In this respect, fishery managers are the guardians of the salmon just as federal and state forestry agencies are guardians of the forest. The National Marine Fisheries Service in particular has a built-in conflict of interest when it comes to protecting salmon as wild animals. NMFS has the authority, delegated from the Secretary of Commerce, to protect threatened and endangered salmon under the Endangered Species Act. This has all the wisdom of the federal policy toward tobacco, which for many years subsidized its growth while at the same time discouraging its use. Organizations selectively produce and sustain information favorable to them . . .
Contrary assessments tend to be systemmatically filtered out.
Although Professor Bella was talking about the resource agencies' treatment of his ecological concerns, he describes precisely what has happened to the scientific information presented in this book. Over the years, the harvest agencies have become more and more blatant about using their authority under the Endangered Species Act to extract money from dam operators. BPA paid up. By 1997, NMFS had expanded the shakedown to the Oregon State Legislature. They want additional regulatory authority to improve salmon habitat too.