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page 4 - BPA Testimony 

 Salmon for All 



We have been disappointed that BPA did not include in its current budget 

 projections funds for a '94 or '95 leaseback program. Until such time as 

 leaseback is officially eliminated from the salmon recovery plan, it seems 

 to us that a funding source ought to be budgeted. Without that, I believe 

 we have every right to feel that our needs are being given second rate 

 consideration, or no consideration at all. 



In fact, no element of the salmon recovery plan that offers immediate 

 mitigation for losses accrued by the commercial salmon harvesters has 

 been funded. Only those elements with long range implications - net pen 

 rearing and releasing In the lower river, development of terminal 

 fisheries, gear modification and testing for greater selectivity - have 

 been given any funding. This focus on our future, while admirable, does 

 not give any immediate relief for the present which is choking the life out 

 of lower river families and communities that rely on salmon harvest 

 dollars. Big dollar items like Increased poacher enforcement and 

 squawflsh eradication are viewed as a slap in the face of fishing families 

 which have demonstrated a willingness to participate in recovery of 

 salmon long before they were listed under the ESA, and yet are unable to 

 access mitigation for their participation. 



There seems to be an attempt to selectively Implement elements of the 

 salmon recovery plan. Since it is predominantly the federal government 

 and its agencies which manage the river and administer the recovery plan, 

 all federal agencies, including BPA, must be held accountable for each 

 passing day that offers no significant progress toward salmon recovery. 

 Without Improved passage for returning adults and outmigrating smolts, 

 there can be no salmon recovery. A strong US/Canada treaty is needed to 

 protect returning adults from overfishing by Canadian harvesters Only the 

 federal aencies have the authority to fix these things. 



The harvest of salmon was immediately altered three years ago by the 

 states which manage that activity Fishermen were the first to feel the 

 Impact. Yet, we understand that the federal responsibility for screening 

 of dams will not be completed in this century, nor will the proposed 

 drawdowns. 



