[env-trinity] Angling Groups Hope for Fish Restoration Under Obama

[Dan Bacher]

  Angling Groups Hope for Fish Restoration Under Obama
by Dan Bacher

The election of Barrack Obama on November 4 in one of the most  
contentious presidential elections in U.S. history will have wide- 
ranging implications for California and West Coast fisheries,  
especially for those in northern California.

Sportsmen were on both sides of the battle, with Sportsmen for Obama  
and other organizations working hard for an Obama election victory  
and others, such as the National Rifle Association, campaigning for  
McCain. However, the election is over, the voters have chosen Obama  
and anglers need to make sure that our needs and input are heard in  
the new Obama administration that takes power on January 21, 2009.

Neither Obama nor McCain are avid outdoorsmen, although Obama, in a  
September interview in Field and Stream, said he frequently spear  
fished with his stepfather while he was a child in Hawaii. Hopefully,  
Obama will make a dramatic break with 8 years of anti-fish policies  
by the Bush administration that have resulted in fish kills, massive  
fishing closures and wholesale evisceration of public trust fishing  
rights in California.

In his interviews and public statements, Obama has consistently  
affirmed his commitment to fishing and hunting.

In an interview with Outdoor Life published on September 28, Obama  
said,  “While I did not grow up hunting and fishing, I recognize the  
great conservation legacy of America’s hunters and anglers. Were it  
not for America’s hunters and anglers, including great icons like  
Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold, our nation would not have the  
tradition of sound game management and an extensive public lands  
estate on which to hunt and fish.”

Likewise, on National Hunting and Fishing Day this year, Obama said,   
“Hunting and fishing are not just recreational pursuits, and they are  
part of our national heritage. As President, I will protect the right  
to bear arms, increase access to places to hunt and fish, take on  
polluters and clean up our streams and lakes, and protect our  
nation’s important wildlife habitat and wetlands. I will enhance  
programs that encourage young people to hunt and fish and respect and  
protect the outdoors.”

Many sportsmen are greatly relieved that a new regime will be moving  
into Washington to replace the Bush administration, one of the worst- 
ever for fisheries and fishing rights in U.S. history.  “It’s like a  
big weight has been lifted off our country with the departure of the  
Bush administration,” said Cal Kellogg, Fish Sniffer Associate Editor.

The Bush administration was notable for engineering the Klamath River  
fish kill of 2002, the largest fishery disaster of its kind in U.S.  
history. Over 68,000 salmon perished in low, water conditions spurred  
by a change in water policy that favored agribusiness over fish,  
fishermen, Indian Tribes and downstream water users.

Central Valley rivers were  closed to salmon fishing for the first  
time in history this year, due to the collapse of Central Valley fall  
chinook salmon. Delta pelagic species including delta smelt, longfin  
smelt, juvenile striped bass, and threadfin shad have plummeted to  
record low population levels, due to increased water exports, toxic  
chemicals and invasive species.

And many examples of political manipulation of biological science by  
Bush administration officials to favor the timber, agribusiness and  
mining industries at the expense of our public trust fisheries have  
been showcased over the last 8 years in this and other publications.  
In a parting shot, the Bush administration is attempting to rewrite  
the Endangered Species Act at the expense of imperiled fish, wildlife  
ad plants.


Fishing Groups See Healthy Fish Populations as Vital to a Healthy  
Economy

It will take a monumental effort and many years to restore our  
fisheries just to the level that they were in 2001 when Bush took  
office, but it must be done! What do key leaders in fishing and  
conservation organizations think about the prospects of the new  
administration that goes into office on January 21?

“I’m very encouraged, from what I’ve heard so far, that the policies  
of Obama will deal with many of the environmental disasters that we  
have seen in California under the Bush administration,” said Dick  
Pool, coordinator of Water for Fish (www.water4fish.org.). “I look  
forward to him appointing fair and attentive leaders attuned to the  
need for fishery restoration to key posts, particularly the  
Secretaries of Interior and Commerce. I got my fingers crossed that  
the situation with our fisheries will improve under an Obama  
administration.”

John Beuttler, conservation director of the California Sportfishing  
Protection Alliance, is cautiously optimistic about the future over  
California fisheries under Obama.

“I don’t think that Obama will let politics override biological  
science like the last administration did,” he said. “However, it will  
be difficult to assess what anybody could do with the financial  
situation we’re in now, due to the collapse of the mortgage loan   
industry. We have an economic crisis on hand that could impact  
funding for federal and fish and wildlife programs.”

Beuttler looks at the incoming administration as an opportunity for  
anglers to demonstrate the billions of dollars that the restoration  
of Central Valley salmon and Bay-Delta Estuary fish populations will  
contribute to the economy.

“We need an economic stimulus in all sectors of the economy – and we  
have the opportunity to make the case to our government of the  
benefits of California fisheries to the economy - if they are  
properly managed. This would stand in stark contrast to the way our  
fisheries have been managed under the previous regime,” he said.

"We look forward to working with the Obama Administration and the new  
Congress," said Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast  
Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA).  "We were concerned  
that McCain might have kept some of the Bush folks that had declared  
war on the environment and the fisheries.  Bush talked a good line to  
recreational fishermen and fish processors, but behind the scenes,  
his policies were destroying the fish stocks we depend on."

