Contact:
Victor Gonella, Golden Gate Salmon Association, 707-762-2300
Dick Pool, Golden Gate Salmon Association, 925-963-6350
Zeke Grader, Golden Gate Salmon Association, 415-606-5140
GGSA Welcomes Early Indicators of Salmon Recovery
More Delta flows paying off, salmon-industry jobs revived
Petaluma, CA - The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) is welcoming strong early indicators that federal salmon rebuilding plans are starting to succeed.
This year has seen better salmon runs and the revival of thousands of jobs that depend on an abundant salmon fishery. Federal Delta protections are helping not only salmon, but also other fish dependent on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Salmon industry representatives stressed that salmon runs still have a long way to go before the industry can maintain the thousands of family-wage jobs, millions of pounds of seafood production, and world-class recreational opportunities it traditionally provided until a few years ago.
Thanks to rebounding fall chinook salmon numbers, this year has seen a modest salmon season in California, and a poor salmon season in Oregon. Fishing communities in both states are dependent on Central Valley salmon runs.
Fishing businesses and families have suffered through three previous years of devastating fishing closures due to a
salmon population crash driven largely by over diversion of Delta water to agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley and other water users.
Positive signs this year include:
• Good salmon returns to the Mokelumne River. Chinook salmon counts on the Mokelumne River are way up, with some daily counts at or near all-time records. This is largely due to a ten-day closure of Delta diversion gates from October 4th to the 14th. When open, the gates have historically interfered with salmon migration.
• Salmon counts in the Feather River, the Sacramento River's largest tributary, have already surpassed last year.
• The state's Delta smelt fall trawl survey showed a welcome uptick in the highly endangered Delta smelt population, indicating that better water management may have slowed or halted the Delta-estuary ecosystem's rapid decline.
"In the middle of the economic recession facing the whole nation, we've got many of our salmon industry jobs back this year, and for that we're thankful this year," said Golden Gate Salmon Association President Victor Gonella.
The improvements seen this year are largely the result of several factors including key court rulings in 2008 and 2009 won by Earthjustice and Natural Resources Defense Council attorneys representing GGSA member group Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA), as well as other salmon advocates.
After driving the Delta and fish species to collapse by taking too much water, water managers were forced under court order to reduce their diversions. In 2009 and 2010, new and improved federal rules limiting diversions took the place of the court orders and will hopefully prevent the wholesale massacre of salmon and Delta fish that took place during the last decade. Water users in the San Joaquin Valley and elsewhere who covet the water needed by salmon to thrive have attacked these improved federal protections.
"These science-based, common-sense Delta protections are starting to work," said GGSA director and Pro Troll tackle owner Dick Pool. "It's absolutely vital that we keep these protections in place to allow the rebuilding of our salmon runs and the return of the tens of thousands of jobs our industry supports."
In the Mokelumne River, managers have counted more than 3,300 chinook at the Woodbridge Dam, up from 946 in 2010. The ten-day closing of the diversionary Cross Channel Gates is a main reason these salmon can successfully find their way home this year. The closure comes after three years of tireless lobbying by GGSA director Dick Pool.
Since counting began in the Feather River on September 1, salmon numbers already outpace the 45,000 counted for all of 2010. By comparison, in 2008 and 2009 the count came in at about 6,000 and 5,000 respectively.
Returning 2008 and 2009 year class fish faced hostile freshwater diversion rates in the Delta in 2006 and 2007 when
they tried to navigate to sea. Many died in the Delta as a result.
"These Delta protections are partly about the timing of pumping and partly about the volume of water going south," said GGSA director and PCFFA executive director Zeke Grader. "One critical issue for salmon fishermen is, if the pumps run too high during the outmigration of young salmon in the late winter and spring, the little fish just get hammered. At other times of the year when salmon are not present, pumping restrictions are not as critical for salmon survival."
Trucking of fish from Central Valley hatcheries to release sites safely west of the deadly influence of the Delta pumps also helped restore the salmon numbers seen this year.
Even with protections in place, millions of native fish have been killed in the deadly Delta pumps in 2011.
"Even with the current federal protections in place, attempts to seize Delta water by water users south of the Delta continue to threaten the salmon we need to make a living," said GGSA director and charter boat captain Roger Thomas. "We've only reduced, not eliminated, the damage caused by the Delta pumps. As long as the pumps interfere with the natural flows of the bay and Delta we'll need to continue physically transporting hatchery juvenile salmon in tanker trucks."
On his last day on the bench, retiring United States District Judge Oliver Wanger dismissed a lawsuit by San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests that sought to shut down the West Coast's 2011 commercial salmon season for Sacramento River chinook salmon.
Wanger based his October 3 Judgment on a 60-page ruling filed September 30, 2011 that rejected all of the challenges of the San Joaquin River Group Authority (SJRGA) to the salmon season. The SJRGA includes nearly 30 irrigation districts and water agencies in the San Joaquin Valley, as well as the City and County of San Francisco.
The SJRGA argued that the National Marine Fisheries Service and its related agencies violated their duty to protect Sacramento River fall run chinook salmon populations by allowing a full commercial season.
However, Judge Wanger concluded that "this is a case where the agency (National Marine Fisheries Service) 'got it right' and followed the law" (Memorandum filed September 30, 2011 at page 59.)
The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA), a coalition of commercial fishing groups, successfully intervened to defend the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) 2011 salmon season management measures.
The is the first year since 2007 that the state and federal governments allowed normal commercial and recreational salmon fishing seasons on the California coast, due to an improvement in Central Valley salmon numbers. Federal fisheries managers opened the seasons based on their ocean abundance estimate of 730,000 fall run chinook salmon this year.
SJRGA had attacked the NMFS' 2011 salmon fishing season that allowed PCFFA members and others to engage in commercial and recreational salmon fishing on the grounds that maintaining a viable salmon fishing industry at the 2011 level of harvest might curtail the water diversions that SJRGA's members are making from the San Joaquin River and its tributaries, according to a news release from the PCFFA.
PCFFA joined NMFS in challenging SJRGA's standing to attack the fishing season. Judge Wanger agreed with the PCFFA that SJRGA's members had failed to show that they would be harmed by NMFS' salmon management measures, and therefore lacked standing to sue.
Judge Wanger also rejected all of SJRGA's substantive challenges to NMFS' 2011 salmon management measures, finding that they fully complied with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Accordingly, Judge Wanger dismissed all of SJRGA's claims, and granted NMFS' and PCFFA's motions for summary judgment, according to the PCFFA.
PCFFA's Executive Director William F. "Zeke" Grader, Jr. praised Judge Wanger's ruling.
"This is a case where the judge 'got it right,'" stated Grader. "In rejecting each of SJRGA's challenges to the 2011 salmon fishing season, Judge Wanger recognized that SJRGA's interests in water diversion are not harmed by maintaining a robust salmon fishery that benefits both commercial and recreational fishermen and the salmon-consuming public.
"Protecting the habitat needs of salmon is not only good for California's environment, it is also good for its economy," pointed out Grader. "Now it will be the abundance of fish and how much science says is safe to harvest-not litigation brought by water diverters-that will determine whether fishing men and women work."
PCFFA's lawyer, Stephan Volker, likewise applauded Judge Wanger's ruling.
"Judge Wanger understood that maintaining a productive salmon fishery that employs hundreds of fishing men and women and feeds thousands of consumers poses no harm to California's agricultural and municipal water diverters," stated Volker. "His ruling makes clear that maintaining environmental health is good for California's economy."
The spokesman for the SJRGA had not responded to my request for a comment regarding the dismissal of the lawsuit at press time.
Salmon fishing was closed on the California and Southern Oregon coast in 2008 and 2009, due to the unprecedented collapse of the Sacramento River fall run chinook salmon population. State and federal officials blamed the collapse on poor ocean conditions, while independent biologists, fishermen, California Indian Tribes and environmentalists pointed to a combination of record water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, declining water quality and poor ocean conditions as factors in the decline.
The judge's dismissal of the lawsuit took place as the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the construction of the peripheral canal to divert more Delta water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies. A coalition of Delta residents, family farmers, fishermen, Indian Tribes, environmental justice communities and elected officials is opposing the canal's construction because it would likely result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other imperiled species.
The dismissal also took place several days after two disturbing records were set on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as the water year ended.
First, a record 9 million Sacramento splittail were "salvaged" at the state and federal Delta pumps near Tracy in 2011. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006 (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/09/09/over-11-million-fish-salvaged-in-delta-death-pumps-since-january-1).
Second, the water projects pumped a record 6.5 million acre-feet of water from the Delta in 2011, according to government data compiled by Spreck Rosecrans at Environmental Defense. The previous record was 6.3 million acre-feet in 2005.
Founded in 1976, PCFFA is a coalition of fourteen fishermen's organizations from throughout California, Oregon and Washington, with a combined membership of more than 750 fishing men and women. Its members depend on a sustainable commercial salmon fishery to maintain their commercial salmon industry.
For more information, call tacts: Zeke Grader (415) 561-5080, Larry Collins (415) 885-1180 or Stephan Volker (510) 496-0600.
Join lovers of great music and the Mokelumne River at this special concert with bluegrass greats Laurie Lewis (fiddle, vocals) and Tom Rozum (mandolin, guitar, vocals). Don't miss it -- it'll be a fantastic time for a great cause!
Laurie and Tom are river-loving musicians from the East Bay. Their water purveyor, East Bay MUD, is still proposing to destroy miles of the Mokelumne River by expanding Pardee Reservoir.
Friday, October 28
7:30 pm
Mokelumne Hill Town Hall, Main St, Mokelumne Hill (map)
Tickets are $15 in advance for adults, $10 at the door for children under 12. ($20 at the door for adults.)
Order tickets online or call 209-296-5495.
Laurie and Tom have entertained audiences around the world together since 1986. Nominated for a Grammy in 1995 for their album "The Oak and the Laurel," the duo is widely regarded as among the leading lights of modern bluegrass. Laurie has twice been named "Female Vocalist of the Year" by the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Beer, wine and Save the Moke goods will be on sale at the event. Proceeds benefit the Foothill Conservancy's efforts to Save the Mokelumne River.
Read more about Laurie, Tom, the show and local dining and lodging options here.
Tell your friends and neighbors: Download posters to print and distribute and forward this message.
Don't miss this fun and entertaining evening in a truly charming and historic Mother Lode town -- just a stone's throw south of the Mokelumne River.
Help restore a high mountain meadow
Love the high country near Carson Pass? Volunteer to help us study a high mountain meadow in the Mokelumne River watershed. Our first field trip to the meadow is scheduled for Saturday, October 15. If you can make it, please contact Randy at 209-295-4900 or send him an e-mail. And if you have friends who might be interested, please let them know about this opportunity to help restore a dry meadow to lush, green bird and wildlife habitat.
EBMUD workshop held September 27
Last week, the East Bay Municipal Utility District held a workshop on the revision of the utility's 2040 water supply plan, which still includes plans to expand Pardee Reservoir with a new, higher dam and flood more of the Mokelumne River. While opponents showed up and spoke up for the river, no member of the public spoke out in support of the dam.
(September 30) The Bureau of Reclamation today issued a statement announcing that it will close the Delta Cross Channel Gates for a period of up to 10 days from Tuesday, October 4 through Friday, October 14, 2011.
"The closure is an experimental research action intended to support the fishery resources in the lower Mokelumne River for Central Valley fall-run Chinook salmon migrating upstream to spawn and to help to reduce fish straying into other river systems," according to Peter Lucero, spokesman for the Mid-Pacific Region of the Bureau in Sacramento.
Lucero said the Delta Cross Channel Gates (DCCG) is a controlled diversion channel on the Sacramento River about 30 miles south of Sacramento that diverts water from the river into a branch of the Mokelumne River. When the gates are open, fresh water is drawn from the Sacramento River into the interior of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta through Snodgrass Slough and the Mokelumne River.
The decision by the Bureau to open the gates for 10 days is a big victory by The Golden Gate Salmon Association, Water for Fish and conservation groups working to restore Central Valley chinook salmon populations.
"During this closure, the salmon will be able to find their way to the main stem Mokelumne River," said Dick Pool, Secretary Treasurer of the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) and Administrator of Water for Fish. "The river and hatchery will almost assuredly reach capacity."
