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I was born and raised in a small fishing village in Alaska located in the Prince William Sound, site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. While the media long-ago left the area and Exxon suggests it has been cleaned up, the people trying to make a living in the fishing industry there will tell you that fishing has never been the same. They still find oil under rocks on beaches. I remember thinking several years ago during the severe drought that crippled the Klamath Basin, that, as usual, the fish and the fishermen did not seem to have a lobby or a voice speaking for them. The farmers involved at that time kept sneering that "people were more important than fish."

I have absolutely no faith that the Klamath Settlement will amount to anymore than a "save" for the farmers and long-distance (rich) ranchers in the Klamath Basin. The fishermen and, more importantly, the fish, will ultimately lose in this deal. What the farmers fail to recognize is that if we continue to pollute and use our natural resources irresponsibly it's not just the fish that will die. They are a small part of the larger ecosystem in which we all reside. At some point, we are all going to have to begin to make sacrifices or we will all go the way of the fish.

The farmers in the basin act as though they have the right to continue, as usual, farming crops that require considerable irrigation. Rather than fight to maintain the status quo, why are they not looking into farming crops that don't require as much water? Why are they not looking into farming in a manner that doesn't add polution to the streams and rivers which we all need to survive? Most of the land farmed in the Klamath Basin was given to the farmers by the federal government. Most of the farmers also receive substantial subsidies from the government as well. No-one seems to be speaking for the fishermen in this deal. And, believe me, the fishermen are not receiving subsidies from the federal government. As usual, this deal will simply allow the status quo to continue, until it is too late to save our rivers or our fish. It will then be too late for all of us.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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