salmon

A handful of green groups filed suit Tuesday over the Bush administration's latest plan to protect salmon in the Northwest's Columbia Basin.

Government scientists claim that low ocean food supply is the cause of the collapse, whereas independent scientists cite water diversion from the delta as the biggest culprit. Rep. George Miller (D) Martinez explained: They changed the science, the conclusion of the scientists and what we see now is we’ve closed the entire Pacific fisheries to salmon and the salmon are much more endangered now than they were five, six, seven, 10 years ago.

On Saturday, May 3, 2008, American Indian tribes and salmon fisherman failed to gain a private audience with Buffett and were ignored at the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Protesters shouted, “Un-dam the Klamath! Bring the salmon home!“, while shareholders enjoyed complimentary cocktails Friday night. For two years, an unprecedented alliance of tribes, businesses, conservation groups and commercial/recreational fishermen has tried to reach an agreement with Buffett for dam removal.

Scientists conservatively estimate that well over one-quarter of native Pacific salmon populations spawning in rivers and lakes from California to southern British Columbia have gone extinct. Here are lists of regional losses and salmon extinctions in the western United States.