Pool said this closure will result in six million fall run salmon smolts being able to migrate from the hatchery to the ocean, as well as between 2,000 and 4,000 adult salmon spawning naturally in the river. For more information, go to: http://www.indybay.org/newsite...
Reclamation advised boaters to continue to check the status of the gates to avoid problems in moving through the DCCG.
Information on gate operations can be accessed on Reclamation's Central Valley Operations website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvo/vun... or by calling 916-979-2194 or 916-979-2196. For additional information, please call the Public Affairs Office at 916-978-5100 (TYY 916-978-5608).
Record numbers of splittail 'salvaged' as Delta exports reach all-time record
Meanwhile, two records were set on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta today as the water year ended.
First, 9 million Sacramento splittail were "salvaged" at the state and federal Delta pumps near Tracy in 2011. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006 (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/09/09/over-11-million-fish-salvaged-in-delta-death-pumps-since-january-1).
Second, the water projects pumped a record 6.5 million acre-feet of water from the Delta in 2011, according to government data compiled by Spreck Rosecrans at Environmental Defense. The previous record was 6.3 million acre-feet in 2005.
"One of the reasons for the record-setting pumping is that much of the water this year went to refill the underground Kern Water Bank, largely controlled by billionaire farmer Stewart Resnick, and to the smaller Diamond Valley reservoir, which serves Southern California," according to Mike Taugher in the Silicon Valley Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19014459). "Both reservoirs were drawn down during the three-year drought that lasted from 2007 through 2009."
The fish "salvaged" at the "death pumps" of the state and federal water projects also include hundreds of thousands of threadfin shad, striped bass, American shad, white catfish and other species. The salvage numbers reveal that 742,850 threadfin shad, 514,921 American shad, 496,601 striped bass and 100,373 white catfish were "salvaged" between January 1 and September 7 of this year.
Agency staff also salvaged protected Sacramento River spring run chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt and green sturgeon, all listed under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts, in the pumping facilities. The salvage numbers list 35,560 Central Valley chinook salmon, 1,642 steelhead, 51 Delta smelt and 14 green sturgeon. In all, a total of over 11 milllion fish including 46 species were salvaged in the facilities since January 1.
While the salvage counts are certainly alarming, the overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to be much greater than the salvage counts. The actual loss could be 5 to 10 times the salvage numbers, according to "A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta," prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
The record splittail "salvage" and record Delta pumping occur at a time when the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal to export more water to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness and southern California. If built, the peripheral canal would result in the extinction of Central Valley salmon and steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and other imperiled fish populations.
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), Friends of the River, North Coast River Alliance, Save the American River Association and Winnemem Wintu Tribe have filed a lawsuit against Westlands Water District and its two water distribution districts over the renewal of six interim water service contracts.
The action, filed 25 August 2011, concerns six Central Valley Project (CVP) contracts providing up to over one million acre feet of water annually from the Delta. The groups and Tribe say water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are a principle reason for the decline of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations.
Westlands, et al, claims the contracts are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). A call to a spokesperson for Westlands regarding their rationale for claiming a CEQA exemption had not been returned at press time.
The coalition disagrees strongly with the CEQA exemption for the contracts. The lawsuit asks for: injunctive relief, restraining the defendant from carrying out the project; a writ of mandate, setting aside contract approval; and declaratory relief, declaring the contracts to be unlawful, according to Bill Jennings, Executive Director/Chairman of CSPA.
"The environmental devastation wrought on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by Central Valley Project operations generally and Westlands' diversions specifically has become patent in recent years," the petition states. "The importation of over 1,000,000 acre feet of water from the Delta to Westlands has caused substantial harm to the Delta's imperiled fisheries. Boron, selenium and salt pollution in the Delta originates in part from return flow discharged by Westlands and surrounding water contractors."
Key fish species imperiled by Delta water exports and contaminated return flows include winter, spring and fall runs of Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and threadfin shad, according to the petition.
"These Proposed Contracts, if implemented, would have adverse impacts on the Delta, including but not limited to degraded water quality; harmful impacts upon sensitive and/or endangered species; lost of fish and wildlife habitat; and impaired recreation," the document concludes.
The lawsuit takes place at a critical time for Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. Over 11 million fish have been "salvaged" in the state and federal pumping facilities in the South Delta since January 1 as record amounts of water are exported to southern California and corporate agribusiness.
A horrific 8,985,009 Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were salvaged by September 7, according to Department of Fish and Game data. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006.
Agency staff also listed 35,560 chinook salmon, 1,642 steelhead, 51 Delta smelt and 14 green sturgeon as "salvaged" in the pumping facilities this year to date (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/09/09/over-11-million-fish-salvaged-in-delta-death-pumps-since-january-1/).
Chinook salmon, a fish devastated in recent years by record water exports out of the estuary, are an integral part of the religion and culture of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe and other Native American nations. The Tribe is now engaged in an ambitious program to return the original strain of winter run chinook salmon, now thriving in the Rakaira and other rivers in New Zealand, to the McCloud River above Lake Shasta.
"Salmon are the ultimate source of good health for California Indians that have been missing from our diets for generations now," said Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. "We need them back in our rivers and we need them back in our diets for balance to return to our world."
The lawsuit also proceeds at time when the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the construction of the peripheral canal through the Bay Conservation Plan (BDCP) to divert more Delta water to corporate agribusiness and southern California.
The law offices of Stephan C. Volker are representing CSPA and the Coalition in this matter. For more information, go to: http://www.calsport.org.
In one of the biggest fish kills in California history, the state and federal government agencies "salvaged" a total of 11,158,021 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011.
The Central Valley Project and State Water Project pumps in the south end of the California Delta export water to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies.
A horrific 8,985,009 Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were salvaged during this period, according to Department of Fish and Game data. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006.
During the 8-day period from May 16 though May 23 when the splittail were entering the pumping facilities in the greatest numbers, a total of 4,400,073 splittail were documented.
The fish "salvaged" at the "death pumps" of the state and federal water projects also include hundreds of thousands of threadfin shad, striped bass, American shad, white catfish and other species. The salvage numbers reveal that 742,850 threadfin shad, 514,921 American shad, 496,601 striped bass and 100,373 white catfish were "salvaged" between January 1 and September 7 of this year.
Agency staff also salvaged protected Sacramento River spring run chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt and green sturgeon, all listed under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts, in the pumping facilities. The salvage numbers list 35,560 chinook salmon, 1,642 steelhead, 51 Delta smelt and 14 green sturgeon.
The staff recorded a total of 46 species of fish salvaged in the facilities, including bigscale logperch (695), bluegill (92,615), lamprey (3,861), largemouth bass (59,041) and Sacramento sucker (27,358).
Though no comprehensive studies have been conducted on how many of the salvaged fish survive, fish advocates believe that the majority of many species perish during and after the salvage process.
Actual fish losses greatly exceed salvage numbers
While the salvage counts are certainly alarming, the overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to be much greater than the salvage counts. The actual loss could be 5 to 10 times the salvage numbers, according to "A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta," prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
"These salvage statistics greatly understate the total number of fish entrained, since they do not include the number of fish lost to predators or lost through the fish screens," the report stated. "In fact, recent estimates indicate that 5-10 times more fish are lost than are salvaged, largely due to the high predation losses in and around water project facilities."
Based on this data, the actual number of fish killed in the pumps to date this year could be anywhere from 55 to 110 million!
The Walker report also cites DFG and DWR studies as showing that 75% of fish entering Clifton Court Forebay are lost to predation in project facilities before they reach the salvage facilities. An additional 20-30% are lost at the salvage facility louvers.
Of the remaining fish actually salvaged, 1-12% are lost during handling and trucking operation and another 10-30% are lost to post-release predation because there are only 4 release sites, according to the report.
The numbers are far worse for Delta smelt, an endangered species that is considered an indicator of the health of the estuary, since 94-99% are lost to predation in project facilities and virtually no salvaged delta smelt survive trucking and handling.
Fishing Group, Winnemen Wintu Tribe outraged over Delta fish kill
Bill Jennings, executive director/Chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), is outraged by the massive carnage that
has occurred in the state and federal pumping facilities this year.
Reacting to the release of the latest salvage data, Jennings said, "I don't think any estuary can stand an assault on fish populations in the numbers that we're seeing. The project pumps are by far the largest predator in the entire estuary. The Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation are the biggest poachers in California history!"
Caleen Sisk-Franco, the Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Tribe, who is working on an innovative plan to restore winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Lake Shasta, is also appalled by the millions of fish killed to date.
"I am just wondering why it is okay to have the largest fish kill going on in the Delta and no one notices," said Sisk-Franco. "There are more endangered fish killed every day in the Delta pumps that are supposed to be protected. Try catching one of them to eat, and see how fast you get in trouble, but just let them swim into the Delta pumps and no one is trying to save them!"
Sisk-Franco asked, "How many dead fish is too many? Who will speak up for the fish? Everything is connected and soon we will understand what this fish kill means to the human beings."
Bush and Obama administrations oppose splittail protection
The Sacramento splittail, the imperiled native fish that have perished in the greatest numbers in the Delta "poaching" facilities this year, were formerly protected as a threatened species but illegally stripped of Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection in 2003 during the Julie McDonald "Splittailgate" Scandal. McDonald, a high-ranking Bush administration official, helped remove the splittail from the list of threatened and endangered species because of the economic threat she believed that it posed to her farm near Dixon, California.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last fall made a controversial determination that the species does not warrant protection, despite the fact that numbers of splittail found in the annual fall DFG midwater trawl surveys have fallen to consistently low levels since 2002, and that the estimated population from 2002 to 2010 has been the lowest recorded since surveys began in 1967, according to Jeff Miller, conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Obama administration, in denying the splittail ESA protection in October 2010, claimed that the capture of huge numbers of fish by the pumping facilities in wet years has little impact on splittail abundance.
The unprecedented loss of fish life in the pumping facilities occurs as the pumps are currently exporting record amounts of water to corporate agribusiness and southern California under the "leadership" of Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird.
"Exports from the Bay-Delta may reach an all-time high in 2011," according to Spreck Rosecrans, an economic analyst at Environmental Defense (http://blogs.edf.org/waterfront/2011/07/15/delta-exports-projected-to-reach-record-level-in-2011/). "Through July 15, pumping for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project has totaled 4.86 million acre-feet. With ample supplies in northern reservoirs and Sierra rivers still full of melting snow, it is likely that the pumps will continue to run at or near capacity through the end of the water year (September 30)."
The annual export total is projected to reach 6,610,000 acre-feet - 140,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, Rosecrans explained.
At the same time, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is wholesaling water at discount prices, since southern California reservoirs have largely filled (http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_surplus11.3abcf4c.html).
Instead of taking long-needed action to stop the carnage at the water export facilities, the Brown and Obama administrations, in the foot steps of the Schwarzenegger administration, are instead pushing for the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to facilitate the export of more northern California to drainage impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies.
If built, the peripheral canal would result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other imperiled species. However, if the state and federal agencies keep pumping water and killing fish like they have this year, extinction for these species may come much sooner!
First, please contact John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary, and demand that he take immediate action to stop the killing of millions of Sacramento splittail and thousands of threatened spring run Chinook salmon by the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources!
His contact information is:
California Natural Resources Agency
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 653-5656
(916) 653-8102 fax
Email: secretary [at] resources.ca.gov
Second, take action to protect the Endangered Species Act and The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by going to: http://restorethedelta.org/tak...
An Associated Press report on Tuesday, August 9 revealed that Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Governor from November 2003 through 2010, could face legal action for recently smoking a cigar at Salzburg Airport in Austria.
"Was it lit or was it cold?" the article asked. "The status of a cigar in Arnold Schwarzenegger's mouth at an Austrian airport could decide whether or not he faces legal action."
"Smoking at airports is banned in Austria and an anti-smoking lobby said Tuesday it plans to launch a suit against the former California governor for puffing on a stogie after arriving in June at Salzburg Airport," AP continued (http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/09/3826143/was-it-lit-arnie-could-be-charged.html).
It is doubtful whether anything will come of this latest episode of the long, sordid saga of the "Governator," arguably the worst Governor in California history for fish, fishing communities and the environment.
"Salzburg municipal legal expert Josef Goldberger told state broadcaster ORF that Arnie can ignore any requests from authorities in his homeland to respond since the charge is not covered by treaties," AP noted.
