Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Wet 'n Wild, Or Wet 'n Farmed?

Guess who's trying to eliminate the distinction between farmed and wild salmon for the purposes of endangered species protection? You guessed it. From www.stopextinction.org:
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“Hearings on a federal policy on hatchery salmon and on changes to protections for wild salmon will be held around California over the next month,” reported the Eureka Times-Standard, 9/20.  The proposed Bush Administration policy would count hatchery fish as the same as wild salmon when considering their populations for protection under the Endangered Species Act.  There are 27 populations of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead on the West Coast.  Earlier this year, “75 U.S. lawmakers demanded that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration include both independent scientists and the public in making the policy” because “the administration was ignoring experts and people whose livelihoods would be affected by it.”  
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