Fish Fight Turns Bitter

More on yesterday's lack of action for northcoast fishermen and what the impact is.

No aid from White House for Klamath fishermen

The White House refuses to provide any aid to west coast salmon fishermen impacted by the partial closure of the salmon season. The head of NOAA apparently told west coast politicians that no aid would be forthcoming until at least next February - too late for many fishermen to save their boats and for many small coastal communities to escape serious economic consequences.

Questions About Salmon Are Directed Upstream

The practice of squelching government scientists by political appointees is commonplace now in this Administration. We've seen it with global warming, various EPA policies and now salmon issues in the west. I've run into it in Oregon, California and just a couple of weeks ago, in Florida (not about salmon, but other water issues).

Scientists are threatened with demotion, or reassignment to far less desirable posts if they're career employees, or dismissal if they're not. The amazing thing is, it's commonly known and accepted that this is happening and there is no outrage from the general public or the legislative branch. These scientists are working with public tax dollars on publicly supported projects and many times their work is smothered by political appointees with an agenda.