"Moreover," Grader continued, "the 'drill, baby, drill' mantra of  
Bush, McCain, Palin and the oil companies scared hell out of us, as  
did the Bushies promotion of offshore fish farming and privatizing  
fish stocks – turning fishermen into sharecroppers. Obama is a  
welcome change."

Steve Evans, conservation director of Friends of the River in  
Sacramento, was also optimistic about environmental prospects under  
the incoming administration, although he tempered it with concerns  
about some of Obama's positions on energy issues.

"The expected focus of the Obama Administration on energy and global  
warming is hugely positive given the previous administration’s  
position of denial," said Evans. "But President-Elect Obama’s views  
on some key issues do raise a few red flags in regard to rivers,  
including his strong support for water-consumptive ethanol as an  
alternative fuel, as well as on renewable energy (which could  
possibly include river-damaging hydroelectric energy produced by big  
dams).”

He is encouraging fish and river advocates to "take every opportunity  
to educate the new administration on common sense environmental  
solutions, before firm positions are made."


Key Environmental Posts: Sportsmen Endorse Mike Thompson for Interior  
Secretary

The Obama staff is moving quickly to appoint key members of the  
transition team and cabinet. His transition team is focusing first on  
top West Wing staff and his economic and national security teams in  
the 76-day transition period. Democratic Party officials are unsure  
when Obama will make the selection to key environmental posts.

Obama has appointed John Podesta, former Clinton Chief of Staff from  
1998 to 2001, as the co-chair of his transition team. Podesta is an  
outspoken advocate of an end to government secrecy and serves on the  
board of the League of Conservation Voters. LCV credited him with  
cleaning up twice as many toxic waste sites during the Clinton  
administration than in the previous 12 years.

“Podesta started transition planning several months ago out of his  
office at the Center for American Progress in Washington. On energy  
and environmental issues, Podesta is leaning on two of his former  
colleagues from the Clinton era: former U.S. EPA Administrator Carol  
Browner and former Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes,” noted  
Darren Samuelson in the Greenwire on November 5.

In an interview with Field and Stream in September, Obama said that  
he would probably appoint a sportsman or sportswoman to be the  
Secretary of Interior, as well as creating a “sportsmen’s committee”  
that advises Interior and other agencies.

“I think that having a head of the Department of Interior  who  
doesn't understand hunting and fishing would be a problem,” Obama  
said. “And so my suspicion is that whoever heads up the Department of  
Interior is probably going to be a sportsman or sportswoman.”

He continued, “And certainly, the idea of setting up a sportsmen's  
committee that has interaction, interface with various agencies, so  
that perspective informs the EPA, it informs Interior, it informs the  
Department of Energy and other agencies that may have an impact on  
access to public lands and conservation of public lands, I think is  
extremely important.”

Also encouraging is a report in the Huffington Post, November 5, that  
Obama is considering Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for head of the EPA.  
Kennedy is a strong advocate of fish restoration and recreational,  
commercial and tribal fishing rights as the head of the Water Keeper  
organization. His law firm is currently involved in litigation  
against PacifiCorp on the Klamath River for water quality violations.  
Robert Kennedy Jr. said he would serve the next president if asked.

" I would be of service in any way that the administration asked me  
to be," Kennedy told the Post. "But I am also very happy and I  
believe I am being effective doing the stuff I am doing currently."

Ducks Unlimited, the American Sportfishing Association, Bass Pro  
Shops and 29 other groups are urging Obama to appoint Congressman  
Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) as the Interior Secretary. Thompson has  
earned high marks from both sportsmen's and environmental groups. He  
played a key leadership role in obtaining disaster relief for  
recreational and commercial fishermen and related businesses  
devastated by the closure of ocean waters off California and Oregon  
rivers

"You have been forthright in your commitment to sportsmen and making  
their priorities a centerpiece of your land and water conservation  
agenda," they stated in a letter sent to Obama and his transition  
team on November 19. "As you review candidates for Secretary of the  
U.S. Department of the Interior we hope that you will strongly  
consider Congressman Thompson for this important post."

Obama has a good environmental record in the Senate, though his  
record has suffered from his frequent absences while campaigning over  
the past year. The League of Conservation Voters gave him a 67  
percent score for 2007 and an 86 percent “lifetime rating.”

Not only did Obama win, but larger pro-environment majorities were  
elected in both houses of Congress. "These election results just  
confirm what our polls have shown--sportsmen are looking to hear  
about more than just gun rights,” said Sue Brown, executive director  
of the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund. “They want  
conservation candidates who'll champion clean energy solutions. They  
will be looking to our new Congress and new president to deliver  
clear results on clean energy and climate."

The environmental challenges of the incoming presidential  
administration and Congress include stopping the unprecedented  
collapse of Central Valley fall chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin  
smelt, threadfin shad, striped bass and other California Delta fish  
populations. These dramatic population declines were spurred by  
record water exports by the state and federal Delta pumps, declining  
water quality and other factors.

Will the new administration and Congress step up and begin the hard  
work to restore the fisheries - or will they side with Governor  
Arnold Schwarzenegger and corporate agribusiness and allow these  
populations to descend into the abyss of extinction?

Now is the time for anglers and conservationists to put exert  
political pressure on Congress and the incoming administration to  
make sure that the needs of fish, wildlife and sportsmen are  
aggressively served in the coming years!
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