Mainstream media refused to cover Schwarzenegger regime's biggest scandal
While the mainstream media makes a big deal out of this latest "scandal" about Schwarzenegger and the covert relationship with his maid that resulted in the birth of a son, AP and others persistently neglected to cover the much more newsworthy and scandalous war that Schwarzenegger waged against Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, fishing communities and Indian Tribes during his regime.
Instead, the mainstream media and corporate environmental NGOs falsely portrayed Schwarzenegger as the "Green Governor," greenwashing his abysmal environmental policies that violated numerous state, federal and international laws.
Schwarzenegger in 2010 received awards for his "green" leadership from NRDC, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the "Beautiful Earth Group," and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, and others in a carefully orchestrated campaign to greenwash his legacy before he left office.
In spite of the claims of his collaborators, Schwarzenegger's true legacy is the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, young striped bass, Sacramento splittail and other fish populations spurred by record water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from 2003 to 2006.
Rather than taking the necessary measures to restore these imperiled fish populations, Schwarzenegger tried to make things even worse by attacking the biological opinion protecting Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River spring and winter run chinook salmon, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales, along with the biological opinion protecting the endangered Delta smelt.
He relentlessly campaigned for a peripheral canal through the Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) processes and the November 2009 water bond/water policy package. Meanwhile, he fast-tracked a corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative that does nothing to "protect" the ocean from water pollution, oil drilling and spills, military testing, corporate aquaculture, habitat destruction and other human uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
When Schwarzenegger left office on January 2, 2011 after waging an unprecedented war on California fish populations and fishing communities, millions celebrated his departure.
Arnold's true environmental record exposed
Schwarzenegger's real environmental legacy is much different from how Schwarzenegger and his collaborators portray it. What was his actual environmental record? (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/05/18/schwarzenegger-screwed-fish-fishermen-and-tribes/)
• Schwarzenegger allowed the Department of Water Resources to pump record levels of water out of the Delta from 2003 to 2007, resulting in the Central Valley salmon and California Delta pelagic species collapses.The largest annual water export levels in history occurred in 2003 (6.3 million acre feet), 2004 (6.1 MAF), 2005 (6.5 MAF) and 2006 (6.3 MAF). Exports averaged 4.6 MAF annually between 1990 and 1999 and increasing to an average of 6 MAF between 2000 and 2007, a rise of almost 30 percent, according to the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
• He constantly attacked two federal biological opinions, released in 2009, protecting Delta smelt, Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales.
• His administration did nothing while tens of thousands of striped bass, Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento splittail and other species perished during a levee repair project at Prospect Island in the California Delta in November 2007.
• He vetoed numerous environmental bills, including vetoing a badly needed bill sponsored by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) in 2008 that would provide for emergency fish rescue plans on the Delta.
• He consistently slashed funding for game wardens in the field while California has the lowest ratio of wardens to residents of any state in the nation.
• His administration directed the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board to continue to grant waivers to agricultural polluters, in spite of the dire condition of Delta fisheries.
• Since 2004, he fast-tracked the controversial, privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a fiasco ridden with conflicts of interest, institutional racism and corruption. Rather than creating marine protected areas that truly protect the ocean, this initiative kicks sustainable fishermen and gatherers off the water while refusing to deal with pollution, coastal development, military testing, wave energy projects and other human uses of the ocean that imperil marine life and ecosystems.
• As Schwarzenegger fast-tracked the privately-funded MLPA fiasco, he twice vetoed two crab pot limit bills needed to preserve California crab fisheries.
• Schwarzenegger introduced a bill that would allow the lame-duck Governor to choose 25 development projects each year that would be exempt from the state's strict standards under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (http://www.ecovote.org/blog/?p=1674).
• The Governor's Office of Pesticide Regulation on December 1, 2010 inexplicably approved methyl iodide to replace the soil fumigant methyl bromide, even though methyl iodide is even more toxic to animals, fish and people than methyl bromide (http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/04/3231811/inexplicably-state-approves-new.html).
Schwarzenegger's water policies led by peripheral canal campaign
However, the "crown jewel" of Schwarzenegger's water policies was his campaign to build a peripheral canal/canal and new dams through his Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan processes. This construction of a canal/tunnel, estimated to cost anywhere from $23 to $53.8 billion, is likely to lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other species.
In his zeal to build the canal, Schwarzenegger tried to sabotage the campaign by the Klamath, Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes, fishermen and environmentalists to remove four Klamath River dams by including $250 million for Klamath River dam removal in an unpopular water bond that creates the infrastructure for a peripheral canal and new dams. Because it would have faced certain defeat at the polls last November, Schwarzenegger and the Legislative leadership postponed the water bond until November 2012.
In addition, the Schwarzenegger administration granted agribusiness permits to divert water from the Scott and Shasta rivers, resulting in the de-watering of these Klamath River tributaries at tremendous risk to endangered coho salmon. Schwarzenegger's "scorched earth" policy towards the Scott and Shasta forced Earthjustice to file a lawsuit against the Department of Fish and Game on behalf of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, Klamath Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club, the Quartz Valley Indian Tribe, Northcoast Environmental Center and Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC).
While his record regarding fishery and water issues is arguably the worst of any Governor in California history, Schwarzenegger's portrayal by the mainstream media and corporate environmental NGOs as a relentless advocate for "clean energy" is also very deceptive. Former Senator Sheila Kuel eloquently exposed the myth of the "Jolly Green Giant" in her article, "A Lame Duck Governor Fabricates A Hoped-For Legacy," in the California Progress Report on July 29, 2010 (http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8010
Brown administration continues Arnold's policies
Unfortunately, Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird are forging ahead with the three most notorious environmental policies of the Schwarzenegger regime - the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build a peripheral canal, the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create questionable "marine protected areas," and the massive export of northern California water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies that has resulted in record numbers of Sacramento splittail and other fish species perishing at the state and federal water project Delta pumping facilities this year.
An astounding 8,966,976 splittail, 35,556 chinook salmon, 430,289 striped bass, 54,412 largemouth bass, 69,383 bluegill, 76,570 white catfish, 28,301 channel catfish, 233,174 threadfin shad, 264,171 American shad, 1,642 steelhead and 51 Delta smelt were "salvaged" in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to August 2, 2011, according to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) data.
However, the overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to dwarf the actual salvage counts, according to "A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta," prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
The staggering losses of Sacramento splittail and other fish species in the death pumps of the state and federal water projects on the California Delta are taking place as the Brown and Obama administrations export record volumes of water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies, continuing the fish killing legacy of the Schwarzenegger administration.
To read an excellent investigative piece by Patrick Porgans and Lloyd Carter about the legacy of Gov. Edmund G. "Pat" Brown and his two children, current Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown and Kathleen Brown, and their connection to public bonds, budget deficits, the Bay-Delta Estuary conflict, and the November 2012 water bond measure, go to: http://www.lloydgcarter.com/co...
As happens every year, endangered coho salmon are being stranded in drying pools in the Scott River system, due to inaction by the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Forest Service and the California Water Resources Control Board.
An independent investigation by Klamath Riverkeeper Erica Terence reveals that in spite of the DFG "rescuing" 1,500 coho out of disconnected pools up Kidder Creek, a Scott River tributary, on July 25 and 26, hundreds of juvenile coho salmon were still trapped in Patterson Creek.
"At the rate the creek is drying up, those fish will be jerky by the end of today," Terence said in a note to DFG officials. "I suggest that in addition to rescuing what fish you can, your agency should open an investigation into nearby diversions and possible Fish and Game Code violations immediately."
CDFG Game Warden Steve McDonald responded to Terence's note within days, supplying a report that all three surface diversions upstream of the dewatered reach with the photographed dying coho were shut off or were returning all the water they diverted back into the creek after using it, according to Terence.
Although fish rescue in the Scott River fails to address the root causes of the dewatering such as irrigation dams, canals, ditches, groundwater pumping and soil deposition caused by irresponsible logging in the watershed, "it is a necessary tactic to prevent total extinction of the severely endangered Scott River coho population," Terence said.
The stranding of endangered salmon on Scott River tributaries occurs at a time when one of the largest fish kills in California history is taking place at the state and federal pumps on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
A horrific total of 8,942,347 splittail, 35,435 chinook salmon, 385,392 striped bass, 49,812 largemouth bass, 67,383 bluegill, 66,403 white catfish, 20,178 channel catfish, 91,956 threadfin shad, 166,336 American shad, 1,642 steelhead and 51 Delta smelt were "salvaged" in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to July 21, 2011, according to DFG data. The actual numbers of fish lost in the pumping facilities dwarf the salvage numbers.
Meanwhile, the state and federal governments are pumping record amounts of water out of the California Delta at a time when southern California reservoirs are full and the Metropolitan Water District of California is selling water at cut-rate prices.
As the Delta fish kill proceeds while Brown and Obama administration officials do virtually nothing to stop the carnage, the California Department of Fish and Game refuses to take a proactive and comprehensive approach to stopping the dewatering problem that takes place yearly on the Scott and Shasta rivers.
As the Who song said so well, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
I applaud the Klamath Riverkeeper to standing up for the fish and fighting against the diversions of water of the Scott and Shasta rivers that lead to the stranding of endangered coho salmon every year. For more information, go to: http://www.klamathriver.org.
Below is the news release:
Klamath Riverkeeper Press Release | For Immediate Release
Stranded Salmon In Dewatered Northern California Streams Trigger Rescues, Investigations And Alarm
Scott Valley, CA-- More than a thousand ESA-listed coho were reportedly "rescued" from dewatered creeks feeding a major tributary to the Klamath River by California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) personnel last week. The agency transferred the stressed baby salmon into the nearby mainstem Scott River where water diversions to grow hay and water cattle is likely to dewater the streambed in many reaches before October.
More than 1,500 coho were transported out of disconnected pools up Kidder Creek July 25 and 26, according to the Yreka CDFG Senior Scientist Mark Pisano.
An independent inspection documented in the attached photos by the non-profit organization Klamath Riverkeeper following initial rescue efforts found hundreds of juvenile coho salmon still trapped in Patterson Creek. Other reports suggest that young coho salmon were facing similar dead ends in neighboring Kidder Creek, and that total dewatering is also imminent for Shackleford and French creeks. All four Scott River tributaries offer key juvenile coho salmon rearing habitat.
Shortly after documenting the dewatered channel and stranded baby salmon, Klamath Riverkeeper Erica Terence notified CDFG officials in writing, effectively warning them that inaction by the agency would be inadequate under numerous environmental statutes.
"At the rate the creek is drying up, those fish will be jerky by the end of today...I suggest that in addition to rescuing what fish you can, your agency should open an investigation into nearby diversions and possible Fish and Game Code violations immediately," the note by Terence said.
CDFG Game Warden Steve McDonald responded to Terence's note within days, supplying a report that all three surface diversions upstream of the dewatered reach with the photographed dying coho were shut off or were returning all the water they diverted back into the creek after using it.
"What's sad about this situation is that this isn't just happening in Patterson Creek. It's happening in tributaries across this agriculturally dominated valley, and the worst actors on tributaries we weren't able to document that day are getting away with murder because CDFG isn't taking a proactive and comprehensive approach to coping with this dewatering problem," Terence pointed out.
Although fish rescue in the Scott River fails to address the root causes of the dewatering such as irrigation dams, canals, ditches, groundwater pumping and soil deposition caused by irresponsible logging in the watershed, it is a necessary tactic to prevent total extinction of the severely endangered Scott River coho population.
The bleak reality is that scientists have already declared two out of three generations (called year-classes or cohorts) as "functionally extinct." The only biologically viable run of coho came home to spawn in the Scott River last year.
These stranded salmon have been identified as the offspring of that final coho run, and their survival rates will decide the future of the species in the watershed. Fall Chinook salmon numbers are still slightly stronger than the coho counts in the Scott River, but their populations are also in steep decline.
"Fortunately, both 2010 and 2011 were wetter than average years. Unfortunately, even in extremely wet years, we're seeing total dewatering in many reaches of the Scott River and its tributaries," Terence said.
"Even more unfortunate is the fact that the agencies with the power to do something about the problem--California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Forest Service and the California Water Board--have all been unwilling to take meaningful steps to put water back in the river so far," she added.
A 1974 CDFG report on optimal in-stream flows for fisheries suggests that the mainstem Scott River should retain more than 100 cubic feet per second, yet the channel dropped to zero cubic feet per second in the summer of 2009 and was also dangerously low in 2010. The report is the best science currently available on the subject of in-stream flow needs of salmon in the Scott River.
