SalmonAid 2009 Festival Announced: Unlikely coalition puts on 2-day festival in support of rivers, estuaries, and the beleaguered fishing and tribal communities that rely on wild Pacific salmon

May 27, 2009 -- Oakland, CA -- Gathering under the banner: Restore Rivers, Recover Salmon, Rebuild Jobs, a coalition of commercial, recreational and tribal fishermen, conservation organizations, slow food chefs, and scientists are coming together to honor wild Pacific salmon.
 
Salmon are a vital part of the economy, ecosystem, and culture up and down the West Coast, said spokesperson Jessie Raeder, which is why our many communities are putting aside their differences to jointly call for the drastic measures that are needed so that these fish can thrive once again.
 
A festival of food, music, and culture, SalmonAid 2009 features an impressive line-up of musicians, sustainable seafoods, educational forums, demonstrations from First Nations tribes, childrens activities, films, speakers, and more. The SalmonAID Festival will take place on June 20th and 21st at Jack London Square in Oakland, CA.
 
SalmonAID 2009 responds to the continuing wild salmon disaster along the Pacific Coast and the closure of the salmon fishing season along the Pacific Coast throughout California and most of Oregon.
 
Captain Mike Hudson, a commercial fisherman and President of the Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermens Association, said: Until recently, commercial and recreational salmon fishing, and related infrastructure businesses, have been contributing billions of dollars to the economy of our coastal states, and they have the potential to generate billions more. He added Restoring salmon will bring new green jobs to our communities, and it will save the good jobs of those who already rely on salmon for their livelihood and survival.
 
Currently about 1500 commercial salmon fishermen fish ocean waters for salmon off Washington, Oregon and California. They supply one of our Nations healthiest foods to Americans coast to coast. But salmon populations in California, Oregon, Washington State, and Idaho have declined dramatically in recent years, primarily due to mismanagement of the freshwater river and stream habitat that salmon depend upon for reproduction and rearing.
 
Recent problems for the California and Oregon salmon fishery trace back to the massive 2002 Klamath River fish kill, which occurred when federal officials diverted river flows to upstream farms. The juvenile fish kills during subsequent years caused by the Klamath dams have also had a devastating impact. Many state and federal agencies say these dams should be removed to help restore the Klamaths severely depressed salmon runs.
 
"It takes a movement to free a river, said Malena Marvin, the Outreach and Science Director for Klamath Riverkeeper, and the Salmon Aid Festival helps us expand that movement beyond the Klamath to all of the West Coast."
 
In the last few years, Sacramento River salmon have been beset by record high water withdrawals from the San Francisco Bay-Delta and over allocation of water supplies from dams in the Central Valley. The Sacramento River hosts two endangered populations of Chinook salmon and an endangered population of steelhead (a migratory form of rainbow trout).
 
Dr. Jon Rosenfield, Conservation Biologist for the Bay Institute, said Commercial fishermen and sport boat operators willingly missed their season entirely last year in order to support wild populations spawning in the rivers but their sacrifice may have been in vain. The federal and state water projects failed to manage water resources to protect the salmon and steelhead populations that are precariously close to extinction. They ignored the crisis entirely.
 
Similarly, wild salmon populations on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, once home to the worlds greatest runs, have been devastated primarily by the construction of dams and other forms of habitat destruction. Since 1991, the federal government has failed to produce a plan (required under the Endangered Species Act) to protect and restore endangered stocks throughout the basin. Pressure is intensifying to remove four costly and out-dated dams in the lower Snake River, which block access for salmon to thousands of miles of high quality habitat.
 
Joseph Bogaard, Outreach Director for Save Our Wild Salmon in Seattle said: After years of neglect for endangered salmon populations coast wide, we are hopeful that the new administration will take serious actions to restore wild salmon populations and the coastal and tribal communities that rely on these magnificent fish. SalmonAids nearly three dozen member organizations are calling for progress towards removing outdated dams on several rivers, and enforcement of existing environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act.

When June 20 & 21, Noon7pm
Where Jack London Square, Oakland, CA

Contacts SalmonAid Press Team
Jessie Raeder, Tuolumne River Trust: 323-823-5377
Captain Mike Hudson, Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermens Association: 510-407-2000
Dr. Jon Rosenfield, The Bay Institute: 510 684-4757
Malena Marvin, Klamath Riverkeeper: 541-821-7260
Joseph Bogaard, Save Our Wild Salmon: (206) 286-4455 ext. 103
 
http://www.salmonaid.org