![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So as of yesterday the indications were that the salmon season will in fact be cancelled. The Fisheries Management meetings in Seattle made a statement that pretty much said so.
Meanwhile, read this to see why it's all Karl Rove's fault. Or, take my word for it: for the last several years the Bush administration has been giving the okay to projects diverting the water out of the Klamath mostly for agriculture. The result is that the Klamath is too shallow and warm to support the salmon run -- bacteria proliferate which are dangerous to the salmon and they die in vast numbers. And the demand to divert more water comes from Republican politicians in Oregon, and Karl Rove smoothes the way for them.
I've started trying to read the Pacific Coast Salmon Plan which is seventy-eight pages in pdf form but so far I've gotten only to the part where they're defining overfishing.
But let's be clear, here: the problem with Klamath salmon is not overfishing: it's degradation of the Klamath.
The thing is, agriculture does not need to destroy the environment. Water conservation does not cause fields to dry up and blow away -- squandering water does. Toxic runoff and excessive evaporation are avoidable. Fields can be located and managed so as to use water well. But the knee-jerk reaction -- "development requires water, agriculture requires water, give all the water over or we'll all starve" puts everyone and everything in jeopardy, not just the cute little cohos and chinooks.
On another front: 1700 words, on a little sidetrack story set in the universe of Esperanza Highway, and I have been thinking about what to do next about all my poor unread little orphans.
Meanwhile, read this to see why it's all Karl Rove's fault. Or, take my word for it: for the last several years the Bush administration has been giving the okay to projects diverting the water out of the Klamath mostly for agriculture. The result is that the Klamath is too shallow and warm to support the salmon run -- bacteria proliferate which are dangerous to the salmon and they die in vast numbers. And the demand to divert more water comes from Republican politicians in Oregon, and Karl Rove smoothes the way for them.
I've started trying to read the Pacific Coast Salmon Plan which is seventy-eight pages in pdf form but so far I've gotten only to the part where they're defining overfishing.
But let's be clear, here: the problem with Klamath salmon is not overfishing: it's degradation of the Klamath.
The thing is, agriculture does not need to destroy the environment. Water conservation does not cause fields to dry up and blow away -- squandering water does. Toxic runoff and excessive evaporation are avoidable. Fields can be located and managed so as to use water well. But the knee-jerk reaction -- "development requires water, agriculture requires water, give all the water over or we'll all starve" puts everyone and everything in jeopardy, not just the cute little cohos and chinooks.
On another front: 1700 words, on a little sidetrack story set in the universe of Esperanza Highway, and I have been thinking about what to do next about all my poor unread little orphans.