Klamath Riverkeeper was the lead plaintiff in a court case challenging CDFG's California Endangered Species Act (CESA) permitting program aimed at bringing activities that could kill endangered coho into legal compliance. Riverkeeper and co-plaintiffs alleged that the program didn't do enough to protect in-stream flows or endangered coho salmon, and could even harm the species' chance of making a comeback there.
In April, 2011, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldstein sided with plaintiffs Klamath Riverkeeper, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, Quartz Valley Indian Tribe, Environmental Protection Information Center, Northcoast Environmental Center and the Sierra Club, stating that "Program participants start with an inadequately scrutinized clean slate that is purged of past illegal take and is more permissive of future take of a population already depleted by illegal take," (Klamath Riverkeeper et al v. California Department of Fish and Game et al, Page 13, Lines 10-12.)
Judge Goldstein's opinion refers to decades of past inaction by CDFG in response to illegal coho deaths known as "take" of an endangered species under CESA.
But rather than take steps to fix the flaws in that program, CDFG has decided to appeal the judge's ruling.
The Siskiyou County Farm Bureau is also currently pursuing a legal challenge to CDFG's authority to regulate water diversions in order to save listed salmon.
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Jerry McNerney (CA-11) slammed state and federal plans to build a peripheral canal in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta during his speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on July 27.
In his remarks, Rep. McNerney also shared his strong support for landowners in the Delta area who are fighting attempts by the State of California to conduct surveys and studies without permission on private land.
"Mr. Speaker, I rise to stand shoulder to shoulder with landowners from the San Joaquin Delta who are fighting against the peripheral canal," said McNerney. "Without permission, the state is sending its employees onto private farmland to conduct the surveys and studies it would need to build a canal."
"Delta farmers aren't standing for it," affirmed McNerney. "Delta farmers have taken their case to the courts, and I urge them to keep fighting for their property rights and the health of our Delta."
"A peripheral canal or tunnel that takes large amounts of fresh water from the Delta would devastate families, farmers, and businesses in our community. A canal will cause saltwater intrusion, destroy thousands of acres of farmland, and devastate our water quality. It's time for state and federal agencies to respect the Delta and its people. We won't tolerate anything less," he concluded.
Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and board member of Restore the Delta, applauded McNerney for speaking out against plans to build the peripheral canal.
"McNerney is one of the most celebral, educated and thoughtful members of Congress," said Jennings. "We had no doubt that, after thoughtfully analyzing the facts, he would could come out staunchly against the peripheral canal that would devastate farming, busienss and fishing communities in the Delta."
"Anyone who values the natural resources of the estuary and Delta communities would inevitably come to the conclusion that a peripheral canal would be the executioner's' warrant for this estuary," said Jennings.
McNerney joins a growing coalition of fishing groups, family farmers, Indian Tribes, environmental organizations, environmental justice communities, Delta residents and other Californians opposed to the construction of the peripheral canal/tunnel.
The Brown and Obama administrations, in the footsteps of the Schwarzenegger administration, are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal or tunnel to divert Sacramento River water to corporate agribusiness and southern California.
As McNerney spoke out against the canal, one of the greatest fish kills in California history continued to take place in the state and federal Delta pumps.
An astounding total of 8,942,347 splittail, 35,435 chinook salmon, 385,392 striped bass, 49,812 largemouth bass, 67,383 bluegill, 66,403 white catfish, 20,178 channel catfish, 91,956 threadfin shad, 166,336 American shad, 1,642 steelhead and 51 Delta smelt were "salvaged" in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to July 21, 2011, according to DFG data. However, an array of scientific studies indicate that the actual numbers of fish killed in the pumping facilities is
Record amounts of water are being exported from the Delta, even though southern California reservoirs are full and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is selling water for cut-rate prices. For more information, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danb...
The Brown and Obama administrations, rather than exporting record amounts of water and presiding over one of the largest fish kills in California history, should instead work to restore Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. They should heed the call by the majority of Californians to abandon plans put in place by the worst Governor in California history, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to build a peripheral canal or tunnel.
"The peripheral canal is a big, stupid idea that doesn't make any sense from a tribal environmental perspective," summed up Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, who are now working to restore winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta Dam. "Building a canal to save the Delta is like a doctor inserting an arterial bypass from your shoulder to your hand- it will cause your elbow to die just like taking water out of the Delta through a peripheral canal will cause the Delta to die."
My dad Alfred, who worked for decades as a civil engineer for CalTrans, used to complain to me about the stupidity of past efforts by the US Army Corps of Engineers to remove trees from levees along the Sacramento River and Delta waterways.
Not only was this unsightly and bad for fish and wildlife, but he told me, as we were driving around the California Delta to fish for catfish and stripers, how removing the trees actually weakened the levees! He passed away in 2005, but if he was still alive, he would be very happy to hear that a lawsuit was filed to stop yet another hare-brained scheme by the Corps to remove trees from California levees.
Friends of the River, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife filed a lawsuit in federal court on June 20, the day after Father's Day, challenging the implementation of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program in California requiring removal of all trees and shrubs from levees despite clear evidence that this vegetation provides important habitat for endangered fish, birds and other species, and its removal may actually reduce levee safety.
This destructive program is being implemented under the Obama administration, an administration that is pushing the privatization of ocean fisheries through the "catch shares" program, backing the construction of a peripheral canal to export more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and fast-tracking the FDA approval process for genetically engineered salmon.
"This misguided program would further fragment remnants of Central Valley riparian forest that are essential habitat for endangered species and also provide scenic beauty and recreational enjoyment of the rivers," said Bob Wright, senior counsel for Friends of the River. "The Corps must abide by environmental laws and make environmentally informed decisions. We will pursue this case vigorously and as rapidly as the court allows."
"After Hurricane Katrina, the Corps made major changes to its nationwide levee program, including new standards in 2009 banning vegetation within 15 feet of levees, without consideration for regional differences," according to a joint press release from the three groups. "Although many levees were designed to include streamside vegetation to enhance the habitat lost by the re-engineering of rivers and streams, the Corps took steps to cancel all exceptions to the requirement that all levees be cleared, without evaluating the impacts on endangered species or their habitats in California."
"The Corps adopted a new standard requiring removal of all vegetation from levees without environmental review, consideration of regional differences or scientific support," said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Not only is there little proof trees or well-managed vegetation threaten levees in California, the Corps' own research shows trees stabilize and strengthen levees. The Corps must incorporate ongoing scientific research before proceeding."
Miller said the changes could significantly affect endangered species in the Central Valley and Southern California that rely on vegetation along levees for habitat, such as chinook salmon, steelhead trout, green sturgeon, giant garter snake, least Bell's vireo, riparian brush rabbit, southwestern willow flycatcher and valley elderberry longhorn beetle.
Central Valley fall-run chinook stocks collapsed to record low population levels in 2008 and 2009, due to a combination of massive water exports out of the California Delta, declining water quality and poor ocean conditions. Although there has been an upswing in the federal government's ocean salmon abundance estimate this year, the endangered Sacramento River winter-run chinook and spring-run chinook populations continue to decline. Removing riparian vegetation along Central Valley levees will result in higher water temperatures and increased sedimentation that are deadly to imperiled fish populations.
Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other Delta fish species have declined to record low population levels in recent years also, again spurred by water exports to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies.
"In many Southern California coastal streams, least vireos and flycatchers nest in riparian vegetation; longhorn beetles inhabit elderberry trees, and protected fish swim in rivers along Central Valley levees," according to the groups. "Riparian vegetation reduces sedimentation harmful to anadromous fish and provides important shade that reduces water temperatures, which is critical for salmonids and other aquatic species."
The groups contend the Corps ignored its legal obligation to analyze the impacts of this new program under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement before adopting the decision. They also say the Corps ignored its requirement, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), to consult with federal wildlife agencies for the impacts on threatened and endangered species.
"Levee safety can be achieved without clearcutting some of the surviving riparian forests in the Central Valley and destroying habitat for struggling species like salmon, steelhead trout and willow flycatchers," emphasized Kelly Catlett, a California representative of Defenders of Wildlife.
The Corps for decades allowed retention and encouraged planting of trees and shrubs on Central Valley levees in cooperation with federal and state agencies because little other riverbank or riparian habitat remains for endangered species and other wildlife. "The Corps acknowledges vegetation removal may harm endangered species habitats, but instead of undertaking necessary consultation with wildlife agencies has tried to shift the burden of implementation and environmental compliance to local agencies and flood-control districts," the groups stated.
A call to the Corps of Engineers office in San Francisco regarding the agency's rationale for the removing the trees hadn't been returned at press time.
However, virtually everybody other than the Corps, ranging from state agencies to environmentalists, is opposed to the clear cutting of state state's levees. Major flood-control associations in the Central Valley and Bay Area, where most of the state's levees are located, as well as a dozen flood-control agencies, many state resource agencies, and federal and state lawmakers in California, have objected to or formally expressed concerns about the program.
Among the concerns are that compliance and subsequent environmental mitigation would be extremely costly; diverting limited funding to clear levees will prevent or hinder projects to fix structural or seepage problems; existing vegetation provides erosion control and removing it could increase risk of scouring and slope failure and compromise levee integrity. The state Department of Water Resources estimates the compliance cost at $7.8 billion.
The California Department of Fish and Game and Department of Water Resources have stated that implementation would "reduce public safety in California, result in extensive and unnecessary environmental damage, and remove the Corps' responsibility to assist state and local maintaining agencies in ensuring the integrity of California's levee system."
The agencies object to "attempting to address complex technical, financial, legal and institutional problems with a highly prescriptive, one-size-fits-all approach to vegetation management."
Hopefully, this lawsuit by the three environmental groups will stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from its "slash and destroy" policy of removing all trees and shrubs from levees on Central Valley and other California rivers. Kudos to Friends of the River, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife for filing this much-needed litigation to stop the clear cutting of California levees!
For more information, contact: Bob Wright, Friends of the River, (916) 442-3155 x 207; Jeff Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 669-7357; and Kelly Catlett, Defenders of Wildlife, (916) 313-5800 x 110.
On June 15, the House of Representatives agreed by voice vote to an amendment to the House Agriculture Appropriations bill that would bar the approval of genetically engineered (GE) salmon for human consumption.
The short amendment by Representatives Don Young (R-AK) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) would ban the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from spending any funds on the approval of the fish, called "Frankenfish" by GE fish opponents, beginning in the next fiscal year. (http://donyoung.house.gov/UploadedFiles/GM_Fish_final_version.pdf)
"Frankenfish is uncertain and unnecessary," said Rep. Young. "Should it receive approval as an animal drug, it clears the path to introduce it into the food supply; my amendment cuts them off before they can get that far. Any approval of genetically modified salmon could seriously threaten wild salmon populations as they grow twice as fast and require much more food."
Representatives of consumer, environmental and fishing groups and Indian Tribes welcomed the amendment while noting that the overall budget bill was badly flawed.
A bright spot in a bad bill
"The House of Representatives took an important first step toward banning genetically engineered salmon today - a step representing one bright spot in a Congressional budget bill that, overall, has been devastating to a large number of important consumer, environmental and social programs," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch.
Hauter described the approval process for genetically engineered salmon, which would be the first GE animal approved for human consumption, as "controversial" and "flawed." She said little consideration has been given to both the environmental and human health impacts of the fish.
"It appears the FDA was operating for the benefit of AquaBounty, the company that produces the fish, rather than in the public's interest. That the House is stepping in and prohibiting the FDA from using its FY2012 funds to approve this science experiment is a move in the right direction," she added.
Trout Unlimited also applauded the House Amendment to block approval of the controversial "Frankenfish" in a statement.
"TU is deeply concerned about the risks that genetically altered salmon pose to wild salmon populations through competition or interbreeding should they escape confinement or be released into the wild," according to Trout Unlimited. "TU is also concerned that the FDA is moving through its decision-making process without adequate environmental analysis and involvement by the agencies that manage salmon fisheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service."
Wild salmon populations threatened by GE fish
"Many wild salmon populations, including wild Atlantic salmon in Maine, are listed as threatened or endangered species and cannot stand additional new stressors," said Keith Curley, TU's Director of Government Affairs. "This amendment would prevent the FDA from putting wild salmon at unnecessary risk of competition and interbreeding from genetically modified salmon."
