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Lampreys to the rescue...

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Moonlight 
#1 ·
Read this in the Alaska Fishermans Journal. What with delisting under the ESA being just around the corner for most of the salmonids, this is allegedly due to the hatchery componets being so "sucessful" in fending off extinction. The water and power/ Wise use crowd (read Republicans) is elated, but enter the lowly and often maligned Lamprey. The Lamprey it seems is also down in numbers and has many of the same requirements for water and riparian protection as wild salmonids so a new round of ESA listings is in the works to protect the Lamprey, as it does not have a bunch of hatchery clones to "muddie up its waters' so to speak.
Hope my singleing out of the republican party is offensive it was meant to be, thats another bad habit that I managed to overcome my affiliation with the Grand Old Party, In Alaska when I was younger we had a Teddy Roosevelt like Fellow that was as inspiring to me as any politician I have ever known, Jay Hammond.
The present Republican administration under Gov. Frank Murkowski is as far removed as an individual can be from Roosevelt he has dismanteled the Habitat Division that has been under the blanket of the Fish and Game Dept. since before statehood. Slashed its work force by half and put it under the control (and I mean control) of the Department of Natural Resources. This is viewed as retibution by many of us who were involved in the curtailment of the widespread destuction of the Tongass National Forrest by the large scale industrial logging by the now defunct cut and run pulp mills and there logging componets in Sitka and Ketchikan.
Murkowskis Chief of Staff is the former head of the Alaaska Loggers Association the chief Timber Company Lobbyist for the Battle that the Enviromental and Fishermans groups fought for years back in DC when Murkowski was US Senator from Alaska.
Oh yeah did I mention that his newly appointed Fisheries Czar is the State Senator who this session sponsored a bill to overturn the Alaska ban on Fin Fish Farming Allen Austerman.
Good by Tony Knowles we are sorely going to miss you and your Democratic administration.
Hey OC, do you think this will live'n things up?
 
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#2 ·
Thats good stuff Moonlight, lampreys are cool fish. They were the only fish that could get past the Edwards Dam on the Kennebec in Maine. When the dam was removed the mud was full of little ones. It's curious to that the Atlantic Salmon often dig their reds where the lampreys dug theirs in the spring.
 
#3 ·
Nope!

The people of the party you mentioned will be way too engrossed in the next weeks in watching the real, reality TV on CNN and FOX News with its many instant replays.

Don't think the lowly Lamprey will turn the tide. When we all wake up from the excitment of smart bombs dropping down air shafts and the shock of chemical war heads going off our enviroment will have been quietly attacked on the home front and depleted by the party you mentioned. They have a world vision, they have a new enviromental vision and it does not have room for Lampreys and old steelhead fly fishermen like us.

What is Paul Wolfowiz fishing for?
 
#4 ·
I am really getting sick and tired of all you bleeding heart liberals and your un-patriotic drivel. Government has the best interests of the people at heart as does industry! The sooner you all realize that speaking your mind is un-American and give in to the will of the government, the sooner we can move forward toward the new peaceful and prosperous world order.

It is because of all of you that we have to go to war in the first place. If you would step aside and allow drilling in the refuges, we would not be dependant on foreign oil. What are a few fish and trees compared to economic prosperity? Besides, in case you didn't know it, terrorists can hide behind trees!!!!

I could go on and on about all you tree-huggers, peacenicks, and nittering neabobs of negativity but I need to go burn some Dixie Chicks CDs.

Remember, blind obedience. The new American Way!!!!
 
#5 ·
Jay Hammond is indeed another breed. I met him once in Anchorage and hear him from time to time on "Talk of Alaska" a radio call-in show where people from all over the State call in to opine, rant, question whilst some of us actually listen. Hammond seems to actually have an opinion that is his own rather than what the part line happens to be. An Alaskan renaissance man to be sure, He is as in his element skinning a moose in the bush as discussing Des Cartes after the Opera. He has few peers in his mastery of the English language. "Alaska's Bush Rat Governor" and "Tales from the Chopping Block" are both a collection of stories of his life and worthy reads (albeit with crummy titles as Hammond says) for anyone wanting to learn about Alaska and Alaska politics.

The Habitat division of Fish and Game is all but gone in a couple few weeks. Down to a staff of 25 from one of 85. About 25% of them are out of a job and the others leaving will be going to the natural resources department for permitting work. Time will tell how this unfolds but it does seem to remove one of the "checks" in the system.

Ostensibly, this business in Iraq is to make things safer for us all here by eliminating a dangerous threat. I can't help think it will have the opposite effect and wonder how much it is intended for the third word in this paragraph's first sentence as opposed to the one preceding "all".

pescaphile
 
#6 ·
You say Nitter I say Natter...

Lets call the whole thing off,. With apologies to Louis Armstrong!

The US Senate tody defeated the bill to allow drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR). I'll bet that a few hundred years from now that will be what is remebered most for this date in history.

Boy Sinktip you can really lay it on welcome to the campfire laddie.
 
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