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Testimony of Donald E. Bevan, Professor Emeritus, University of 

 Washington, for the Salmon Recovery Team before the Subcommittee 

 on Environment and Natural Resources of the Committee on 

 Merchant Marine and Fisheries United States House of 

 Representatives. June 30, 1994 



Mr. Chairman, members of the Subcommittee, ladies and 

 gentlemen, I am Donald E. Bevan Chairman of the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service's Snake River Salmon Recovery Team. 



Mr. Chairman, with your permission I should like to enter 

 into the Committee's record the document: Snake River Salmon 

 Recovery Team Final Recommendations to the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service. A Summary April 26, 1994. Chairman: Donald 

 Bevan, Vice Chairman John Harville, Team Members: Peter Bergman, 

 Theodore Bjornn, James Crutchfield, Peter Klingeman, James 

 Litchfield; Recovery Plan Coordinator: Rob Jones, Recovery Team 

 Support: Robert Clapp, Katherine Hollar, Debi Runyen, Tracey Vriens. 



The complete document of final recommendations is available 

 from the National Marine Fisheries Service. 



I shall begin my presentation with our conclusions found on 

 page 24 of the Summary document: "The recovery of Snake River 

 salmon is a difficult and complicated public policy issue. It is 

 important to achieve recovery and ultimately reap the social, 

 cultural, and economic benefits of restored salmon populations. It is 

 also important to do so in an organized, scientifically based, and 

 economically efficient manner. The Team's recommendations provide 

 a realistic basis for achieving these objectives. 



The team believes that the recommendations for recovery of 

 the Snake River Salmon can form a template for the rebuilding of 

 other Columbia basin salmon stocks and the avoidance of future 

 listings under the Endangered Species Act. 



We believe that, in combination with the Northwest Power 

 Planning Council's Strategy for Salmon, we have a regional solution 

 for our Columbia River salmon problems. 



Are there differences in the NWPPC's Strategy for Salmon 

 and the Team's recovery recommendations? Yes, there are some. Are 

 the disagreements important or significant? The Team thinks not, 

 but any disagreement is surely based upon inconsistent 

 interpretation of uncertain science. We will not discover the truth 

 until we monitor and evaluate initial recovery efforts for several 

 years. 



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