04/02/07 Paying to feed the seals & no CRP

Taxpayers in the Northwest have been paying millions of dollars each year to protect the salmon runs. But it seems that act has resulted in a smorgasbord for the sea lion population. A bill was introduced last Thursday that would allow the killing of the more aggressive sea lions. The rub is that while the salmon & steelhead are listed as threatened or protected under the Endangered Species Act sea lions are a protected species but not listed. Washington Representative Brian Baird says something needs to be done. BAIRD: We need to restore wild salmon to sustainable levels, but as we spend billions of dollars throughout our region and we still face declining numbers, we need to approach the problem in a different way. Oregon's Congressman Greg Walden agrees. WALDEN: It makes you wonder what happens here between the harvests that go on of these wild fish as well as the predation that takes place in the river system when the sea lions eat them and destroy tens of thousands of them in the river system and out in the ocean, what is it that we need to do to be better stewards of these salmon runs? Ag Secretary Mike Johanns on Friday said that U.S. farmers intend to increase corn plantings in 2007 by 15% and therefore: JOHANNS: In light of this information, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will not offer penalty free early releases from Conservation Reserve Program contracts at this time. As circumstances exist today, I would not anticipate a change in this policy in 2007. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. Like most Americans in my vintage the majority of my summers as a kid were spent in the sun, for my family it was boating and my folks have already begun to pay for years of dark tans by having small skin cancers removed. I know I'll be right behind them due to an early obsession with tanning yet the results of a new study regarding skin cancer prove encouraging, especially in light of the fact I have enjoyed more than my share of grapes in the form of red wine over the years. Research from the University of Alabama suggests that the consumption of grape seeds could help prevent skin cancers. Two groups of hairless mice were exposed to UV rays, those feed a supplement of grape seeds called GSP's had 65 percent fewer tumors then mice in the control group. Since our obsession with tans now accounts for more than one million new melanoma and non-melanomas skin cancers each year grape seeds could prove quite the skin cancer breakthrough. If all the sediment I see at the bottom of glass of red wine glass contains some GSP I have been pleasantly protecting my skin cells. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.