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SALMON PROTECTION AND WATERSHED NETWORK
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Pesticides
Banned Near Salmon Bearing Streams January 22, 2004 Court
Stops Pesticide Spraying Along Salmon Streams See Attached:
For more information on how this affects the San Francisco Bay Area, Contact your local watershed group, county officials or SPAWN. In a precedent-setting ruling, Seattle, Washington federal district court Judge John Coughenour has restricted the use of 38 pesticides near salmon streams and has required point-of-sale warnings on products containing pesticides that may harm salmon. The ruling came in a case brought by the fishing and conservation groups, Washington Toxics Coalition, Northwest Coalition for the Alternative to Pesticides, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and the Institute for Fisheries Resources. The ruling followed Judge Coughenour's 2002 decision that found EPA out of compliance with the Endangered Species Act for failing to protect salmon from harmful pesticides. Other pesticides may be added in the future based on this ruling. The ruling puts in place no-spray buffers of 100 yards for aerial applications and 20 yards for ground applications, with exceptions for certain uses that are unlikely to pollute water. The court order also requires this warning for products containing seven pesticides that have polluted urban salmon streams: SALMON HAZARD This product contains pesticides that may harm salmon or steelhead. Use of this product in urban areas can pollute salmon streams. These warnings must be provided to purchasers in urban home and garden stores throughout Washington, Oregon, and California. The interim measures imposed in the court's ruling will protect salmon from these pesticides during the time it will take EPA to comply with the law. The judge found "with reasonable scientific certainty, that the requested buffer zones - 20 yards for ground applications, 100 yards for aerial applications - will, unlike the status quo, substantially contribute to the prevention of jeopardy" to salmon. He further found that the evidence "demonstrate[s] that pesticide-application buffer zones are a common, simple, and effective strategy to avoid jeopardy to threatened and endangered salmonids." The buffer zones will become effective in early 2004 and will apply to salmon streams that support threatened and endangered salmon throughout Washington, Oregon, and California. Adapted and Reprinted by: Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) PO Box 400 (415) 488-0370 x102 WWW.SPAWNUSA.ORGSPAWN is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting threatened coho salmon and steelhead trout and the environment on which we all depend. The protection of these keystone species leads to the protection of all wildlife of our community, and indeed the protection of ourselves and the land on which we live. |
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