05.24.17

Cantwell, West Coast Senators Push Administration to Restore Support for Salmon Recovery Fund

Recovery Fund Supports Local Economies and Hundreds of Thousands of Good-paying Pacific Northwest Jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Patty Murray (D-WA), joined by fellow West Coast Senate colleagues, pushed the Trump Administration to continue funding salmon fishery recovery efforts that support good-paying jobs in coastal communities.

In a letter to the Trump administration today, Cantwell, Murray and Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Kamala Harris (D-CA), called on the administration to reverse its proposal to cut all federal funding for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF).

The recovery fund helps support hundreds of thousands of fishing-related jobs, as well as Pacific salmon and steelhead restoration work in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California and Idaho. Pacific salmon are iconic fish and vital to the cultural heritage of tribes and our communities.

“Fishing is one of our nation’s oldest domestic industries, generating $214 billion in sales, supporting 1.83 million jobs, and sustaining countless small towns and working waterfronts,” the senators wrote in a letter today.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates the recovery fund has brought more than $1.2 billion to states and tribes since Congress first created it in 2000.

In many areas, salmon populations are beginning to recover and fish are returning to waters where they have been absent for years. Defunding recovery efforts jeopardizes these jobs and this progress.

“The PCSRF is the most critical federal program addressing major threats to Pacific salmon and ensures that these fish can continue to sustain economies, cultural values, recreation, and ecosystem health,” the senators wrote.

Read the full text of the letter here.