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Keep Spilling Water Over Dams, Scientists Urge by Patrick Donovan Seattle Times, April 10, 2010

Thank you for weighing in on the importance of spill to help salmon in the Columbia Basin ["Spill water, move salmon," Opinion, April 8.] I thought the harmful Bush administration policies were in the past, but apparently there are some in the Obama administration that have the same misguided management philosophy for these endangered fish.

Fishermen fought hard to get court-ordered spill measures in place in 2006 and every year since. And now, every year, we are seeing slightly higher returns of salmon from the ocean. Scientists say that spill is a big reason for that.

It makes no sense to stop these measures when they clearly help. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association needs to keep the measures in place until stakeholder negotiations could help create a solid Columbia River and Snake River salmon plan. Fishing communities have suffered too long from these types of managing-for-extinction policies. If the Obama administration rolls back spill, it will be no different from the Bush administration.

Related Pages:
Water Over the Dam Works for Salmon by Editorial Board, Seattle Times, 4/7/10
Time to Hook Some Chinook in the Lower Columbia by Mark Yuasa, The Seattle Times, 4/10/10