I don't recall whether anyone actually commented on this in the brief
exchange about Caspian Terns and salmon, but I'm here in Tacoma where the
action is, and Gary Shugart (a Caspian Tern expert) and I have been
discussing this issue virtually every day.

One thing that should be made clear is that the slogan Save our Salmon
should much more accurately read Save our Hatcheries. Wild salmon make up
an increasingly small proportion of the fish out there, I would say a
vanishingly small proportion of what the terns are eating (there is the
thought that hatchery fish are more likely to be taken than their wild
relatives). I think the hullabaloo about the terns is based purely on
economics, the selfish motives of powerful groups. I would challenge the
people who manage fisheries to show proof that Caspian Terns are a clear
and present danger to "endangered" salmonid stocks. The Commencement Bay
birds were dispersed purely and simply because they were eating the
Puyallup Tribe's hatchery salmon, and to add the phrase "as well as some of
the (Endangered Species Act) listed stocks" is merely to try to put a
better face on a despicable act.

What's the deal here? Are the tribes and the state and federal agencies
waging full-scale war against the fish-eating birds of the Northwest
because they're eating hatchery salmon? Is that how much respect we pay to
not only the value of nature but also the laws of our land, such as the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act, that protect these birds? I really didn't
realize it could be so easy to go out and slaughter protected birds
wholesale (that's how I would define the destruction of 1000 eggs, the
majority of which were viable) based entirely on economic factors--but I
concede I've always been a bit naive about how human society works.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html