Species-aid budget looks fishy.State and federal governments spent $1.4 billion on programs in 2004 to conserve 1,260 of the nation's threatened and endangered species. One-third of those funds went to protecting fish, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service analysis, released last month. The 219-page report states that nearly $800 million went for programs to conserve individual species. Nine of the top 10 expenditures--or $273.8 million--went for fish, including four Chinook salmon chinook salmon or king salmon Prized North Pacific food and sport fish (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) of the salmon family. The average weight is about 22 lbs (10 kg), but individuals of 50–80 lbs (22–36 kg) are not unusual. populations and two steelhead trout communities. Other animals in the top 10 species-by-species expenditures were the Steller sea lion Noun 1. Steller sea lion - largest sea lion; of the northern Pacific Eumetopias jubatus, Steller's sea lion sea lion - any of several large eared seals of the northern Pacific related to fur seals but lacking their valuable coat , coho salmon Coho salmon oncorhynchuskisutch. , bull trout, sockeye salmon sockeye salmon or red salmon Food fish (Oncorhynchus nerka) of the North Pacific that constitutes almost 20% of the commercial fishery of Pacific salmon. It weighs about 6 lbs (3 kg) and lacks distinct spots on the body. , red-cockaded woodpecker, pallid sturgeon, chum salmon, and right whale. At $474.8 million, fish expenditures were roughly four times as great as the amount spent to protect birds or mammals and many more times as large as the amount spent for groups such as flowering species, insects, and the nation's vanishing amphibians amphibians members of the animal class Amphibia. Includes frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and cecilians all capable of living on land or in water. . Almost $560 million went for support services, such as law enforcement and coordination of conservation programs. Another $60 million paid for new land acquisitions critical to preserving the habitat of endangered species.--J.R. |
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