{"id":519178,"date":"2010-04-02T14:19:45","date_gmt":"2010-04-02T18:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/?p=755"},"modified":"2010-04-02T14:19:45","modified_gmt":"2010-04-02T18:19:45","slug":"salmon-mean-congressional-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/519178","title":{"rendered":"Salmon Mean Congressional Business"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Senior Attorney and California Water Legislative Director<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s all about jobs, community, family and food. But one sign at the rally didn\u2019t say, \u201cTurn On The Pumps.\u201d It said, \u201cSalmon Mean Business.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was an extraordinary scene at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center yesterday, and I'm not referring to the excellent spread provided by Bay Area\u2019s premier seafood restaurants or the massive inflated salmon. Hundreds of angry, anxious and stormy fishermen representing ports covering most of the Pacific Coast converged in San Francisco to tell their stories to the third-highest ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, Rep. George Miller, and other legislators. They came waving home-made signs and holding their kids by the hand, and they came with their stories of economic devastation and community decline. <\/p>\n

For hours, Rep. Miller who was joined by Congressman Mike Thompson, State Assemblyman Jared Huffman and a rep from Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey\u2019s office listened to fishermen talk about how the decline in salmon populations — due in large part to how California manages its water supply — has affected their businesses, their lives and their dinner tables. <\/p>\n

Fishermen can be notoriously independent–\u201cThat\u2019s why we fish,\u201d one said–but yesterday\u2019s salmon summit demonstrated an astounding level of community cohesiveness. <\/p>\n

The event brought together commercial and recreational fishermen, and a wide array of businesses and industries that rely on a healthy and robust salmon fishery to support their families: fish processors; marine equipment businesses; harbors and ports. <\/p>\n

A bait-and-tackle shop owner grew emotional describing his fear that without fast governmental action to reverse salmon declines, he could lose the business his family has nurtured for decades. A party boat fisherman noted that his work is the economic engine for these communities, supporting not only fishing-related businesses but virtually all parts of the coastal economy and attracting people from all over the country. <\/p>\n

A port master said that 70 percent of the boats in his harbor are fishing boats. "People are not just going out on the Pacific to float around," he said to laughter. Restaurateurs passionately pleaded with the Congress members not to stand by while salmon are driven to extinction, replaced by the far inferior farmed fish. \u201cCustomers expect to see wild salmon on our menus! San Francisco is a seafood town!\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislators got the message. As Congressman Miller said, "This is no April Fool\u2019s joke – the situation facing our coastal communities is serious.\u201d He went on to say that 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\u2019s a very important message for Congress to hear \u2013 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\u2019t go back to the old way of doing business \u2013 water grabs based on politics."<\/p>\n

While some legislators have dismissed these businesses as the \u201csupposed fishing industry,\u201d yesterday\u2019s summit made clear that fishermen represent real people, real jobs, real communities, and yes, really good food. <\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senior Attorney and California Water Legislative Director It\u2019s all about jobs, community, family and food. But one sign at the rally didn\u2019t say, \u201cTurn On The Pumps.\u201d It said, \u201cSalmon Mean Business.\u201d It was an extraordinary scene at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center yesterday, and I'm not referring to the excellent spread provided by Bay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4273,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-519178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4273"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}