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  3. The National Marine Fisheries Service announced on March 16, 1999, that it was extending Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection

The National Marine Fisheries Service announced on March 16, 1999, that it was extending Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection

admin2010-03-25  55
问题     The National Marine Fisheries Service announced on March 16, 1999, that it was extending Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections to nine populations of wild salmon and steelhead in Washington and Oregon. The move is believed to be the broadest application of the law in its 26-year history and the first listing to affect urban regions.
    Wild salmon, once hugely abundant in the Pacific Northwest and still a recognized symbol of the region,  have declined sharply in numbers in recent decades as development, logging, and hydroelectric dams have degraded the fish’s habitat. Wild salmon are salmon that were never bred in a hatchery. Most Pacific salmon and steelhead (a type of large, seagoing rainbow trout) need clear, gravel-bottomed streams and rivers when spawning and during the early stages of life. According to the Fisheries Service, on the Columbia River, chum salmon runs are between 1,500 and 4,000 fish annually, compared to as many as 500,000 before 1944. On the Willamette River, steelhead runs are the lowest in 30 years.
    Eight of the nine groupings listed were identified as threatened (declining and likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future). They are the Puget Sound chinook salmon, the lower Columbia River chinook salmon, the upper Willamette River chinook salmon, the Columbia River chum salmon, the Hood Canal summer-run chum salmon,
the Lake Ozette sockeye salmon, the upper Willamette River steelhead, and the middle Columbia River steelhead.
    One population, the upper Columbia River spring-run chinook salmon, was designated as endangered, which the ESA defines as likely to become extinct within the foreseeable future if preventive action is not taken. The Fisheries Service said it would wait until September 1999 to decide on whether to extend ESA protection to salmon in southern Oregon and California.
    How the listings will affect urban areas such as Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon is uncertain, but new regulations are expected to be extensive and costly. They could include restrictions on future development, limits on pesticide use and agricultural runoff, logging and fishing limits, dam redesign or removal, pollution controls, and sewage treatment upgrades. These regulations would affect the nearly 5.5 million people living in the Seattle and Portland metropolitan areas combined.
    Many observers said that the initial public response to the listing would be favorable.. The fish still holds great economic and cultural importance for Native Americans in the region and is widely viewed as an environmental icon. This contrasts with the bitter fight over the last major ESA listing in the region, the 1990 protection of the spotted owl, which hurt the logging industry and many timber communities.
    The listings were scheduled to go into effect in May 1999, but regulations would initially apply only on federal lands or on projects requiring a federal permit. Federal officials have pledged tO work with state, local, and private interests to formulate acceptable plans to protect and preserve the threatened fish. State and municipal legislation is already in the works in many cases, but these measures are highly controversial. Real estate and other business interests have protested that they are too strict, and environmental groups have called them too weak. The regulations will likely end up being decided by the courts.
Which of the following statements about ESA’s protection efforts is NOT true?
选项 A、ESA plans to extend its protection to the endangered fish in other areas.
B、It will be expensive to apply ESA’s regulations for protecting the fish.
C、The new listings will Somewhat affect the urban life of some regions.
D、ESA’s protection planshave always been supported by local people.
答案D
解析 A说ESA打算将保护濒临灭绝鱼类的措施扩大到其他地方，这与“．．．it would wait until September 1999 to decide on whether to extend ESA protection to salmon in southern Oregon and California．”一句的内容相近。B说实施ESA的保护计划是昂贵的，这与“．．．but new regulations are expected to be extensive and costly．．．”意义相近。C说新的方案会影响一些地方的城市生活，这与“How the listings will affect urban areas．．．is uncertain．．．These regulations would affect the nearly 5．5 million people living in．．．”的内容相似。D说ESA的保护措施一直得到当地人们的支持，这与事实不符，因为从“This contrasts with the bitter fight over the last major ESA listing in the region，the 1990 protection of the spotted owl，which hurt the logging industry and many timber communities．”中我们知道以前曾发生过一些激烈的抗争，所以这句是错的。
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