August 6, 2018 –Salmon farmers in California say they are worried that President Trump’s administration will cause irreparable harm to their industry.
Huge agribusinesses in the Central Valley — a Republican stronghold in the blue state — are pushing for the federal government to pump more water their way to be able to operate their farms, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
The newspaper reported that the water, which flows through the valley’s rivers, is vital to salmon fisheries and the existing ecosystem.
Trump, however, appeared to side with the large Central Valley fish farmers.
“You have a water problem that is so insane, it is so ridiculous, where they’re taking the water and shoving it out to sea,” Trump said in 2016. “They have farms up here, and they don’t get water. I said, ‘Oh, that’s too bad. Is it a drought?’ ‘No, we have plenty of water. … We shove it out to sea.’ … The environmentalists are trying to protect a certain kind of three-inch fish.”
The Times noted that Trump was referring to smelt, a small fish that is an indicator of the overall ecosystem’s health.