TU urged the U.S. Senate to follow through on preventing the FDA from approving genetically engineered salmon for human consumption.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) also praised the House for its decision to prohibit the FDA from approving "Frankenfish."
"We thank members of the House for stepping in to correct FDA's misguided decision to go ahead with this approval process that fails to take into account a plethora of economic, human health, environmental and animal welfare concerns," said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. "Any decision to approve GE salmon would be a continuation of the Obama Administration's illogical biotech bailout at the expense of American jobs and our fishing economy."
AquaBounty claims amendment is 'outrageous'
However, Ronald L. Stotish, Ph.D., President and CEO of AquaBounty Technologies, described the passage of the amendment as an "outrageous action." Less than a dozen lawmakers voted by voice to attach the amendment to the House Agriculture Appropriations bill, H.R. 2112.
"This outrageous action is wrong on the facts, wrong on the process and wrong on the policy," said Stotish. "A handful of representatives have chosen to subvert the FDA's rigorous 15-year plus process. It completely ignores the results of a rigorous scientific review. This sort of political gamesmanship undermines the science-based system that protects the nation's health and safety. It is astonishing that Young and a few colleagues would try to game the system in this way."
"Whether or not you support this transgenic salmon, we should all agree these types of shenanigans have no place in a complex scientific debate. These actions threaten the fundamental basis of a science-based regulatory process. Americans deserve better from their elected representatives," Stotish added.
The FDA is currently fast-tracking a permit application by AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. that would make genetically modified Atlantic salmon the first genetically engineered animal approved for human consumption. These fish, known as AquAdvantage, are designed to grow twice as fast as conventional farmed Atlantic salmon.
H.R. 2112 passed through House on January 16. The bill will now move to the U.S. Senate.
Winnemem Wintu Tribe urges Senators to block approval of Frankenfish
"Tell your Senators to do the same as the House and vote to Block FDA approval of GM Frankenfish," urged Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. "The Frankenfish doesn't has Omega 3 sufficient to our human needs for health. They will kill the Chinook and many other species!"
The Winnemem Wintu Tribe is now working on ambitious plan to return winter-run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Lake Shasta. Members of the Tribe traveled to New Zealand in the spring of 2010 to conduct joint ceremonies with the Maori people on the Rakaira River, where the McCloud River winter-run chinooks were introduced a century ago. The Tribe received approval from the New Zealand and Maori governments to transport the eggs to the U.S. to reintroduce the fish into the McCloud. The Tribe now needs the cooperation of the U.S. and California State Governments.
The drive by the Obama administration to approve GE salmon for human consumption takes place as Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations are collapsing, due to massive water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies and declining water quality. While the Sacramento River fall-run chinook populations are on the upswing after record runs in 2008 and 2009, endangered winter-run Chinook and threatened fall-run Chinook salmon continue to decline.
Witnesses in a Water and Power Subcommittee hearing held in Washington D.C. on June 13 exposed the many severe flaws in HR 1837, the San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act introduced by Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA).
Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA), who called for the hearing, described the bill as "a radical Republican water bill which would usurp California's water laws, roll back California's environmental protections, overturn California's water rights system to the benefit of a few powerful agricultural users, and set precedent for litigation against other states' water rights."
A diverse coalition of fishing groups, Indian Tribes, family farmers, conservationists, environmental justice advocates and Delta residents opposes the legislation for helping to engineer the extinction of imperiled populations of Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other speices. Tribes opposing the legislation include the Yurok Tribe, Winnemem Wintu and Modoc Nation.
"This radical legislation threatens California's ability to manage its own water and protect its environment," Napolitano said. "Its provisions would damage our environment, undercut decades of agreements and ongoing negotiations to improve our water supply, and almost guarantee the extinction of California's salmon industry and damage our economy. By allowing a select group of agricultural users to bypass state environmental regulations, this bill overturns our state water rights system upside-down, pushing the costs of future droughts, climate changes, and environmental needs onto the backs of water users and taxpayers across the state."
Napolitano said HR 1837 overrides state water and environmental regulations, threatening California's fragile ecosystem and pushing the cost of environmental protection onto other senior water rights holders.
Bill will destroy California salmon
Members of the subcommittee heard testimony from California salmon fisherman Dave Bitts, whose industry experienced 100% unemployment in 2008 and 2009 from lack of salmon and lost millions in revenue.
"H.R. 1837 would eliminate many of the protections now in place for Central Valley salmon - in the San Joaquin River and the Bay-Delta Estuary," said Bitts, president of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA). "It undermines efforts at protecting and recovering the Central Valley's listed salmon species. It jeopardizes the restoration and productivity of fall-run Chinook populations."
"It likely will destroy California's salmon fishery and the jobs of thousands up and down the coast who depend on this resource and the fishing communities this fish supports," he stated.
Pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta kills young salmon as they swim out to sea, contributing to the decline of the salmon population. HR 1837 waives pumping restrictions for the Central Valley Water project and would lead to more die-offs in order to gain more water for junior water rights holders.
"Any solution to California's water and environmental needs affects the rest of the West," said Tony Willardson, a representative from the Western States Water Council. "We wish to reemphasize the States are primarily responsible for the management of their water resources."
No Delta representatives were invited to the previous hearing on HR 1837 held by Representative Tom McClintock. However, at this hearing Stockton attorney John Herrick of the South Delta Water Agency was invited to speak against the bill.
According to Alex Breitler of the Stockton Record on June 14, "Herrick told the committee that several agencies have determined more water must flow through the estuary if the ecosystem is to recover. H.R. 1837 would take responsibility for providing those flows away from those who export water from the Delta, he said."
"H.R. 1837 limits the amount of water that one group must provide and thus shifts the burden for additional water to everyone else," Herrick testified. "'Everyone else' just happens to be all of the superior water rights holders in California. All will now be subject to decreased water supplies because the junior-most parties are limited, if this passes, in what they have to contribute. That's a monumental change...It completely undoes the water rights system in California."
Representative Nunes skips hearing on his own bill!
Representative Devin Nunes, the bill's sponsor and the darling of subsidized corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, was a "no show" at the hearing on his own bill McClintock claimed that "no new arguments" were raised in the hearing.
However, Barbara-Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, responded, "HR 1837 would harm people in his district as much as it would harm people in the Delta. It seems the Congressman is a plant for Southern California interests who want to faciliate the water grab from the north part of the state."
The hearing took place as one of the largest fish kills in California continues to take place at the state and federal pumps on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Personnnel at the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) pumps in the South Delta have reported "salvaging" more than 6 million Sacramento splittail in the past six weeks and more than 51,000 imperiled spring-run chinook this year.
Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, urged everybody concerned about salmon, fish and water rights to actively oppose HR 1837.
"When people are not paying attention, bad bills like this get passed," said Sisk-Franco, whose Tribe is working to return native winter run Chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta Lake. "It seems that Westlands is the only winner of 'water rights' in this Bill! Make your voices heard and tell your Representives, Congressmen and Senators to STOP this horrible bill."
"This misguided and destructive effort could trigger another round of water wars," Napolitano concluded. "We must hear from all of the Californians who share our water supply and improve our water supply to the benefit of all of California."
Background on HR 1837
If passed, the San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act would:
• Harm the environment by rolling back the water contributions that the Central Valley Project makes to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to 1994 levels, ignoring environmental changes in the Delta and additional endangered species that have become threatened in the intervening 17 years.
• Waive environmental impact studies for new water contracts in the Central Valley Project and extends current 25-year contracts without any environmental review for a minimum of 40 years. Because the contracts are exempted from contributing water for the health of the Delta, under current law other Californians will have no choice but to make up the difference when future droughts, climate changes, and environmental needs tighten the available water supply.
• Turn California's water rights system upside-down, exempting these same agricultural interests from contributing water to help desperately weakened commercial fisheries and allowing them to use or sell water that would otherwise go to the fragile Delta. This favoritism upends California's water rights system and reduces supply for other water users who continue to play by the rules.
"The purported reason for the bill is to help unemployment in the Central Valley, yet respected California economists Richard Howitt and Jeffrey Michael have debunked claims that pumping restrictions have had any major effects on the Central Valley's economy, and the bulk of unemployment is due to the bust in the housing market," noted Napolitano.
Documents in opposition to bill:
Letter of opposition from leaders of the California State Legislature, (Speaker John Perez, Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, Senate Natural Resources and Water Chair Fran Pavley, Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Chair Jared Huffman, and Assembly Natural Resources Chair Wes Chesbro):
"H.R. 1837 undermines judicial agreements, erodes long-standing water law principles, usurps California's sovereignty, and lays waste to any hope of progress in the Delta."
http://napolitano.house.gov/si...
Editorial from the Contra Costa Times:
"[This is] unbalanced legislation that would undermine key environmental protections for the Delta and flush the work of many dedicated individuals down the drain."
http://www.contracostatimes.co...
Letter of opposition from 12 different fishing industries:
"There are no words strong enough to describe the complete devastation this bill would bring to the Central Valley salmon runs and those who depend on them for their livelihoods, recreation and food sources."
http://napolitano.house.gov/si...
Letter of opposition from Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar:
"This legislation would undo ongoing broad-based collaborative initiatives that have been underway for many years to solve some of California's most significant water issues."
http://napolitano.house.gov/si...
As chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and a signatory to a letter from the Legislature opposing HR 1837, Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) on June 2 denounced HR 1837, legislation by Representative Devin Nunes to grab more northern California water.
"This is a water grab that threatens salmon recovery and could devastate commercial and recreational fishing in Northern California," said Chesbro. "I'm very concerned that San Joaquin Valley water interests have their eyes on the Trinity River. We need to keep that water in the river to meet public and tribal needs and to improve fish populations."
California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird testified before the Water and Power Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee regarding House Resolution 1837, an attempt by Congressman Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, to divert more Northern California water to the San Joaquin Valley.
Rep. Napolitano Pushes Back against Radical Republican Water Bill at Hearing
Rep. Grace F. Napolitano also issued a statement on House Subcommittee on Water and Power's hearing on H.R. 1837, the San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act. She said the bill would "usurp California's water laws, roll back California's environmental protections, and alter water distribution to favor certain agricultural users."
"This bill would radically change the way we balance water and the environment in California," said Rep. Grace F. Napolitano, ranking member on the Subcommittee on Water and Power. "New federal rules would override state law, exempting certain agricultural water users from following environmental restrictions or from having to contribute to the health of our natural water sources, as other users do. Creating this special privilege would push the costs of climate change and environmental damage onto all the other water users across the state.
"The new rules would also undercut ongoing negotiations within California, making it difficult or impossible for our state to move forward with necessary improvements for our water supply. The radical changes contained in this bill would ultimately benefit a small group of agricultural users while causing chaos for the rest of California.
"I am also troubled by the exclusionary way this bill is being drafted and pushed forward. This bill's radical changes would affect all of California's water users, including fishermen, Delta farmers, urban communities, and many others, none of whom were invited to appear as witnesses today. It is unacceptable to exclude these Californians while making decisions about their water supply in Washington, D.C."
The Democratic Minority on the Subcommittee has requested an additional hearing to allow for the participation of more stakeholders.
Background on the San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act:
• The bill would alter the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, which was created in 1992 after years of negotiations between water users from across California. Since that bill's enactment, agricultural revenues and water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have increased.
• As a federal law, the bill would supersede California's water rights system and would disrupt or make impossible a number of negotiations Californians are currently involved in to improve their water supply, including the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and the 2009 bipartisan water bill passed by the California legislature.
• The bill harms the environment by capping the water contributions that the Central Valley Project makes to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta at 1994 levels, ignoring environmental changes in the Delta and additional endangered species that have become threatened in the intervening 17 years. It waives environmental impact studies for water contracts and extends them for 40 years, ensuring that water agreements will not have to adjust to climate change or their impacts on the environment.
• The bill turns California's water rights system upside-down, overturning decades of legal precedent and sovereignty to give special priority to certain agricultural users on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. These users would also have lower requirements for contributing water for the protection of the California Bay-Delta Ecosystem, creating a privileged flow of water for use or sale.
Documents:
Letter of opposition from Members of California State Legislature:
"H.R. 1837 undermines judicial agreements, erodes long-standing water law principles, usurps California's sovereignty, and lays waste to any hope of progress in the Delta."
http://napolitano.house.gov/si...
