Jon on the Environment
Our candidate, Jon Viebrock sat down with me recently to talk about his positions on the important issues facing voters in his district.
Jon is an avid fisherman and outdoorsman, and he has some strong thoughts on environmental issues, as I discovered.
A: Conserving our wilderness areas and wildlife does not make you a “tree-hugger”. It makes you a “conservationist”. These resources are available for us to use and we must conserve in a responsible manner for our children and their children.
Responsible use and conservation of our ecosystems will guarantee their continued existence so that many future generations of outdoorsmen, fishermen, hikers, campers, mountain bikers, hunters, photographers, bird watchers, biologists, fossil hunters, and others of all types, will have the same resources that we enjoy today.
There are many easy things that all of us can do today to help protect the environment. For example, improving energy efficiency in our daily lives helps mitigate the environmental impact of producing that power, and it lowers our utility bills also.
A: Our salmon and steelhead are the basis of much of the ecosystem here in Washington State. Every bird, bug, fish, or critter that lives in, on, or near a river depends on salmon and steelhead for their survival. These fish runs are over-harvested by as much as 70% in the Puget Sound, and on our rivers.
If we can’t get enough healthy fish back to the spawning beds, already endangered fish runs might collapse. Some runs already have.
A: The Coastal Conservation Association (non-profit organization started by Gary Loomis of G. Loomis Inc) estimates that there are over 4,000 derelict gill nets floating around in Puget Sound right now. Additionally, there are approximately 14,000 derelict crab pots (recreational and commercial) in Puget Sound. These nets and pots continue to kill every fish and crab that gets caught in them. More derelict gear is continually added to these numbers.
Fully funding the Puget Sound Derelict Fishing Gear Program, (partially funded by the Federal Government at this time) would help greatly.
A: According to the Hatchery Scientific Review Group, changes in operation as well as additional funding are needed by our hatcheries in order to fully realize the potential of our hatchery programs. The missing funding rests primarily with the Federal Government, which has slashed salmon and steelhead recovery efforts in accordance with President Bush’s “salmon recovery plan”.
Q: Jon, I know how passionate you are about this subject. Conservationalists understand that our runs will colapse if we continue on our present course. You seem very hopeful though. Any final words?
A: We need more effective catch monitoring and evaluation with respect to our commercial fishing fleet. Finding new ways to minimize “by-catch” and effectively target just the intended species would help immensely in our efforts to conserve depleted and endangered stocks.
Developing and maintaining world class salmon and steelhead fishing in Washington State would attract anglers from all over this nation, and perhaps the world. Our neighbors to the north have a massive tourist industry built around trophy fishing that we should try and match.