The figures are appalling! Combined, these permits allow annual totals of 131,800 juvenile and 22,820 adult Coho to be "observed/harassed" (whatever that means). Worse, 80,095 juvenile and 100 adult Coho may be "captured (by seine, traps or electrofishing), anesthetized, handled (measured, weighed, and tissue samples removed for genetic analysis), allowed to recover from the anesthetic, and releasd."
These permits allow a total of 2,917 Coho to be killed ("indirect mortality," in bureauspeak) as a result of eletrofishing and other rough treatment. Is anyone really going to count? Is it even possible to count? Is there any monitoring? Does anyone really care?
One of the biggest players in the high stakes (for the fish) Coho counting game is our own "environmentally concerned" Mendocino Redwood Company. MRC's permit will allow them, each year, to "observe/harass" 3,500 Coho; to "capture, anesthetize, handle," (including electrofishing) another 1000, and to kill 35.
In their less guarded moments, various timber company people and regulatory agency employees have allowed that they would just as soon have endangered species like Coho salmon and spotted owls become extinct, and the sooner the better. Then, the forest liquidation business could proceed at a faster rate, without all those bothersome surveys and profit limiting set-asides. Hopefully, these are minority sentiments. Electrofishing is cause for concern.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1999
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited