For Immediate Release: June 8, 2004
Contact: Chuck Hudson, CRITFC (503) 731-1257
Liz Hamilton, NSIA (503) 631-8859
Oliver Waldman, Salmon for All (503) 325-3831
Glen Spain, PCFFA (541) 689-2000

TRIBAL, SPORT AND COMMERCIAL FISHING GROUPS AGREE CUTTING SPILL IS NOT THE ANSWER
Elimination negates investment that region and nation have made to salmon recovery

Portland, OR - In a major step back for salmon recovery, today the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), an agency of the Bush administration will release an amended plan to reduce summer spill in the Columbia and Snake rivers basin. Despite the urgent pleas of Northwest tribes and commercial and sport fishing groups, BPA has decided to move forward with its plan to cut spill, risking salmon recovery, salmon dependent businesses and tribal fisheries in order to generate more revenue.

"Initially the agencies concocted a plan they couldn't pull off with offsets that were not effective and created a lot of mistrust and ill will in the region as a result," said Chuck Hudson, manager public information office, Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission. "BPA continues to cling to the concept simply to grab a few bucks in spite of the regional response. The appropriate thing for them to do is put the notion of cutting spill to sleep."

Eliminating or reducing summer spill violates the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Northwest Power Act and national treaties. Absent removal of the four lower Snake River dams summer spill must be a foundation of any plan to bring federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers into compliance with the ESA. In addition, BPA and other agencies are also required by law to protect non-listed salmon populations in an attempt to prevent further population declines. Summer spill is also a critical protection for the last remaining relatively healthy population of wild salmon and a staple tribal fishery in Washington's Hanford Reach area.

"Dams harvest about 85 percent of Columbia River fall Chinook salmon each year," said Buzz Ramsey, member NW Sportfishing Industry Association and salesmanager for Luhr-Jensen, the largest employer in Hood County. "Spill is the most important measure for mitigating hydro's excessive take of baby salmon. To make up for that loss, BPA continues to outline offsets that are insulting at worst and sketchy at best."

Spill is the term used for allowing water to spill over the dam in an effort to spill young fish with the water, thus bypassing the deadly turbines in the dam that generate power. Spill is the safest, scientific proven way to transport young fish with the dams in place. Without spill, the failed practice of trucking and barging young salmon down the river towards the ocean would need to continue despite studies that have shown that young salmon, particularly wild salmon, transported by truck and barge die at higher rates than those migrating in-river.

"Eliminating spill is yet another devastating move by this administration in a much larger pattern of failure for Pacific salmon and for us the people and communities that depend upon them," said Oliver Waldman, executive director, Salmon For All, a commercial fishing trade association. "The thought that salmon are being trucked alongside the river instead of swimming in the river where they have been for thousands of years is ludicrous."

"Flushing a little water around dams through spillways helps young fish avoid death by turbine or predator," said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, a commercial fishing trade association. "In other words, operating the river more like a river helps these fish survive. The current administration proposal to end that protection measure will kill an estimated 15,000 additional adult fish, all just to save mere cents per month per household in electricity costs. It is based on greed, not salmon biology."