WHY “FISH VS. FARMERS” IS A FALSE DICHOTOMY By: Trent OrrTrent Orr supports the need to allocate more water to the environment citing the example of salmon migration. Orr, criticizes Senator Feinstein's decision to support a bipartisan bill making its way through the Senate during the current drought conditions. This bill addresses “San Francisco Bay Estuary Protections” to direct more water to agriculture and cities in the Central Valley. This will lead to endangering rare fish species such as Chinook salmon, steelhead and green sturgeon etc. (Lochhead, 2014). Under ideal weather conditions, these fish must complete their natural life cycle by swimming into the ocean and then returning. to the rivers in three years to reproduce. Due to the passing of the law, the water that connects the rivers and bay to the ocean is no longer present there. Therefore, young specimens become susceptible to higher temperatures and predation; so most of them fail to reach the ocean. A few others that are transported by tanker into the ocean from fishing have a broken imprinting cycle, so they don't remember how they return to the bay to breed. These factors lead to a drastic decrease in the number of fish, leading to an unpleasant imbalance in the ecosystem (Skelton, 2014). The author also highlights the fact that by impeding the flow of fresh water through the delta, the quality of drinking water will deteriorate. water due to the greater quantity of salt present. Environmentalists have strongly opposed this bill and believe that politicians have used the arid weather conditions as a subterfuge to attack environmental regulations they have had their eye on for a long time (Goodyear, 2014). you know...... middle of paper...... fish. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Feinstein-pressure-on-water-boosts-farms-over-fish-5390533.php#page-1 Orr, T. (2014, April 28). Because “fish vs. farmers” is a false dichotomy. Retrieved from http://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-april/why-fish-vs-farmers-is-a-false-dichotomy. Skelton, G. (2014, February 19). The water war boils down to farmers versus fishermen. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/19/local/la-me-cap-drought-20140220 Strom, S. (2014, April 2014). California's thirsty farmland. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/business/energy-environment/californias-thirsting-farmland.html