[env-trinity] SalmonAid Festival Puts Spotlight on Need For Fish Restoration

Thu Jun 19 09:41:44 PDT 2008

SalmonAid Festival Puts Spotlight on Need For Fish Restoration

Photo: Murkie Oliver, Yurok Tribal Elder, cooks salmon over an open fire
the traditional way in the kick off event to the SalmonAid Festival.
Photo by Dan Bacher.

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SalmonAid Festival Puts Spotlight on Urgent Need For Fish Restoration

by Dan Bacher

A unique coalition of recreational anglers, commercial fisherman,
members of Indian Tribes and conservationists came together from
throughout California and the West Coast to sponsor the SalmonAid
Festival on May 31 and June 1 in Jack London Square in Oakland.

The event aimed to draw attention to the ongoing salmon fisheries
disaster on the Klamath, Sacramento, Columbia and other West Coast
rivers. This year, due to record low numbers of salmon expected to
return to the Central Valley Rivers because of increases in California
Delta water exports and other factors, all commercial and recreational
ocean fishing is banned off the California and most of Oregon.

The event was the brainchild of Mike Hudson, a commercial salmon
fisherman and president of the Small Boat Commercial Fishermens
Association. Hudson wanted to use the event as a venue to highlight the
economic, cultural, and culinary value of salmon and to bring diverse
groups together to work for their restoration.

This really all came together, didnt it? said a very happy Hudson as we
watched Les Claypool, Bay Area alternative rock royalty and Primus
front-man, start playing before the largest crowd gathered before any
act in the square on Saturday.

The festival, advertised as a family-style event, drew over 20,000
people during the two days. Big Rick Stuart, KFOG disk jockey, emceed
SalmonAid.

It was a total smashing success, observed Hudson, a blues musician who
performs with Mike and the Sea Kings. It was a giant first step in
educating people about the need to save our salmon and other fisheries.
With all of the favorable press we received in newspapers, TV and radio
outlets, I feel that we won our first battle in a long drawn out war to
restore our salmon and our rivers.

Claypool, whose thumping bass lines and unique worldview have become the
calling cards for a number of wildly successful and influential albums
in the last two decades, high lined a diverse roster of twenty bands on
two live outdoor stages at the event.

"The Pacific salmon is an icon and inspiration for a lot of us on the
West Coast and it's one of my favorite foods," said Claypool, who
regularly sport fishes for salmon off the northern California coast.
"But today we're in danger of losing this incredible fish. The bands at
SalmonAid played to help ensure that wild Pacific salmon will always be
around and to help protect the rivers where salmon live."

Members of three Klamath River Indian Tribes - the Yurok, Karuk and
Hoopa Valley - hosted a traditional salmon bake for the public at Ocean
Beach in San Francisco the night before to show support for the
festival. Murkie Oliver, Yurok Tribal Elder, and Earl Aubrey, Karuk
Tribal Elder, carefully cooked the big strips of freshly caught Klamath
River spring chinook salmon on redwood sticks next to an open fire.

Ken Brink, Rabbit Brink, J.J Reed, Tuffy Tims, and David Goodwin of the
Karuk Tribe helped with the cooking. The salmon was delicious, with
everybody going back for seconds and thirds. Salmon cooked in the
traditional manner like they did is the absolute best way to prepare it.
Rabbit and Ken Brink also perfumed traditional songs with drum
accompaniment after the bake.

"The time has come for real solutions like curtailing pumping freshwater
from the Bay-Delta and the removal of Warren Buffett's lower four
Klamath River dams," said Ron Reed, Karuk cultural biologist and
traditional dip net fisherman, drawing the close connection between
fishery failures on the Klamath and Sacramento.

Musical acts featured at the event included the Zydeco Flames, Stacy
Kray, Sizemo, Saul Kaye, Captain Zohar, Tia Carroll, Manaleo, Captain
Mike and The Sea Kings, Asheba, John Craigie, The Bobby Young Project,
Eliyahu and Qadim.

Congressman Barbara Lee (CA-9) showed her support for the event by
issuing a statement that included the following:

"The economic stability of our local fishing industry affects the
financial health of our entire community, and the environmental
conditions fish and wildlife face certainly affect the human population
directly. We cannnot separate public health, economic health, and
environmental health. To take care of one, we must take care of them
all. SalmonAid 2008 shines as a much needed light on this important and
urgent issue."

The Coastside Fishing Club, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens
Associations, Institute for Fishery Resources, American Fishing
Association, Water for Fish, California Sportfishing Protection
Alliance, Trout Unlimited, Alameda Creek Alliance, Klamath Riverkeeper,
SPAWN, Save Our Wild Salmon, Friends of Butte Creek and other fishery
conservation and environmental organizations set up tables and displays.
A dedicated crew of anglers, including Gary Adams of the California
Striped Bass Association, Bob Mellinger of Cloverdale, John Webb of
Sacramento and George Sacsa of Berkeley, gathered thousands of
signatures for water4fish during the event.

The festival also featured educational forums, children's activities,
speakers and a chance for the public to enjoy wild king salmon served by
some of the West Coast's finest restaurants.

Restaurants including Fish. in Sausalito, The Basin in Saratoga, CA,
Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park, and Local Ocean Seafoods in Newport, OR,
banded together for the event. Alaskan commercial fishermen donated the
wild salmon served at the festival.

For more information about this or next years event, call Mike Hudson,
Organizer of Salmon Aid, (510) 407-2000, or go to 
http://www.salmonaid.org <http://www.salmonaid.org/> .

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