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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pezz who wrote (4758)	4/20/2005 9:03:45 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36918

>>Alaska cannot resist the pressure from hunters to kill off the states wolves because they're eating a few elk<< Our wolves would love to get their paws on some elk, but except for a few isolated areas they're stuck with eating moose, hare, muskox, lemmings, etc. Come to think of it, they eat salmon too...

To: pezz who wrote (4758)	4/21/2005 2:18:37 AM
From: D_I_R_T	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36918

Prior to the glut of farmed fish that came on the markets some years ago I believe Alaska supplied over 50% of all wild salmon available on any market. This market clearly exceeded demand but the runs were never the less managed for sustainability. In fact the issue that finally galvanized the people of Alaska to work to become a state was the fact that the salmon fisheries were being decimated by large Seattle based fishing companies. Prior to statehood fish traps, large funnel nets, were set up on many of the significant river systems in the southeast panhandle of the state and caught nearly all the salmon returning to many of the major streams and rivers. The territorial government of Alaska did not have the jurisdiction to stop these companies. The runs had dwindled to just a few million fish a season, a far cry from the heyday of the first part of the past century. Once Alaska became a state it outlawed fish traps and instituted draconian measures to reverse the decline of the salmon. Fishing on many of the hardest hit stocks was stopped for several seasons. Only when there was clear evidence that the stocks were coming back was commercial fishing allowed to resume and then on a very limited basis. Over the past 10/15 years runs have hit all time record highs, in the hundreds of millions of fish. Some of this can likely be attributed to favorable ocean and stream conditions but clearly the most significant factor is that all fisheries are managed on a sustainable basis. So, if in fact there was some cheating going on and there occasionally is, it would have little if any impact on the sustainability of the salmon fisheries as escapement is the basis for opening and closing these fisheries. The fisheries would either not open or would have very limited openings if escapement goals are not met. It would be virtually impossible for a few incidents of cheating to impact escapement as the fisheries are so large up here and if cheating was going on to any significant degree those doing so would be quickly identified and caught. Well, I went on a bit of a rant here but at least it's a good rant. It shows people can pull back from exploitation and manage things sustainably. As far as the wolves go, there is no chance of them being exterminated here. They cover nearly the whole state. In fact, federal trappers did try to exterminate them in Southeast Alaska during territorial days and could not. There are wolves on the outskirts of Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan etc....