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Vanishing Salmon: Support Healthy Rivers and Relief for Fishing Communities!
Fans of fresh West Coast wild-caught salmon are finding the tasty treat harder to come by this year. The Klamath River’s population of fall chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, has reached such dangerously low levels that the federal government has cut the commercial fishing season along 700 miles of America’s coast (from Northern California to central Oregon) by 90 percent.
Federal mismanagement of the river, a series of fish-killing dams, excessive water diversions, and poor water quality have taken a severe toll on this river system, which once supported one of the largest salmon runs on the West Coast. Plummeting salmon populations have also forced severe restrictions on salmon fishing off the coast of Washington State, further compounding the problem. The result is that nearly the entire West Coast is closed to commercial salmon fishing.
These massive fishing closures will likely have dire consequences for commercial fishing families, as well as hundreds of associated businesses throughout the region.
We need your help! Please sign this petition asking Congress to provide emergency aid to salmon fishermen and to take immediate steps to reverse the decline of the Klamath River, along with other salmon rivers throughout the Pacific states. We will send your members of Congress a copy of this petition so they will understand that you care about protecting wild salmon and the fishermen who depend on them.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Save our West Coast Wild Salmon and Support Relief for Salmon Fishing Communities
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
Salmon fishing communities along 700 miles of the Northern California and Oregon coasts are facing severe economic hardship due to one of the largest single fishery closures in our nation's history.
Federal mismanagement of the Klamath River, including promising too much water to too many users, has devastated this river system, which once supported one of the largest salmon runs on the West Coast. The federal government has determined that a near-total commercial salmon fishing closure is needed this year to protect what remains of the Klamath River's salmon. And experts do not foresee salmon populations recovering to levels high enough to support a regular fishing season anytime soon.
Congress has a responsibility to help fishing communities affected by this closure, and to provide for the long-term health and stability of the Klamath River ecosystem. Both funding and congressional leadership are necessary to reverse the decline of the Klamath River and its salmon.
We urge the federal government to provide immediate financial relief to the citizens of Southern Oregon and Northern California whose livelihoods have been hurt by this disaster. We also urge Congress to support language in the Magnuson-Stevens bill that instructs the Secretary of Commerce to complete a recovery plan for threatened Klamath River coho salmon -- a plan that is required under the Endangered Species Act and that the National Academy of Sciencies has stated is a vital starting point for salmon recovery.
Families hurt by this closure deserve more than our sympathy -- they deserve action to help them weather the economic hardships caused by the closure, and a long-term financial investment to finally solve the environmental problems of the Klamath Basin.
The wild salmon of the Pacific coast are not only an important local food, but part of our national heritage. Please don't let them disappear.
Signed by:
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Campaign Launched:
September 12, 2006
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 Wild local salmon is to California and the Northwest what lobster is to Maine and beef is to Texas. Salmon have sustained Native Americans since they first settled the Pacific Northwest coast. They have been the lifeblood of generations of fishermen, and are an integral part of coastal communities. But now, fishermen and communities who rely on healthy salmon populations are seriously concerned that this native fish may be disappearing forever.
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Earthjustice has long been working to protect wild salmon and other endangered species across the country: |
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This spring, Earthjustice won a federal court case which ruled that the Bush administration must maintain higher minimum flows in drought years. This order should help prevent fishing closures in the future, and help make the Klamath a healthier place for salmon and the people who rely on them.
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The ongoing decline of salmon in the Klamath River, which runs from southern Oregon through Northern California, is not the result of natural circumstances but of failed federal policies. A series of fish-killing dams, excessive water diversions, and poor water quality have taken a severe toll on this river system, which once boasted the third largest salmon runs on the West Coast. In the fall of 2002, excessive federal water diversions led to a massive fish kill that killed over 65,000 adult salmon before they could spawn. Low river flows and poor water quality has sparked juvenile fish kills each spring since 2002.
Experts do not expect salmon populations to recover enough to support a regular fishing season anytime soon. Fewer than 30,000 wild chinook salmon are expected to return to the Klamath River this year to spawn -- far less than is needed to sustain the wild population, let alone support a robust fishery. Because it is impossible for fishermen to determine a particular salmon's river of origin once it is in the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and U.S. Department of Commerce have determined that a near total commercial salmon fishing closure is needed to protect what remains of the Klamath River’s salmon.
This is one of the largest single fishery closures in our nation’s history. It means that through no fault of their own, salmon fishing communities up and down 700 miles of the Northern California and Oregon coasts are facing severe economic hardships this year.
But that’s not the only problem. The wild salmon populations of the Columbia and Snake Rivers of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho -- once among the world’s greatest producers of salmon -- have declined steadily and dramatically over the past several decades due to habitat destruction and dams.
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| Dead Klamath salmon and steelhead, 2002 | Without a real effort to finally solve the environmental problems of these great rivers, salmon stocks will never truly recover. Congress needs to act to ensure that these rivers carry enough cool, clean water to sustain healthy populations of salmon, and address the impact of outdated dams on the Columbia-Snake and Klamath river systems.
We need to put pressure on Congress not only to secure immediate disaster relief for these salmon fishing communities, but also to provide the leadership necessary to reverse the decline of the Klamath, Columbia, and Snake Rivers and their salmon.
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