06/15/05 Renewed debate on the Lower Snake,Pt.3

As the debate over management of the Columbia  Lower Snake River system heats up, so might the maneuvering. Environmental groups have done such maneuvering, and with a degree of success in recent weeks, in a court of law. But those who support no proposed breeching of the lower Snake River dams, especially several members of the Northwest Congressional delegation, are talking about some maneuvering of their own. That includes calls to the Bush Administration to appeal U.S. District Court Judge James Redden's rejection of the Columbia-Lower Snake system biological opinion on fish recovery, and threats of Congressional action ranging from funding limits for implementation of policies to long-term Endangered Species Act reform. As the maneuvering from both sides continues there are heightened discussions centered on the reason for this debate in the first place & endangered salmon and steelhead runs. And those discussions don't just include arguments but perhaps solutions. Virgil Lewis of the Yakima Indian Nation describes one method his people are attempting to add more fish and resolve some debate. LEWIS: If every hatchery in the Pacific Northwest would take wild salmon and raise that fish and release it into the river, and then have that fish come back not through the hatchery, if you would continue to use wild fish, and put it back into the system, then economically you're going to build that wild fish up to a level to where it can be taken off the Endangered Species List, and then you can continue to improve the economy by doing that. Lewis and others will contend science shows there is a differentiation between wild and hatchery salmon, while others argue science shows there is no such genetic differentiation. Dam breeching is a position tribal entities such as the Yakima and Nez Perce either fully support or maintain as a viable option to improve fish runs based on salmon's historical, and even religious legacy to many of the Northwest tribes. Yet, between the fishing rights of tribes and allocations for commercial and sport fishing operations, and natural affects on fish populations such as oceanic conditions, some like Representative Doc Hastings of Washington questions how E.S.A. protections can ever truly be implemented under current circumstances. HASTINGS: If the idea is to return fish and particularly try to recover endangered fish, then why do we harvest those fish that are endangered? I think that is a very legitimate question that needs to be responded to. The continuing debate, and perhaps a new effort to find common ground, is discussed in our next program.