Letter of opposition from a broad coalition of fishing groups:
"There are no words strong enough to describe the complete devastation this bill would bring to the Central Valley salmon runs and those who depend on them for their livelihoods, recreation and food sources."
http://napolitano.house.gov/si...
Letter of opposition from Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar:
"This legislation would undo ongoing broad-based collaborative initiatives that have been underway for many years to solve some of California's most significant water issues."
http://napolitano.house.gov/si...
Contact: Victor Gonella, Golden Gate Salmon Association, 707-762-2300
Dick Pool, Water4fish, 925-963-6350
Marc Gorelnik, Coastside Fishing Club, 510-333-6600
San Joaquin Valley Growers File Suit Challenging Salmon Fishery
Suit aims to wipe out salmon industry
San Francisco -- A group of San Joaquin Valley irrigation districts filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop the first full salmon fishing season since 2007. The groups fear if salmon continue recent past population declines, they would be forced to release more of their water to increase river flows.
The suit was filed by a group called the San Joaquin River Users Group which includes the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco reportedly abstained when group members voted on bringing the suit.
Excessive diversion of Delta waters to San Joaquin Valley growers during the years of 2000 to 2007 killed millions of juvenile salmon, resulting in the unprecedented shutdown of ocean salmon fishing in 2008 and 2009 and an abbreviated season in 2010.
Salmon recovered to fishable levels this year following court-ordered pumping restrictions that began in 2008. The years of no salmon fishing were economically devastating to commercial salmon fishermen and businesses throughout the state that serve both the commercial and sport salmon fishing interests.
"The economically crippled salmon industry is looking forward to getting back to work," said commercial salmon fisherman Larry Collins. "Rather than let that happen, the growers are trying to drive a stake through the economic heart of the fishing industry by shutting it down."
New federal rules starting in June of 2009 ordered enough water be left in the rivers and delta to help two protected salmon runs recover. Water users have brought numerous lawsuits seeking to block these rules; so far to no avail. Salmon fishermen have united to defend the new rules and have proven to be a significant obstacle to water users' hopes to take even more water.
"The water users have learned over the past few years that their only real obstacle to sucking California dry is the salmon fishermen and salmon fishing businesses. That's why they've brought this lawsuit aimed at driving salmon fishermen extinct," said Victor Gonella, president of the Golden Gate Salmon Association.
The Pacific Fisheries Management Council, in conjunction with the states and the National Marine Fisheries Service, strictly regulates the west coast salmon fishery to assure stocks are responsibly and legally managed.
"By any calculation, the delta pumps and associated mismanagement of upstream reservoirs that feed the pumps, causes the loss of many hundreds of times more salmon than all the anglers on the west coast combined," said Marc Gorelnik of Coastside Fishing Club.
The filing of the suit against salmon fishing came the same week as a report from independent scientists working under the National Research Council. The NRC report found a severe lack of science employed by many of the same water users in their plans to build a huge peripheral canal around the delta aimed at seizing even more water for themselves.
Dick Pool of Water4fish said, "Cutting fishing will not solve anything and neither will this lawsuit. Science clearly shows that the fall run crash was caused by unregulated Delta pumping between 2002 and 2008 and for the wild fish, the impact pumping had on the upriver flows and temperatures that wild salmon need to survive."
Recent improvements to run size have most noticeably occurred in salmon originating north of the delta, in the Sacramento River and its tributaries. Salmon from the San Joaquin River and its tributaries haven't fared as well since the suction of the pumps regularly causes the San Joaquin River to run backwards, creating a death trap for juvenile salmon on their migration from the river to the ocean.
Instead of lawsuits, we think it would be far more productive for the San Joaquin River Group Authority to join the state, the federal government, the salmon industry and the farm groups who are all working to find the best way to recover Delta fisheries while scientifically-identifying reliable water deliveries.
Corporate agribusiness "Astroturf" groups and their political allies have waged a media campaign over the past few years to portray the battle to save Central Valley chinook salmon and Delta fish populations as one of "fish versus jobs" or, more recently, "farmers versus fishermen."
"California residents are being denied access to water not because of a drought, but because the Democratic Congress has decided that a three inch minnow is more important than jobs in the San Joaquin Valley," said Representative Devin Nunes (R-Visalia), one of the most vociferous opponents of Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt and other imperiled fish, in a statement on July 27, 2010 (before Republicans became the majority in the House).
In reality, family farmers and fishermen, along with California Indian Tribes and grass roots environmentalists, are now working closely together to preserve the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the fish and communities that depend on a healthy Delta for their livelihoods.
To protect Delta agriculture from the threat of increased water exports and rebuild the West's iconic salmon runs and other fisheries, U.S. Representatives John Garamendi, Mike Thompson, Jackie Speier and Jerry McNerney and a member of George Miller's staff convened with farmers, recreational and commercial salmon fishermen, conservation groups and community members at the historic "Farms & Salmon Summit" on Wednesday, April 27, at the Antioch Community Center in Antioch.
Before a standing room only crowd, farmers and fishermen urged political leaders to stop the construction of the peripheral canal and to take action to restore imperiled salmon, striped bass and other runs and thwart threats to Delta and Sacramento Valley agriculture. Likewise, the Representatives highlighted the importance of keeping farms and fisheries both healthy and relying on good science in California water plans.
Dante Nomellini, a Delta water rights lawyer who moderated the event, emphasized that the current threats to the Delta were made possible because of the breaking of the promise by the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources (DWR) that only "surplus water" would be exported from the Delta.
"We are threatened by a broad-based attack on the water rights of the water users of northern California," said Nomellini. "When the federal and state water projects were initiated, the agencies said that they would only take surplus water, would provide salinity control, and that if additional water was needed, they could recapture it from the projects."
DWR based its project on the development of 5 million-acre feet of water from North Coast rivers that was never developed, due to massive opposition from North Coast residents. Nomellini said that northern California water is being "stolen" from northern California residents by water exporters.
"People can steal billions of dollars of water and nobody cares," said Nomellini. "But if you steal a six-pack of beer from 7-11, you will be prosecuted."
The four Representatives and a staff member from Congressman George Miller's office spoke next.
"I have lived in the Delta since 1977 and this is one of the first times that we have pulled together the farming community and fishing interests," said Representative John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove). "There is a symbiotic relationship between the agricultural community and aquatic interests. We have to work together to protect the Delta - the solution is not to export more water out of the Delta."
Congressmen Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), an avid fisherman and hunter, announced that he and other Representatives have formed a "Wild Salmon Caucus," a bipartisan, bicameral body to restore wild salmon populations on the West and East Coasts.
Thompson serves as Democratic Co-Chair and Don Young of Alaska serves as the Republican Co-Chair in the House of Representatives, while Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) serve as the Senate Co-Chairs. "We have 25 members now, but we need more," Thompson said.
Thompson emphasized the importance of decisions regarding the Delta and salmon populations being based on good science. "When science goes out the window, everything goes out the window," said Thompson.
Jackier Speier (D-San Mateo) noted that salmon fishing and agriculture are both integral components of the California economy, with a loss of $1.4 billion and 23,000 jobs caused by the Central Valley salmon collapse in 2008-2009 that was spurred by increased Delta water exports.
"Salmon and other fish are an important source of food and jobs," she said. "I appreciate that water is critical for the farming industry as well."
The comments by Congressional leaders were followed by two panels of farmers and fishermen.
Brett Baker, a pear farmer and fishery biologist from Sutter Island, began the first panel by giving a power point presentation showing the decades-long links between Delta agriculture and fishing. Baker showed photos of his dad and grandfather proudly showing striped bass and salmon they had caught many years ago.
"Stripers and salmon co-existed successfully in the Delta for over 100 years," emphasized Baker, countering the disinformation campaign by west San Joaquin Valley water contractors that striper "predation" has led to the decline in stripers.
"It broke the heart of my father when I came home from UC Davis and told him I had changed my major from business to fishery biologist."
"My dad, said 'So you're going to be a tree hugger now.'"
"That's right," Baker told him, "A pear tree-hugger."
Dick Pool, administrator of http://www.water4fish.org and secretary-treasurer of the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), gave a power point presentation showing a graph charting the dramatic decline of the salmon fishery since 2002 - and then outlined a series of short term and long-term solutions to restore salmon.
Pool said the Sacramento River fall chinook run crashed from nearly 800,000 fish in 2002 to 39,500 fish in 2009. "That is the largest single salmon crash in our national's history," he explained.
Jeff Hart, owner of Hart Restoration Inc. & Hartland Nursery in Walnut Grove, said water has for too long been looked as a commodity -and proposed a new way of looking at water.
"There needs to be a discussion where water is looked at in an ethical or moral way," he stated. "I suggest that we have a discussion on the ethical rights of water."
He also emphasized, "Local people are the best stewards of the watershed. Water should first be used first by people in the watershed."
Jeff Sutton, from the Tehama Colusa Canal Authority, reported how Sacramento Valley farmers, fishermen and environmentalists worked together to solve problems with fish passage at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam. He said the new $220 million pumping plant and state of the art fish passage project will provide for improved fish passage while providing a reliable water supply for farmers.
Gene Buchholz, owner of Hook Line and Sinker in Oakley, said he experienced an annual $250,000 loss in income from the closing of salmon season on the Sacramento during the closure.
Mark Wilson, owner of Wilson Vineyards in Clarksburg, said the westside water contractors are trying to transfer their problems to the Delta.
"We keep hear that the problem is the Delta," he said. "The folks of the west side are pretty successful at making us on the Delta the problem -rather than them."
Rather than going forward with what he described as the "Orwellian" idea of a peripheral canal, he said that the state should start dredging Delta river channels. This would provide material for rebuilding levees, along with restoring the capacity of the Delta channels to move water.
Al Medvitz, co-owner of McCormack Ranch in Rio Vista, put the situation of the Delta in the larger context of a world faced with problems of providing food for a growing population.
"We are in an emerging world food crisis," he emphasized. "We are facing a time where we cannot set aside the question of sustainability. The idea of moving water to Southern California is from the 1880's. This Nineteenth Century concept is not appropriate for the Twentieth Century."
Cathy Hemley from Greene & Hemley Farms in Courtland concluded, "We need to think like a fisherman. We need to think like a farmer. We need to make California sustainable."
Other panelists who spoke include Dave Bitts, a commercial salmon and crab fisherman from Eureka, Barry Canevaro, Captain of The Fish Hookers Sportfishing in Pittsburg, and Darrell Ticehurst, of Coastside Fishing Club in Hillborough.
After audience members asked the Congress Members and panel members questions, all of the participants enjoyed the free "Delta Bounty Reception" hosted by Coastside Fishing Club Grill Crew, Giusti's Place, McCormack Ranch, and Rivermaid Trading Company.
Bruce Tokars of Salmon Water took his video camera to the Farms & Salmon Summit to record the event. To view the presentations, go to http://vimeo.com/channels/farm...
Salmon Stakeholders Top 5 Priorities
• Incorporate the Water Board Delta flow standards in the BDCP and Delta Stewardship Council programs
• Provide state support for the June 2009 Biological opinions including their legal defense in court by the Attorney General
• Provide full participation and partnership in the BDCP process for salmon stakeholder representatives
• Give the Department of Fish and Game the full responsibility and resources for salmon and other fisheries management including scientific evaluation project development, project management and funding.
• Put ecosystem and salmon recovery as a high priority in implementing the co-equal goals and the CVPIA legally mandated salmon doubling requirements
Salmon Stakeholder Short Term Priorities
• Improve and expand trucking of smolts around the Delta and acclimating them in pens
• Attain full salmon production at the Mokelumne hatchery by closing the cross channel gates during peak adult migrations
• Install upriver temperature and flow standards for the fall run in the Sacramento, Feather and American Rivers
• Implement the water board fishery improvements in the stalled FERC Feather River and Oroville relicensing case
• Run all salmon hatcheries at mitigation capacity and implement implement hatchery practices which will allow the wild runs to rebuild
Corporate agribusiness "Astroturf" groups and their political allies such as Representatives Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) and Devin Nunes (R-Visalia) have waged a media war over the past few years to portray the battle to save Central Valley chinook salmon and Delta fish populations as one of "fish versus jobs" or, more recently, "farmers versus fishermen.
Fortunately, increasing numbers of Californians see that the cynical attempt to pit farmers against commercial and recreational fishermen is in reality a false dichotomy, since family farmers and fishermen, along with California Indian Tribes and grass roots environmentalists, are now working together to preserve the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the fish and communities that depend on a healthy Delta for their livelihoods. Both farmers and fishermen are food producers - and both farming and fishing create thousands of jobs.
