And it will take the delicate surgical touch they have used in hundreds of other cases where they had to balance the needs of local economies with the needs of endangered species. If we work at cross purposes on this, we will have only the mutually assured destruction of the last remnant populations of wild Atlantic salmon in the United States. The lack of personnel and funding for the state plan has created a self-fulfilling prophecy, rationalized by saying there is no ''pure species'' left to save, anyway. I respectfully disagree with the notion that salmon are not endangered because millions live in aquaculture cages. Summarizing the issue as ''Portland mice are the same as Waterville mice'' is an uncharacteristic oversimplification by the governor.
House mice scuttle out from under the refrigerator, munch a few scraps and scuttle back.
The salmon is a truly amazing creature, whose marvelous adaptation is most visible as it jumps 10 feet over a waterfall, but whose complex and almost entirely hidden lifestyle has evolved over many millions of years. It is finely tuned to home river chemistry and food chains, changing food preferences and protective coloration multiple times. Its entire physiology shifts during migration from fresh river waters to salty northern seas. Even its parasites can't make the change and are replaced by new ones. Young salmon must somehow determine when to leave the nursery, find feeding grounds thousands of miles away, grow to maturity and return home with enormous precision.