Yeah.......you get A salmon. So?

If you take Michael Jordan's mom's egg, and his dad's sperm, do you get Michael Jordan every time? Or better yet, if you DO get Michael Jordan, and you raise him up in a concrete box for the first 6 years, do you get an NBA superstar?


The Judge's ruling looks, sadly, to be a literal interpretation of the ESA. Species-wise there is no discernable difference between a hatchery steelhead and a native steelhead. But anybody who isn't a complete cracker knows there IS a difference between them. However, the ESA does not allow for this distinction. You can't really blame the judge.

The stand-up thing to do would be to amend the ESA to acknowledge the difference between a native fish and a hatchery born fish. Otherwise, what's next.........counting net-pen fish as part of the population too? I can see it now.......Puget Sound salmon are no longer endangered, just look at those net-pens teeming with fish! :rolleyes:

But, waiting for the Bush administration to make an amendment to the ESA which actually increases the protections placed on a particlar specie could be a long proposition.