The funds from the Pacific Salmon Commission could be a great catalyst of research about the behavior and ecology of the Chinook and chum salmon that southern residents appear to prefer. This decrease in endowment coupled with the recent news of losses in the SRKW population — possibly related to starvation — add up to increasing bad news.
Maybe such funds should be invested much more conservatively? A mix of 70% equities and 30% bonds seems too risky to me. Of course, this begs the question: “How prudent is it to tie funding for salmon protection and research to interest-bearing accounts?” The 1999 agreement stipulated that the Northern/Transboundary and Southern funds would be capitalized by the U.S. ($75M and $65M) and Canada ($250k each) and that “annual expenditures shall not exceed the annual earnings from the invested principal.”
With this economic downturn, it seems the fund managers have dipped significantly into the capital itself…
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