Delta family farmers, fishermen, Tribal members, Delta residents and environmental advocates have led the battle to stop the construction of the peripheral canal-tunnel - and to stop federal and state attacks on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled species.
To demand action to protect Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta agriculture from the threat of increased water exports and rebuild the West's iconic salmon runs, U.S. Representatives John Garamendi, Mike Thompson, Jackie Speier, Jerry McNerney, and George Miller (staff) will convene with community leaders, agricultural producers, recreational and commercial salmon fishermen and businesses, agricultural and conservation groups, and friends of the Delta at the historic "Farms & Salmon Summit" on Wednesday, April 27, from 11 am - 2 pm at the Antioch Community Center, 4703 Lone Tree Way, Antioch, CA.
This summit is designed to bring attention to Delta-dependent farming and fishing communities, and to provide a forum to discuss long-term solutions to California's water woes. The event will include a free "Delta Bounty Reception" hosted by Coastside Fishing Club Grill Crew, Giusti's Place, McCormack Ranch, and Rivermaid Trading Company.
"Delta-dependent communities, jobs, and families are at stake in the tug of war over California's water, along with our priceless heritage," according to Jim McCarthy in a summit news advisory. "By working together to support policies that protect the Delta and its fish, we can ensure that both fish and farms have the water they need to thrive. Through inclusive, transparent, and science-based public processes will we make significant long-lasting progress on our state's contentious water issues - and heal the Delta."
"This event is a must for salmon supporters," said Dick Pool, administrator of http://www.water4fish.org. "Our interests are being bulldozed by those who are attempting to write us off and pump our salmon water south."
Pool emphasized that Congressman Tom McClintock "has declared war on salmon"
"On April 5th and 11th he held hearings in Washington DC and Fresno vowing to destroy the government protections for salmon so that more Delta water can be pumped to junior water rights holders in the San Joaquin Valley," said Pool. "In orchestrating his water plan he said, 'The facts we gather from this hearing will be instrumental as we begin the process to rescind government policies at the root of the San Joaquin Valley's misery.'"
Congressman Garamendi said, "The water wars are escalating and the salmon crisis deepens. We need to get some solutions on the table and then back them. We need your support to get this done. Please join us."
The schedule for the event is as follows:
11:00am - 11:30am Opening and Congressional remarks
11:30am - 12:30pm Expert panels from farming and fishing community
12:30pm - 1:00pm Public comment
1:00pm - 1:30pm Media availability with members of Congress and others
1:00pm - 2:00pm Delta Bounty Reception
For background information or to arrange advance interviews with farmers, fishermen or others, please contact: Jim McCarthy, 541-941-9450,jmccarthy.consulting [at] gmail.com.
Karen G. Mills, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator, announced on March 31 that low-interest Federal disaster loans are now available to California salmon fishermen and salmon fishing related businesses that suffered financial losses due to the closure of the April 10 through September 30, 2010 California commercial salmon fishing season.
By declaring a disaster, Administrator Mills' action makes Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) available immediately to help meet financial needs caused by the closure of the 2010 salmon fishery season. SBA acted under its own authority to declare a disaster following a March 25, 2011 request from Mike Dayton, Acting Secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA), on behalf of Governor Jerry Brown.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who worked with CalEMA and the Small Business Administration to secure disaster relief after hearing from Californians devastated by recent fishery closures, praised the approval of the loans.
"This vital assistance will provide much-needed relief to California fishermen and other small businesses recovering from recent fishery closures and three years of poor salmon seasons," said Boxer. "This decision will allow fishermen and small businesses in twenty-five California counties affected by the 2010 near-complete closure to apply for low-interest loans allowing them to pay off debts and make preparations to take advantage of the 2011 salmon season, which is expected to be good for the first time in over three years."
After two years of widespread salmon fishery closures due to record low salmon returns spurred by record water exports out of the California Delta and other factors, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) was only able to open the commercial salmon season for eight days in 2010.
However, representatives of fishery conservation organizations were not sure how much good the loans would actually do for fishing businesses devastated by the unprecedented collapse of Sacramento River fall chinook populations in 2008 and 2009. A record low number of only 39,500 fish returned to the Sacramento and its tributaries in the fall of 2009.
"Even with small business loans, you have be credit worthy and demonstrate that you can pay your bills," said Dick Pool of Water for Fish. "It's a good move forward, but I'm not sure it will help the salmon fishing industry that much because of the dire economic situation they are in still in."
Fishermen and fishing related businesses received some federal disaster relief money in 2008 and 2009, but received no aid whatsoever last year, in spite of the Governor and Secretary of Commerce declaring a fishery disaster.
The counties covered by the SBA declaration are: Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara and the additional neighboring counties of Alameda, Glenn, Kern, Kings, Lake, Merced, Napa, San Benito, Siskiyou, Solano, Stanislaus, Tehama and Trinity and the neighboring Oregon counties of Curry and Josephine.
The recreational salmon fishing fishing season opened on April 2 from Horse Mountain in Humboldt County to the U.S./Mexico border, based on the National Marine Fisheries Service's ocean abundance estimate of 729, 893 Sacramento fall chinooks this year. This figure is developed from modeling derived from the 2010 jack (two-year-old) salmon escapement to the Sacramento River in 2010.
While the fall run chinook population numbers of both Klamath and Sacramento River fish allow for expanded recreational and commercial seasons this year, the endangered Sacramento winter run chinook population plummeted to only 1,596 fish, including 1,555 adults and 41 jacks, in 2010.
The Central Valley spring run chinook salmon population, after years of rising abundance due to the removal of dams and other habitat improvements on Butte Creek and other Sacramento River tributaries, has declined over the past few years also. A total of 4,612 fish, including 1,661 hatchery fish and 2,951 natural spawners, returned to the system in 2010. In contrast, an estimated 21,319 natural spawners and 4,052 adult hatchery fish came back in 2005.
While the state and federal governments have continually blamed "ocean conditions" for the collapse of Central Valley salmon, independent biologists, fishermen, Indian Tribes and environmentalists point to increased water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, declining water quality and the mismanagement of Central Valley dam operations for the dramatic decline. The Brown and Obama administrations both support the construction of a peripheral canal that is likely to result in the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish populations.
Meanwhile, the Republican-dominated Congress has launched an unprecedented attack on Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, Water and Power Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (CA-04), Rep. Jeff Denham (CA-19) and Rep. Devin Nunes (CA-21) will hold a Subcommittee on Water and Power Field Hearing on "Creating Jobs by Overcoming Man-Made Drought: Time for Congress to Listen and Act" in the Fresno City Council Chambers on Monday April 11, 2011 from 10 am to 1 pm. The address is 2600 Fresno Street, Fresno, California 93721.
These politicians are pushing for increased water exports to corporate agribusiness and southern California and reduced flows through the Delta for fish and Delta farms.
For more information on the SBA disaster relief loan program and procedures for applying for these loans, go to: http://www.sba.gov.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger squandered two big opportunities to improve water quality in California during his term in office.
First, his Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, in violation of the letter and intent of the original law, took water quality, oil spills and drilling, corporate aquaculture, military testing, wave energy projects, habitat destruction and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in its bizarre concept of "protection." This resulted in the effective evisceration of the Marine Life Protection Act, a landmark law designed to provide comprehensive protection through the creation of a network of "marine protected areas" on the coast.
Second, as his privately funded MLPA Initiative moved forward, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board under the Schwarzenegger regime in 2006 ceded administration of the state's water quality law to industry advocacy groups that will continue to shield agricultural dischargers.
Unfortunately, the Board is proposing to continue its present policy of granting waivers to agricultural polluters, giving them virtual "permits to pollute. This approach has grievously failed in the past and will continue to fail in the future. It is time that the Board, under the Jerry Brown administration, break with the failed policies of the Schwarzenegger administration and clean up Central Valley waterways.
The policy of shielding polluters from compliance with the law has been disastrous for California fisheries and drinking water supplies throughout rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley. Toxic discharges, along with water exports and invasive species, are key factors in the unprecedented decline of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, young striped bass and other species in recent years.
In July 2007, the Board released a landmark draft report presenting the first region-wide assessment of data collected pursuant to the Irrigated Lands Program since its inception in 2003 (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/07/25/18437290.ph). "This report puts to rest the repeated claims by farmers that agricultural pollution is not a problem in the Central Valley," said Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
Data collected from some 313 sites throughout the Central Valley revealed that: 1) toxicity to aquatic life was present at 63% of the monitored sites (50% were toxic to more than one species); 2) pesticide water quality standards were exceeded at 54% of sites (many for multiple pesticides); 3) one or more metals violated criteria at 66% of the sites; 4) human health standards for bacteria were violated at 87% of monitored sites and 5) more than 80% of the locations reported exceedances of general parameters (dissolved oxygen, pH, salt, TSS).
While the adequacy of monitoring (i.e., frequency and comprehensiveness) of monitoring varied dramatically from site to site, the report presented a "dramatic panorama of the epidemic of pollution caused by the uncontrolled discharge of agricultural wastes," said Jennings.
The long-term program to regulate discharges from six million acres of irrigated agriculture will be considered by the Board on Thursday, April 7, 2011. We need people to show up at the regional board on April 7. If you wish to speak or sit in at the hearing, please arrive at 7:30 am to get a parking spot and seat! A press conference will be held in the parking lot at the noon lunch break and we need people there to hold signs! The address is:
CALIFORNIA REGIONAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOARD, CENTRAL VALLEY REGION, SACRAMENTO MAIN OFFICE
11020 Sun Center Drive #200, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670-6114 (916) 464-329http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley
If you have questions regarding the rally or meeting contact: Roxanne Kessler (916) 662-0496, rrk3 [at] humboldt.edu. Roxanne will be on site at 7:30 am to pass out signs and help people organize on Thursday April 7th
Please come out for this VERY IMPORTANT meeting and encourage everybody you know who cares about clean water in the Central Valley to show up!
Recreational anglers fishing from Fort Bragg to Morro Bay in 2011 will see a season similar to that back in 2007, the last "normal" salmon year before the collapse of Sacramento River salmon stocks spurred the closure of recreational and commercial salmon fishing off California and southern Oregon and limited seasons in 2008 and 2009.
The season, scheduled to open on April 2 from Horse Mountain in Humboldt County to the U.S./Mexico border, is based on the National Marine Fisheries Service's ocean abundance estimate of 729, 893 Sacramento fall chinooks this year. This figure is developed from modeling derived from a 2010 jack (two-year-old) salmon escapement to the Sacramento River in 2010.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) at its meeting in Tacoma, Washington on March 9 adopted three public review alternatives for the 2011 recreational and commercial salmon fishing season off the West Coast. The Council will select a final alternative at their next meeting in San Mateo, California on April 9-14.
"We are glad to see three alternatives calling for much better fishing south of Cape Falcon, due to strong forecasted abundance of Sacramento River and Klamath River fall Chinook," said Pacific Council Chairman Mark Cedergreen. "While we will have significant ocean seasons off Washington and northern Oregon, we still have some conservation solutions to work on for the salmon stocks in this area."
To back up the PFMC's decision to open salmon fishing on April 2, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously in emergency session on Monday, March 14 to approve the April 2 opener. If the commission had waited until its next regular meeting on April 6, fishermen would not have been able to get out on opening day to pursue salmon.
"I'm encouraged by the increased fishing opportunities this year and the up tick in fall salmon numbers," said Dick Pool, administrator for Water for Fish. "I think that the trucking and pen rearing program in San Pablo Bay had a lot to do with the increased numbers of fall chinook."
"However, there are still reasons to be concerned," said Pool. "The fall run is still way below what we need for a sustainable fishery. We have a lot more work to do. When the returns get to 400,000 to 450,000 fish, we can begin to relax."
In 2008 and 2009, poor Sacramento returns led to the largest salmon fishery closure on record. The federal and state governments claimed that ocean conditions led to the collapse, while fishing groups, environmental organizations and Indian Tribes pointed to record water exports to southern California and agribusiness and declining water quality as the key factors behind the crash.
In 2010, alternatives improved, with the first commercial fishing season off California in three years.
"This year, abundance is predicted to increase substantially, sufficient to provide robust fisheries and exceed the conservation goal of 122,000 - 180,000 spawning adult salmon," according to Cedargreen.
