Was Holland really at Fault?

Yesterday, I was seated next to the barge & crane crew from Kramer's. Yes, the same crew that destroyed the Kokanee spawning beds last year at Bayview Marina, now renamed Harborview Marina. The discussion floated around what they were doing at Vista Bay, which according to them was diving H-beams into the hill side so they can install retaining walls and widening the access road to 2o feet. We got along fine until I causally mentioned that Fish & Game had recently replanted 20,000 egg sac stage Kokanee where the mitigation took place.

You would have thought I insulted their mothers. Suddenly, they became very defensive to the point of getting ugly. Between the three of these fine citizens, they told me, "what does this lake need with Kokanee anyway. What's wrong with having nothing but Macinaw?" They went on to say that they really didn't care what happened there and most of us that objected might want to move to another country. That was where civilized discourse ended.

That wasn't all of the discussion, but from it I came away with the impression that they knew very well what they were doing back then, and simply didn't care. One wonders why they didn't warn Holland and his people. The answer probably lies in that they didn't want to delay the work, they had a schedule to keep and babysitting a bunch of fish wasn't in their plans. It is one thing to be unconcerned, which still my be the case at it applies to Holland, but willful disregard is entirely another thing.

If Waterford Park's sub-contractor knowingly did this deed, one also wonders if Holland could recover his damages, including two year's income from the Marina, from Kramer and company.