Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I am proud to be able to rise and speak on this bill. I am a proud cosponsor of H.R. 2083, the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act, and I encourage all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation. This bill was introduced on a bipartisan basis by members of the Pacific Northwest delegation to address the matter of predatory sea lions that are consuming alarming numbers of endangered salmon, steelhead, and other fish species in the Columbia River and its tributaries. {time} 1500 Over the past few decades, sea lion populations have increased tenfold, causing sea lions to expand their search for food. There is just too many of them for their traditional food sources. Well, Mr. Chairman, they have found that source. Sea lions swimming up to the Bonneville Dam are gorging themselves on endangered salmon not only for food, but, Mr. Chairman, there are so many of them, they are also doing it for sport. I have seen this myself while visiting a dam, where I saw what scientists and river managers regularly see: fish passing by--through those windows that you can watch the migrating salmon--with massive bite marks through their bodies. Most of the time, that leads to fatality for these fish. A recent NOAA study found that sea lions consumed up to 45 percent of several stocks of returning adult salmon last year.…”