Bush policy errs on salmon protection

[TFinalshot]

I'm not saying, I'm just saying. . . . I'm sensing a pattern here; Bush policy = illegal . . . when it comes to wildlife and environmental protection, and partiot act, and wire tapping, oh and the police action in Iraq and the failure in Louisiana, and the, "final throws," & "Major conflict in Iraq is over," and so on, this Bush/Cheney outfit is a complete embarrassment to the human kind. . .

. . . and Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Fly Fishers are not exactly liberal organizations. . . .



Judge: Bush policy errs on species protection

By Alex Fryer
Seattle Times education reporter

A federal judge in Seattle has overturned a Bush administration policy under which federal agencies considered the numbers of hatchery-bred salmon and steelhead when weighing whether to extend species protections.

District Judge John Coughenour ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service erred when it listed upper Columbia River steelhead as threatened instead of endangered.

The "threatened" listing was based on a decision by the government to count millions of hatchery fish alongside wild salmon when determining what protections to place on several Washington state runs.

Coughenour maintained there is a difference between hatchery and wild fish, and said government policy must be focused on preserving natural life cycles.

"Though it scarcely seems open to debate, the Court concludes that in evaluating any policy or listing determination under the ESA [Endangered Species Act], its pole star must be the viability of naturally self-sustaining populations in their naturally-occurring habitat," Coughenour wrote.

"To be sure, the inclusion of hatchery fish alongside natural fish ... strikes the Court as odd."

Environmentalists heralded Wednesday's decision, while a property-rights group vowed to file an appeal.

Against the advice of many scientists, the National Marine Fisheries Service published its proposed policy for considering hatchery-bred fish in endangered-species listings in 2004.

The agency received more than 27,000 comments on the policy.

A few environmental and recreational groups, including Trout Unlimited, the Sierra Club and Federation of Fly Fishers, filed a lawsuit to reverse the administration's decision.

"We're naturally a little disappointed," said Brian Gorman, a National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman in Seattle. "I just don't know what the next steps will be until the analysis is complete."

Jan Hasselman, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the ruling was important, but he did not foresee immediate land-use or regulatory changes.

Efforts to save upper Columbia River steelhead could include increased fishing restrictions and dam management.

"Hatcheries never were meant to be a replacement for self-sustaining populations of salmon in healthy streams," he said.

Sonya Jones, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights group that repeatedly has sued to overturn Endangered Species Act listings, said the group was "quite surprised" by the judge's ruling.

Her group was preparing to file an appeal, Jones said.

"If this decision stands, it opens up a floodgate of listing decisions," she said. "One more time, the ESA is used to regulate the use of private property."

Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton contributed to this report.

Alex Fryer: 206-464-8124 or [email protected]

Copyright ? 2007 The Seattle Times Company



"Roadless areas, in general, represent some of the best fish and wildlife habitat on public lands. The bad news is that there is nothing positive about a road where fish and wildlife habitat are concerned -- absolutely nothing." (B&C Professor, Jack Ward Thomas, Fair Chase, Fall 2005, p.10).

 

[proutdoors]

I disagree with the whole endangered species/threatened species garbage to begin with. Then add in the judge involved IS liberal and I disagree with you on the political leanings of Trout Unlimited, they sure are NOT conservative in their politics.

Ms Jones stated the ONE truth in the article, "If this decision stands, it opens up a floodgate of listing decisions," she said. "One more time, the ESA is used to regulate the use of private property."

The ESA is a vehicle liberals use to circumvent property rights and prevent logging, farming, hunting, and many other "conservative" items. The ESA is one of the WORST federal programs out there, and that is saying something!

Let me have it TF. I can take it.

PRO

 

[Dmanmastertracker]

Doesn't matter, Lib, or Conservative. It was a bad decision. No scientist on earth will agree with you that hatchery fish should be treated with the same protections that wild fish have, period. Washington State has very few ESA listed runs to begin with, so one or two more higher listing's won't amount to much in the big picture as far as sacrifice by sportsmen. Tony will blast me for this, but Wa's biggest ESA threat right now is still tribal gillnets. You can't release a dead fish.

"The ESA is a vehicle liberals use to circumvent property rights and prevent logging, farming, hunting, and many other "conservative" items."

Not so, Firstly, who ever has stated that logging is "conservative"? Many not considered conservative in office have been pro logging with sound forest management practices, the issue is, the last time Bush came to the PNW to preach his "timber plan" everyone laughed and then turned a deaf ear. He has not a clue how the system works, he proposed clear cutting outlying old growth areas well away from E. Wa. towns, stating this would make towns like Roslyn safer from forest fire. Hogwash, everyone saw the agenda, besides we NEED forest fires in remote areas to keep the forest's healthy. From my involvement in fisheries, I have never understood Bush's approach, close hatcheries because they'r evil (translates as costing him money), then relax ESA restrictions for development reason's, setting habitat preservation backward's two decades at least.