Salmon: "It Gets Even More Complicated Once They're Smoked"

February 1, 2011 By: Marshall Cutchin

In Slate magazine, Brian Palmer describes the problem of trying to manage salmon and other anadramous fish in a country where different agencies are in charge of ocean and land resources. Referencing President Obama’s remarks on the topic in last Tuesday’s State of the Union address (“‘The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they’re in fresh water,’ the president noted, ‘but the Commerce Department handles them when they’re in saltwater.'”), Palmer also points to odd realities, including the fact that the FDA’s “Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee is currently trying to decide whether genetically modified salmon should be sold as food, smoked or otherwise.”