WEST COAST FARMED SALMON TO BE COUNTED IN ENDANGERED SPECIES DECISIONS
4/29/04, from Congressman Doolittle's office

In a major policy change, the Bush administration plans to count
hatchery-bred fish when it decides whether stream-bred wild salmon
should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The health of spawning wild salmon has been the only gauge of whether a
salmon species was considered by the federal government to be on the
brink of extinction.

Bob Lohn, Northwest regional administrator for the National Marine
Fisheries Service, said the new policy probably will help guide Bush
administration decisions this summer about whether to remove 15 species
of salmon from protection as endangered or threatened.

Jan Hasselman, counsel for the National Wildlife Federation, said,
"Rather than address the problems of habitat degraded by logging, dams
and urban sprawl, this policy will purposefully mask the precarious
condition of wild salmon behind fish raised by humans in concrete
pools."