Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Thursday, June 15, 2017 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Delicious sturgeon back on Columbia menu After a three-year moratorium on keeping white sturgeon caught between the mouth of the Columbia and Bonneville Dam, a modest retention season started this week. By the time last weekend arrived, anglers had found where the sturgeon were gathered within the vast Columbia estuary and the catch was good. Many are happy to see some progress toward a return to normal for this important fishery. Columbia white sturgeon venture out into the Pacific, but are formally considered a freshwater fish — the largest in North America. They can live more than a century and have become legendary among fishermen for their strength and size, with old sturgeon sometimes weighing hundreds of pounds. The much younger and smaller ones that anglers are permitted to keep — only 44 to 50 inches from snout to the fork in the tail — are locally renowned as one of the most delicious fish. Under pressure Like many other species, white sturgeon are struggling with habitat loss and deteriorating environmental conditions. During the drought year of 2015 for example, 80 breeding-age sturgeon died in the vicinity of Bonneville — possibly victims of too-warm water or perhaps harmful changes in water oxygen levels. Stellar sea lions also have multiplied and found their way into sturgeon holes, exerting considerable hunting pressure. Fleeing predators disrupts the sturgeons’ breeding patterns. There also is little doubt that human fishing pressures played a role in sturgeon declines that led to the 2014 moratorium. When salmon numbers plunged in the 1990s, private and charter fishing heavily switched to sturgeon with an enthusiasm it was easy to foresee would lead to trouble. Rebounding We now are in the rebound period. Fortunately, state conservation measure appear to be succeeding, with an estimated 165,600 legal-size sturgeon in the river below Bonneville, up from 147,000 last year and 72,700 in 2012. Fishery managers have set an extremely conservative 3,000-sturgeon catch limit in the ongoing season — disappointing but much better than no season at all. The middling-sized sturgeon fishermen are allowed to keep generate a lot of economic activity for Columbia estuary ports, merchants and charter operations. A study funded by the Bonneville Power Administration starting in 2000 has found female sturgeon do not sexually mature until they’re at least 18 to 32 years old and only spawn about once every OTHER VIEWS Five notes on Trump’s current predicament T LUKE WHITTAKER/EO Media Group After three years of catch and release fishing, anglers are allowed to keep one sturgeon between 44 and 50 inches per trip. three years. Although not ideal fishing conditions, biologists have learned spawning success is best during high-flow years when the river creates turbulence over rough substrate or rocky-river bottoms — so this winter’s intense rain and deep mountain snows may have a silver lining in future years in terms of producing young sturgeon. Conservation and next steps Sturgeon are in trouble worldwide and caution is obviously warranted when it comes to harvest and stress. In this gloomy picture, the Columbia actually is something of a bright spot, with a 2015 estimate of up to 1 million white sturgeon of all ages from Bonneville to the river’s mouth. It is especially important to protect breeding fish age 18-plus — they are vital to the species’ future. “It’s a resource that’s not replaceable,” a scientist observed in 2015. “Those big spawners, we know how valuable they really are.” Continuing proactive management of sea lion populations is clearly justified. Although the idea is repellent to avid animal-right activists, their numbers are out of proportion to available prey in the Columbia River as it exists today. Responsible wildlife management means adjusting sea lion numbers to match their niche in what is now an inherently human-centric environment. Sturgeon are well suited to hatchery propagation. The states should begin such a program. Fishery managers are being careful about sturgeon. This is understandable, even if disappointing. But they must me bolder in enacting long-term plans for viability of these ancient and treasured fish. he danger President Trump faces Valerie Plame’s identity — but from the various investigations Fitzgerald knew who did it even as he into the Trump-Russia matter has started the investigation. Fitzgerald changed dramatically in recent weeks. never prosecuted that person or If you’re a Republican and you still anybody else for an underlying crime, believe the critical question is whether and instead spent more than three Trump or his associates colluded years dragging Bush figures before with Russians to influence the 2016 a grand jury and finally prosecuting election — if you still think that, you’re one, Lewis Libby, for perjury and Byron behind the times. So now, a few notes obstruction. York on where the Trump affair is today: Mueller could certainly follow that Comment 1. It’s not about collusion path if he chooses. But some on Team anymore. Trump believe that he won’t, given Fired FBI Director James Comey’s a career they believe shows good judgment testimony before the Senate Intelligence and a