Listening to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting Oct. 9 had me standing in the kitchen in disbelief at the continued testimony of my fellow borough residents. You can argue all you want, but a red salmon is not going to change its life history to accommodate your lakefront home. Our reds, our sockeye salmon on the Kenai Peninsula, live in our lakes for the first several years of their lives. Sockeye spend approximately the first half of their life cycle rearing in lakes.

What part of “Sockeye salmon spend half of their lives in lakes” do you not understand? When you say that you love salmon, and you’re all about protecting their habitat, just not on your lakefront, what exactly do you mean? How can you profess to love our salmon, and want to protect them, when you are at the same time telling me that you don’t? 

I don’t want to be petty here, but I’m surprised and saddened by the vehemence with which people are calling for the repeal of protecting our salmon. These are my fish as much as they are yours, and together we all have a responsibility to protect them and where they live. Which includes your lakefront and my river. You don’t get to choose where the salmon live, just how committed you are to keeping them around for your children and mine. 

Supporting Ordinance 2011-12, sockeye salmon included, is a commitment to our salmon, our economy, and our children.

Rachel Lord