Fishermen Tell Lawmakers "Salmon Mean Business" At Summit

Press Release

The Salmon Fisherman's summit, held today in San Francisco, made one thing very clear, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) said: "Salmon do mean business."

Miller, who was joined by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa) and other lawmakers, heard from hundreds of men and women in the fishing industry and coastal communities that the West Coast pacific fishing industry is being decimated by years of harmful water policy that has not taken into account the needs of wild salmon, steelhead, and other key fish populations.

The summit started only hours after a federal court ruled that the Obama administration's protections for California's Bay-Delta must stay in place to avoid hurting protected steelhead and salmon populations, and denied a request for federal water pumps in the Central Valley to be turned up. Judge Oliver Wanger stated in his ruling that "the economic pain and hardship has been no less for the fishing community" than it has been elsewhere in the state.

"This is no April Fool's joke - the situation facing our coastal communities is serious." Miller said after the summit. "We have an obligation to base our water policy decisions on the science and to take into account the needs of these Northern California families, businesses, and communities. It's a very important message for Congress to hear -- the drought and prior water management decisions are severely affecting fishing businesses and families all over the west coast.

"What the Bay-Delta ecosystem needs now is a science-based comprehensive program that tackles the challenges before us in a coordinated fashion. We can't go back to the old way of doing business -- water grabs based on politics.

"We can develop flexible policies to balance both the demands of the economy and the environment -- it's possible if people don't get too greedy.

"But that means we all must start considering our great Bay-Delta the same way we've considered the threats to the Everglades, the Chesapeake and other places of national significance."

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