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Washington, DC— U.S. Representatives David Wu, Peter DeFazio, Darlene Hooley, Earl Blumenauer and Democratic members of the California congressional delegation, introduced a bill today to provide emergency disaster assistance to salmon fishers devastated by fishing closures along the West Coast. The bill also attacks the root of the problem that led to this year’s slashed season by directing the federal government to develop and implement a Klamath River salmon restoration plan.
"The situation we face today illustrates this administration's hostility to science and our way of life in Oregon. No approach, other than a policy based on better up-river water management and habitat restoration, will ever restore the Klamath fall Chinook run," said Congressman Wu. "But we can't just sit and wait for a day that may never come. It is imperative we get assistance to our fishing communities. Each day boats are docked and not out on the water, fishermen, their families, entire communities and Oregon's economy suffer."
The bill would provide $81 million in direct economic disaster relief to help fishers and others whose livelihoods have been impacted by the closures. It also provides $45 million for restoration and mitigation in the Klamath River system to help alleviate some of the problems plaguing the river and salmon decline.
Congressman Wu continued, "This bill, together with Governor Kulongoski's emergency declaration, brings our effort one step closer in getting coastal fishermen the relief they need and implementing real solutions for long-term salmon recovery."
In 2002, the Bush administration’s mismanagement of the Klamath River resulted in a record fish kill that claimed 80,000 adult salmon. Experts have directly attributed the adult fish kill and a parasitic infection affecting spring juveniles, as resulting from poor federal management of the river, and thereby being responsible for the low salmon returns estimated for this year.
On April 6, 2006 the Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended that the 2006 commercial salmon season be drastically reduced. The decision will severely affect ocean and in-river salmon fisheries along 700 miles of coastline, from Point Falcon, Oregon to Big Sur, California. The economic impact to coastal communities is expected to be devastating.
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