State Senator Kirk Pearson takes a strong stance against bullying. Is he opposed to people beating up kids because they’re gay? Maybe, but not in this article. Is he trying to figure out a way to make sure that schools and workplaces are free from harassment? No! He’s against bullying to the extent that it’s a metaphor for advocating a position he doesn’t like (Everett Herald link).
Most of us have to deal with bullying at some point in our lives. The key is to recognize the type of bullying you face and make sure that you don’t respond the way the bully wants. Most of all, you should never give in to intimidation or threats, lest you plan to hand your milk money over on a regular basis.
That’s how it is in movies and TV, but I’m not so sure it’s how it works best in real life. Maybe go to an authority figure? I don’t know, it probably depends on your specific situation. Anyway, OK, so that’s a setup. Now maybe we can smoothly transition away from that and talk about the thing he wants to talk about.
It’s a lesson the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife apparently has yet to learn. The agency claims its mission includes providing sustainable fish and wildlife recreational and commercial opportunities, yet it recently slashed fishing opportunities by cutting a deal with Wild Fish Conservancy — a bully threatening the state with lawsuits.
OK. So a group saying that they’ll sue if they don’t think the state is living up to its responsibility hardly sounds like a bully. More like fairly routine. Lawsuits and the threat of a lawsuit are part of the way these environmental protection laws are designed. You can disagree with it if you want (and for what it’s worth, I don’t have any opinion one way or the other), but it’s not really accurate to say that just because you disagree with it, that it’s bullying. Anyway, then for a while he talks about policy, and then more leaning on his shitty metaphor.
By giving in to bullying, DFW has created an unequitable and unacceptable situation for sport fishermen, tribes and our state’s economy as a whole.
Does Senator Pearson understand that actual people are actually the victim of actual bullying? Because I feel like he might choose a different metaphor if he did.
True, the federal court agreement will keep the bully at bay for the next 2 ½ years at most, preventing the Wild Fish Conservancy from suing DFW over its Puget Sound hatchery programs during that time. But like any bully, it is likely that the group will simply resume the pursuit of its agenda by threat and lawsuit once that window has closed. And what is to prevent others from seeing the success of this tactic and launching similar bullying strategies of their own?
Like any bully, if you hammer out an agreement with them in Federal court, they’ll be back. Look, I realize that not every metaphor works. Lord knows that.
Liberals are the experts on being a bully *cough* Dan Savage *cough*
Bill O’Reilly is a bully….a rich bully, but a bully, nonetheless.
Because hatchery fish tend to crowd out wild stocks which the federal, state, and tribal governments are spending millions of dollars to preserve, and given that many of the wild runs are listed under the Endangered Species Act, balancing the needs of wild fish against the recreational opportunities that hatchery fish provide is a tricky task involving complicated science.
Sport anglers, of course, want more fishing opportunities and Sen. Pearson is advocating for their interests. Environmental groups like the Wild Fish Conservancy are focused on preserving and enhancing the wild runs, which often finds them opposed to what sport and commercial fishermen want. Caught in the middle are the DFW biologists who seek to manage our state’s fish resources based on sound science instead of politics.
Washington has come a long way since sport anglers threatened Indian fishers with guns and violence. Much hard work has been done behind the scenes by dedicated and responsible people representing federal agencies, the state, tribes, environmentalists, and commercial and sport fishing interests to replace conflict with cooperation.
It is not helpful to have a politician such as Sen. Pearson come along and inject inflammatory name-calling into this process, nor will sport anglers be well served by such confrontational tactics. The last thing our state needs is a return to the “fishing wars” of the past.
Sen. Pearson is mistaken. There no “bullies” in this picture, only a “bull” in a china shop. He should back off and let the grownups deal with this issue.
Vandals Break Into State Hatchery And Release Steelhead
This is what happens when irresponsible legislators pop off about things they know little about and incite hotheads to take matters into their own hands:
“FALL CITY, Wash. — Washington state’s five steelhead hatcheries are on high alert after someone broke into a facility overnight and released approximately 25,000 juvenile fish into the Snoqualmie River.
State Fish and Wildlife Hatchery managers are concerned it was an act of defiance against a new agreement that sharply curtails the state’s steelhead hatchery program. The agreement resulted from a lawsuit filed by a fish protection group, Wild Fish Conservancy, which accused the State of violating the Endangered Species Act. …
This set off a wave of criticism by some sport anglers who eagerly await the steelhead runs each year. It also left the state with huge numbers of steelhead that could not be released into tributaries of Puget Sound. Whoever struck the Tokul Creek facility … appeared to know the hatchery was planning to truck its large inventory of steelhead to the east side of the state where they would be released into lakes that would not allow them to migrate to the Sound.”
http://www.king5.com/news/envi.....26461.html
It’s not outlandish to suggest Senator Pearson will have to take responsibility for whatever damage this incident causes to the river’s wild steelhead runs. So will the Everett Herald, for having the bad journalist judgment to publish such a piece. Taxpayers have spent billions trying to save the Pacific Northwest’s struggling wild salmon and steelhead runs. We don’t need morons mucking up those recovery efforts. Idiots! Let the professional biologists do the job we pay them for. You’re not qualified to override their decisions.
[Comment removed. Off topic]
[Comment removed. Off topic]