John Lott's Website: More on Salmon

8/31/2007

The Endangered Species Act Out of Control (Fox News)

Labels: Environment, op-ed

5 Comments:

Anonymous said...: In John Lott's (and Sonya Jones') Fox News article "The Endangered Species Act Out of Control" tells the reader that:

'Hatchery fish (Columbia/Snake River Salmon) have a higher survival rate from egg to smolt, but a lower survival rate from smolt to adult. Yet, that is hardly surprising. Many of the weaker naturally spawned fish have die off as hatchlings, leaving fewer of them to die off in the next stage.'

The authors here show there math illiteracy and try to pass their conclusion as "hardly surprising".

Does anyone else notice the authors error? Apparently the Fox News editorial staff. (For a clue, consider the difference between number and ratio).

Are we to believe that "weaker" fish are destined to die somewhere and it is just a fluke that hatchery fish survive to smolt stage and only to die off later (at higher rates than non-hatchery fish)?

The moral: when a lawyer is an author one must be suspicious of their motive.

To stay current on the plight of Idaho's wild Salmon and Steelhead regularly visit www.bluefish.org; 8/31/2007 7:10 PM
John Lott said...: Dear Anonymous:

"Are we to believe that "weaker" fish are destined to die somewhere and it is just a fluke that hatchery fish survive to smolt stage and only to die off later (at higher rates than non-hatchery fish)?"

Weaker fish are not "destined" to necessarily die, but they are more likely to die. I don't see the math error. If X percent of the fish have some weaknesses that make it hard for them to survive, if those fish don't die in the first stage because they are protected, why is it hard to believe that they are more likely to die in the next stage of life?; 9/01/2007 11:21 AM
Teenangel said...: Whether the Salmon are hatchery or "Natural" fish determining what species they belong to is like saying that any child born to parents who are not married is not a human. Further, when all salmon returning to a particular stream are automatically captured by the hatchery -- as is the case. You systematically eliminate the "Natural" fish from that particular watershed. This is absurd!.; 9/03/2007 11:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Using the arguments that "human interference" and "unnatural" ways of reproducing creates a different species, it could be argued that the original California Condor no longer exists, since the entire population flying around was captive bred.; 9/03/2007 11:30 PM
Anonymous said...: what a lot of bluster with no understanding to back it up!

it's great for PLF that FOX gave them a venue for such a misleading PR piece. it's just a shame you signed on dr. lott; that patina of academic legitimacy you add probably fooled a few more folks into believing the spin.

for those interested in the truth: the ESA as applied to pacific salmon is concerned not with species population totals, but with "evolutionarily significant units", essentially discrete local populations. see http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa/ for more info.; 9/21/2007 7:31 PM