Let us not forget that at least one of the Sierra Club directors at the
time of Dave Brower's firing was in favor of clearcutting redwoods!
Conservatism begets conservatism. Did anyone else notice the post last
week that said a recent press report on the backers of 640 did *not*
include the big timber companies? Of course the "Birders for Dead
Murres" bunch has insisted that Big Timber was a major backer. I don't
know about this aspect of it; I do know from my observations and the very
extensive and intensive observations of my students (one was *hired* to
make such observations, and later quit because the data were suppressed)
that these nets kill one hell of a lot of birds. And I am told that one
prominent birder who happens also to be a gillnetter has lobbied hard
against the initiative; the same person was wringing his hands and
writing (very good) letters a few years ago when some irresponsible
researchers from a local prominent university were drowning shorebirds in
their mist nets at Grays Harbor. He was quite right to protest those
needles bird deaths. I came into this discussion late, but I am aghast
at the posture of the "conservation community" on this one. As for the
jobs? Well, I don't believe there are 20,000 of them, I think there are
probably some alternatives ("compromises"), and I, for one remember all
those folks who made iron lungs but who lost their jobs when the first
polio vaccine was perfected. And finally, where are the data and where
is the reasoning that support the statement that "Not one salmon will be
saved". Huh?
And thanks much for the post, Serge!
Steve Herman


On Mon, 30 Oct 1995, Serge Le Huitouze wrote:

>
> Hi Tweeters,
> I tkae the risk of extending the discussion (? :-) about off-topics
> posts, but I just read that in "rec.birds" and I think that some tweeters
> may want to answer this QUICKLY on the same medium (note that this guy
> is speaking for anglers).
>
> Of course, those who are not interested can still hit the *D* key...
>
> I personaly don't find myself competent enough to answer to this message,
> for I read the tweeters' thread but wouldn't be able to synthetise what has
> been said in a glimpse (even if I would *love* to say some nice things
> about forestry... :-)
>
> I take the freedom to post the entire message, even if I didn't ask
> the author's permission.
>
> Hope this doesn't hurt too many tweeters...
>
> -----------------BEGINNING OF INCLUDED MESSAGE------------------
> From: limit at ix.netcom.com (James Davis )
> Newsgroups: rec.birds
> Subject: WA State Sierra Club helps kill Seabirds!
> Date: 28 Oct 1995 02:54:11 GMT
> Organization: Netcom
> NNTP-Posting-Host: ix-sea4-07.ix.netcom.com
> X-NETCOM-Date: Fri Oct 27 7:54:11 PM PDT 1995
>
> Hard to imagine? The Washington Sierra club is against Initiative 640.
> Initiative 640 would eliminate gill nets that kill an estimated 175,000
> seabirds in Washington alone.
>
> Here are the facts:
> The Fishery Observer Program Report dated October 2, 1994 conducted
> research funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service on drift gill
> net fisheries in the San Juan Islands area of Puget Sound. The goal was
> to determine the nature and extent of endangered seabird interaction
> with commercial salmon net fishing gear. The research observed 269 of
> the 4,374 boat trips taken. Observers counted 195 seabirds entangled in
> the nets with 188 of them ending up dead. Assuming that this sample is
> represenative we can draw the following conclusions: Nets killed
> thousands of seabirds. Extend this to cover the thousands of gill nets
> fished in WA waters and it is easy to see that hundreds of thousands of
> birds DIE!
>
> Not all the blame rests with the Sierra Club. They have refused to
> Debate the issue. The Audubon Society has sat on the sidelines. It is
> my hope that each and every WA state Audobon member that votes no on
> I-640 add DROWNED murre, auklet, puffin and murrelet to your christmas
> birdcount list. I grew up a member of the Firelands Audubon Society in
> N. Ohio. I find the WA lack of spine disconcerting.
>
> WAKE UP! It is not tooooooooo late!
> Call 1-800-357-3474 for more information or e-mail me.
>
> Jim Davis
> (206)850-0923
> Seattle WA
> Puget Sound Anglers
> -----------------END OF INCLUDED MESSAGE------------------
>
> --
> --------------------------------------------------
> A bird in the bush is better than two in the hand.
>
> Serge Le Huitouze Intelligent Software Group
> email: serge at cs.sfu.ca School of Computing Science
> tel: (604) 291-5423 Simon Fraser University
> fax: (604) 291-3045 Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6 CANADA
> http://www.isg.sfu.ca/~serge/
>