commercial salmon season off the Humboldt
coast, and the shortest ocean salmon season ever, rules imposed
on in-stream fishing on the Klamath River will be the toughest
ever.

Only one fish a day, up to three a week, will be the limit
until a total of 802 adult king or chinook are taken.  In-stream
quotas for the Yurok, Karuk and Hupa tribes will be limited to
4,900 fish.

Exacerbating the fishery woes of the region, water flows in the
Klamath River were at all-time lows due to agricultural
diversions in the upper Klamath basin.

At a stopover in Humboldt County last month, campaigning Senator
John Seymour was questioned by commercial fishing interests
about getting more flow in the Klamath.  He said he supported
rules to increase flows in the Trinity River but opposed
legislation advocated by North Coast Congressman Frank Riggs
to establish flows in the law.

                        "It's Sea Lions"

Seymour then volunteered that the salmon decline was due to
federal protection for sea lions, and went on to blast the
Endangered Species Act.

While some individual fishermen agree, the majority see
water-for-agriculture diversions and damage to spawning
habitat as the primary cause of salmon decline.

Barry Nelson, coordinator of Share the Water, a coalition of
environmental and fishery groups, recently charged that "Senator
Seymour is not the senator from California.  He is the senator
for welfare agriculture."

Patty McCleary of the Sierra Club notes that records show
Seymour received $198,857 from organized agriculture groups
through March 31 -- or 96% of the ag money given to Senate
candidates for the 1992 primary.

Seymour has championed a bill in the Senate that would thwart
reform of the Central Valley Project (CVP).  His bill, according
to McCleary, would leave Californians paying 99% of the CVP
costs while growers get 90% of the water.

                         Sharks Spared

Meanwhile, sea lions and surfers alike should note that for
the first time the California Fish and Game Commission has put
a limit on the number of sharks that may be taken by fishing.
The move reflects a worldwide concern at the decline of sharks,
which mature slowly and produce few young.

In a salmon-related note, the Humboldt County Board of
Supervisors voted 5-0 to close the Prairie Creek Fish Hatchery
after most county communities rejected a land parcel tax to
keep the financially strapped facility in operation.

Unless the operation is taken over by the California Department
of Fish and Game, which has its own financial woes, the hatchery
is expected to close on October 1.

(From ECONEWS, Newsletter of the Northcoast Environmental
Center, September 1992. Write 879 9th St., Arcata, CA 95521,
or e-mail nec@igc.apc.org, for a free copy.)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,soc.culture.latin-america