For Immediate Release: January 27, 2022
| Contact: | Todd Steiner, (415) 488-7652, tsteiner@tirn.net |
Jared Huffman, US Congressman representing the North Coast of California has introduced the Salmon FISH Act, a bill to protect salmon habitat through a funding program that would provide $200 million over five years.
H.R. 4723, Salmon Focused Investments in Sustainable Habitats Act, would require and provide grant funding to “salmon conservation areas and salmon strongholds” to be used for land acquisition, and conservation easements, improvement of fish passages and removal of fish passage barriers and dams; restoration and rehabilitation; and other activities to protect and restore salmon habitats.
In his introduction to the bill, Congressman Huffman who chairs the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, and co-chairs the Congressional Wild Salmon said the bill seeks “to identify core centers of salmon abundance and ensure these areas receive the protection, support, and funding they need in order to continue to sustain thriving salmon populations.”
He continued, “The concept behind the Salmon FISH Act is very simple–let’s identify the most pristine salmon habitat across the country and take steps to ensure the exceptional quality of this habitat is maintained. Restoring degraded habitat is also important, but my bill takes a different approach by proactively investing in the country’s best salmon habitat and protecting these areas from becoming degraded in the first place…”.
The complete text of the bill’s introduction can be found here.
Todd Steiner, executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network commented, “Bringing back iconic and endangered salmon is important to the ecology and economy of the region. These species sustained the original inhabitants of this region for thousands of years, but their populations have been diminished by the modern world by poor fishing regulations and habitat destruction. This can be reversed by protection and restoration of habitat.”
Preston Brown, Conservation Director for the Salmon and Protection and Watershed Network–a program of Turtle Island Restoration Network–said “We applaud Congressman Huffman for introducing this legislation to help bring back the salmon, a natural resource so important to the well-bring of our nation.”
A short radio interview can be found here.
Turtle Island Restoration Network is a nonprofit organization that works to protect and restore populations of endangered marine life around the world. Its program Salmon Protection And Watershed (SPAWN) works to recover endangered species of salmon in California. Learn more at https://seaturtles.org/salmon