straight-down-the-line-not-a-zealot-like- Committee marked the full shift of the Trump- Fitzgerald style. But that could be just hope, Russia investigation from a probe dedicated and in any event, the final decision will be to discovering collusion to a probe dedicated Mueller’s. to proving the president 4. More evidence? obstructed justice. Democrats Democrats don’t need any at the Comey hearing barely more to impeach. touched on the collusion issue, How many times have which appears to have turned you heard a Democrat or out to be a dry hole. Trump critic say that the But to Democrats, that no Russia investigation is “just longer matters. Now, it’s all getting started” or that they about obstruction of justice. are determined to “get to While Comey testified that the bottom” of it? With a President Trump was never new prosecutor starting an under investigation in the FBI open-ended investigation, counterintelligence probe they’re hoping for years of under Comey, now, after the Comey memos happy hunting. and the Comey firing, it seems safe to predict But the fact is, Democrats do not need that special counsel Robert Mueller will any more information than what is already investigate Trump for obstruction. So it is a publicly known to pursue impeachment new game, even if Republicans keep trying to proceedings against the president. What play the old one. they need is 218 votes in the House of 2. Trump failed to take the threat against Representatives. If they had majority control him seriously. of the House now, they would already be Here is a simple fact: Many of Trump’s pursuing impeachment. Which means ... most determined adversaries do not want just 5. 2018 is everything. to defeat him on Obamacare, although they In 2006, when the Iraq War was going want that, too. They do not want just to defeat disastrously and George W. Bush was at a him on taxes, although they want that, too. No, low point, some Democrats hoped they would they do not want just to defeat him — they not only win control of the House in that want to remove him from office. year’s midterm elections, but that they could That has been clear from the moment The then impeach Bush as well. But even though Associated Press called the presidential race Bush was in political trouble, Nancy Pelosi, for Trump in the early hours of Nov. 9. Some who stood to become speaker if Democrats of those adversaries began discussing ways to won, was wary of making the 2006 midterms remove Trump that very day. Some Democrats a referendum on impeachment. Knowing have been talking about it ever since. that voters want to vote for something more What seems clear, though, is that Trump positive than punishing a president, Pelosi never, at least until now, took the threat flatly declared before the election that if terribly seriously. Whether from his own Democrats prevailed, impeachment would be belief that he can persuade people to like him, “off the table.” As it turned out, she won big, or his faith in his ability to do business with became speaker, and impeachment stayed off a wide variety of players — for whatever the table. reason, Trump has acted as if he is not every Now, Democrats have a new class of day in mortal threat from opponents who impeachment enthusiasts who want to go want to remove him from office. He has given after Trump as soon as possible. And Pelosi, them ammunition left and right and then who likely would again become speaker if complained that they are using it. Democrats take the House in 2018, is again 3. The future is in Robert Mueller’s counseling caution. hands. Whatever the case, the bottom line next There are a few models for how the year is 218 votes. If Democrats have them, the Mueller investigation might play out. Perhaps president’s life becomes much, much more the most relevant is the Patrick Fitzgerald- difficult and fraught with danger. Plamegate investigation of the George W. ■ Bush years. There was an underlying crime Byron York is chief political correspondent in that matter — the leak of CIA employee for The Washington Examiner. But to Democrats, it’s all about obstruction of justice. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. YOUR VIEWS Cable company keeps Rose Parade from viewers This is definitely a “Kick in the Pants” article, and its to Charter/ Spectrum TV and the FCC. I wonder how many people in the Pendleton, Hermiston, Athena, Weston and Milton-Freewater area were waiting to watch the Portland Rose Festival Parade on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.? Thanks to Charter/Spectrum TV and the FCC, none of us were able to see it. Charter/Spectrum was called by many in the Milton-Freewater area, but all received the same message: “Not our fault.” The FCC decided to cancel the Portland CBS (KOIN) and FOX (KPTV) feeds in these areas — we could get our news from the Tri-Cities or Spokane, but not Portland. They made the decision for us that we don’t need to watch those channels. No “Let ‘er Buck” advertisement in the Rose Parade this year, or ever again. The Round-Up Court might as well have stayed home. There is certainly no reduction in our monthly Charter/Spectrum statements, and did we get the opportunity to vote on this change? Of course not. I am a very disgruntled Charter/Spectrum TV customer. Bonnie Stephens Milton-Freewater LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.