This morning we brought you the news of how Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank had declared a fishery disaster for Alaska due to poor Chinook salmon runs in some parts of the state.
Well, turns out Alaska isn't alone.
Blank also issued fishery disaster determinations today for several Northeast states, as well as Mississippi. Details here.
Of course, these disaster declarations really are meaningful only if Congress ponies up significant dollars for relief.
That seems far from guaranteed, with the politicians under enormous pressure to cut the federal deficit and avoid tax hikes.
Congress can save the United States a lot of money if they direct the Community Development Quota program to address the lack of King Salmon for the Western Alaska communities. The CDQs are pumping these "community development" millions back into the same fishery in the Bering Sea that is known to kill off the King Salmon as Bycatch. This misuse of federal dollars is helping to destroy the hundreds year old tradition and culture of the poor Alaska Natives living on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers as well as the little rivers to the northwest, in the Norton Sound. The origional intent of the CDQ money was buried in the Coast Guard Rider to the Magnuson-Stevens Act of 2006. That misguided direction of the CDQs needs to be undone.
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