The three recreational management alternatives adopted by the Council for recreational ocean salmon fisheries from Pigeon Point to the U.S. Mexico Border (Monterey South) feature an April 2 opening day and different dates for the season closure. Fishing will be open seven days a week in all alternatives.
All three options require a minimum size limit of 24 inches total, a measure taken to minimize any contact with Sacramento River winter run chinook, an endangered species. The limit will be two fish per day of all salmon except coho.
Alternative 1 will allow a season of April 2 through October 2, alternative 2, from April 2 through September 18, and alternative 3, from April 2 through September 5.
The three alternatives for recreational salmon seasons from Point Arena to Pigeon Point (San Francisco) are the same, as those of the Monterey South region except for they will feature later closure dates.
Alternative 1 features a season from April 2 through November 13. Option 2 provides for a season from April 2 through October 16, while Option 3 allows a season April 2 through September 18.
Alternative 1 for the Horse Mt. to Point Arena (Fort Bragg) zone will be April 2 through November 13. Alternative 2 will run April 2 through October 16. Finally, alternative 3 will run April 2 through September 18.
Ocean Chinook fishing alternatives in the Brookings/Crescent City/Eureka area - the Klamath Management Zone (KMZ) - open in May and continue through September 5.
Like the seasons further south, the season is open seven days per week. The limit for all salmon except coho is two fish per day and Chinook minimum size limit is 24 inches total.
In 2006, the Council established a rebuilding plan for Klamath River fall Chinook after three years of low spawning returns. Since that time returns have increased, and in 2010 were sufficient to meet the Council's criteria for declaring the stock rebuilt.
"The 2011 Klamath River Fall Chinook forecast is near average and will allow opportunity for ocean and river fisheries while achieving the minimum spawning goal of 35,000 natural adult spawners," Cedergreen stated.
The chinook season alternatives from OR/CA Border to Horse Mt. (California KMZ) will all close on September 5, but are based on different opening dates. The three alternatives are May 7 through September 5, May 21 through September 5, and May 28 through September 5 (C.6).
Public hearings to receive input on the alternatives are scheduled for March 28 in Westport, Washington and Coos Bay, Oregon; and for March 29 in Eureka, California. The Council will consult with scientists, hear public comment, and revise preliminary decisions until it chooses a final alternative at its meeting during the week of April 9 in San Mateo, California.
At its April meeting in San Mateo, the Council will narrow the three alternatives to a single season recommendation to be forwarded to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for their final approval before May 1.
The recreational salmon fishing season alternatives also include also both mark-selective and non-mark selective coho fishing seasons starting in June or July and running into August or September in Oregon waters south of Cape Falcon, Oregon.
While the fall run chinook population numbers of Klamath and Sacramento fish allow for expanded recreational and commercial seasons this year, the Sacramento winter chinook population plummeted to only 1,596 fish, including 1,555 adults and 41 jacks, in 2010.
The winter run population, through a number of measures including changing of the operation of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam and the maintenance of cold water curtains on Shasta and Whiskeytown dams, steadily rose from only 200 adult fish in 1991 to 16,764 fish in 2006. The population has declined ever since.
The Central Valley spring chinook salmon population, after years of rising abundance due to the removal of dams and other habitat improvements on Butte Creek and other Sacramento River tributaries, has declined over the past few years also.
A total of 4,612 fish, including 1,661 hatchery fish and 2,951 natural spawners, returned to the system in 2010. In contrast, an estimated 21,319 natural spawners and 4,052 adult hatchery fish came back in 2005.
"I'm very concerned about the decline in the winter and spring runs," said Pool. "Regardless of what happens with the fall run, the decline of winter and spring runs will greatly impact the fishery if the numbers continue to decline."
He identified providing Delta flows in favor of fish and the state's support of the federal biological opinions protecting Central Salmon and Delta smelt as long term solutions to restoring salmon runs to historical numbers.
Below is a brief explanation and draft letter to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board that Bill Jennings of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance is asking organizations to sign on to.
This problem goes to the heart of whether California is serious about controlling the largest identified source of pollution to Central Valley waterways: pollution that threatens drinking water, recreation and fisheries.
The Regional Board is proposing to continue its present policy of ceding implementation of the state's water quality act to industry advocacy groups that will continue to shield discharges: i.e., the Board will not know who is discharging, what theyre discharging, whether measures have been taken to reduce pollution of if those measures are working.This approach has grievously failed in the past and will continue to fail in the future.
The Regional Board will consider a long-term program to regulate discharges from six million acres of irrigated agriculture on 7 April 2011. I don't believe we can restore the estuary if we can't get a handle on the pervasive pollutant discharges from some six million acres of irrigated farmland in the Central Valley.
Toxic water discharges into the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries are one of several key factors in the pelagic (open water) organism decline in the California Delta, along with water exports and invasive species. Since 2005, populations of Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, threadfin shad, young striped bass and other fish species have declined to record low levels. Sacramento River fall-run chinook populations also collapsed in 2008 and 2009, spurred unprecedented closures of river and ocean salmon fishing.
Please review the information below and attached and get back to Jennings and John Newbold if you can sign on. Please makeyour voice heard by signing the attached coalition letter and sending your organizational logo and the individual signing the letter (with title) to John Newbold (jdnewbold [at] earthlink.net) and Jennings (deltakeep [at] aol.com).
Thanks!
Dan Bacher
Important Sign On Letter to Protect Water Quality
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and a coalition of fishing and environmental groups ask for your help in an important campaign to improve fisheries and water quality.Were seeking organizations to sign on to the attached coalition letter to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Present supporters include CSPA, PCFFA, Northern and Southern California Councils of Flyfishers, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Endangered Species Coalition, Bay Institute, Planning and Conservation League, California Coastkeeper Alliance, Friends of the River, Clean Water Action, California Water Impact Network, Food & Water Watch, Southern California Watershed Alliance and many, many others who care about clean water and the fisheries that depend upon it.
Runoff from irrigated agriculture is identified as the largest source of pollution to Central Valley waterways and the Delta. Monitoring downstream of agricultural areas reveals that virtually all sites exceed water quality standards and almost two thirds are toxic to aquatic life. Pollution is identified as one of the principle causes of the collapse of Central Valleys pelagic and salmonid fisheries. Agricultural pollution also threatens drinking water supplies and public health and is a major source of groundwater impairment.
However, irrigated agriculture remains exempt from routine requirements to protect water quality that have long been applicable to virtually every other segment of society. The existing regulatory waiver covering discharges from irrigated lands expires in June 2011, and the Regional Board will consider a new long-term program at a hearing on April 7.
Unfortunately, the Regional Board is proposing a Framework that is not protective of water quality. They propose to continue the same basic approach to regulating agriculture that has proved to be a dismal failure: i.e., ceding implementation of the program to industry advocacy groups.
Under this scheme, the Board doesnt know who is discharging, what pollutants are being discharged, the localized impacts to receiving waters and whether dischargers are implementing measures to reduce or eliminate pollution or if those measures are working. Consequently, the Board cannot identify any improvement in water quality or any effort to stop pollution.
More information, including CSPA's formal comments on the proposed Framework and PEIR can be found at the Clean Farms Clean Water button athttp://calsport.org
It is important that the Regional Board understand that agricultural special interests do not represent the entire Central Valley community. Make your voice heard by signing the attached coalition letter and sending your organizational logo and the individual signing the letter (with title) to John Newbold (jdnewbold [at] earthlink.net) and me (deltakeep [at] aol.com). Cheers!
Bill Jennings, Chairman
Executive Director
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
3536 Rainier Avenue
Stockton, CA 95204
t: 209-464-5067
c: 209-938-9053
f: 209-464-1028
e: deltakeep [at] aol.com
http://www.calsport.org
5 April 2011
Ms. Katherine Hart, Chair
Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region
11020 Sun Center Drive, #200
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
Re: Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program Framework
Dear Chairperson Hart and Board Members:
As representatives of commercial and sport fishing communities in the Central Valley and throughout California, we write to encourage the Regional Board to embrace a regulatory framework that will meaningfully reduce the pollution caused by irrigated agriculture.
Runoff from irrigated agriculture is identified as the largest source of pollution to Central Valley waterways and the Delta. This pollution is documented to be one of the principal causes of the collapse of Central Valley fisheries. Inexplicably, irrigated agriculture remains exempt from requirements to monitor discharges and identify measures implemented to reduce or eliminate pollution that have long been applicable to every other segment of society, from municipalities to industry to mom-&-pop businesses.
The present approach to regulating irrigated agriculture has grievously failed. After two iterations of the present regulatory scheme, the Regional Board doesn't know who is actually discharging, what pollutants are being discharged, the localized impacts to receiving waters and whether management measures (BMPs) have been implemented to reduce pollution or if implemented BMPs are effective. The Board simply cannot continue to cede its regulatory responsibilities to third-party industry advocacy groups if it hopes to succeed in reducing pollutant discharges from irrigated agriculture.
We urge the Regional Board to reject the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program Framework proposed by staff and, instead, embrace an approach that has a reasonable chance of success. Continuing to avoid direct regulation of pollution dischargers cannot reduce the pollution of ambient waters.
Restoration of degraded waters and protection of water quality requires the following changes:
1. Eliminate third party coalitions and require instead that individual dischargers submit reports to the Regional Board identifying the location and content of discharges to both surface water and groundwater. The Regional Board has the duty to implement Porter-Cologne and to assure that farm dischargers do not pollute the Central Valley's waters. Third party coalitions add bureaucracy, obfuscate critical information the Regional Board needs to have, create permanent lobbies to weaken or undermine any true regulation of farm dischargers, and cannot be effectively enforced.
2. Monitor discharges to surface water and groundwater and the effectiveness of measures implemented to reduce pollution. The blunt fact is that water quality cannot be protected if you don't measure actual discharges to quantify pollution and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented management measures. If irrigated agriculture discharges pollution, they, like every other discharger in the state, should be required to measure what they are discharging and be able to show that their pollution is not harming any water of the State, whether the waters are flowing immediately adjacent to their fields or miles downstream.
3. Require all farm dischargers to prepare individual farm water quality management plans (FWQMPs) that identify measures implemented to reduce pollution. These plans must be made available to the Regional Board and the public. The proposed Framework fails to provide any scheme to track whether any management practices are being implemented or maintained, especially on a farm-specific basis. Nor does the Framework provide basic information about nutrients and pesticides being applied by specific farms for the Board to evaluate whether any installed measures are appropriate. The Regional Board must not tolerate another decade of delay waiting for dischargers to save the Board from its own failure to act. The Board has to stop putting off this first step and require FWQMPs be prepared by every discharger within 6 months of the termination date of the current waiver.
4. Require compliance with water quality standards in the near-term, not some uncertain distant future. Staff proposes three years to allow third-party coalitions yet another opportunity to show that whatever they are doing is resulting in implementation of effective management practices and improved water quality. The framework allows three months for coalitions to tell their existing members of the new requirements, an entire year for existing members to reconfirm their membership, and two and a half years to attract a few new members. Staff then further proposes to delay compliance by each of the categories of dischargers by another five to ten years. Given twenty-plus years of no regulation followed by seven years of failed regulation, additional delays are unacceptable.
5. Demonstrate consistency with the state's non-point source and antidegradation policies. An irrigated lands program relying upon third party coalition groups has no likelihood of ever achieving any water quality objectives. After seven years of oversight by the Regional Board, staff cannot point to a single farm that has implemented Best Practical Treatments or Controls. Staff cannot describe or quantify the management practices, if any, that have been implemented throughout the Central Valley. The data collected during the last seven-year period shows water quality continuing to be degraded throughout large areas of the Central Valley. Furthermore, we are unaware of any consequences to a farmer who did absolutely nothing for the last seven years as long as they could say they were enrolled in a coalition. As for the coalitions, the only consequences of their missing deadlines or not achieving any measurable water quality benefits is receiving additional extensions of time or weakening of requirements. They have utterly failed to facilitate implementation of controls as is required by the Non Point Source Policy.
The only way farm dischargers will recognize any consequences of not complying with conditions of an irrigated lands program is for the Regional Board to remove the coalitions from the equation and regulate the dischargers directly. The abject failure of the existing program and coalitions to regulate agricultural runoff, the largest source of water pollution in California, demonstrates that the Regional Board should move the irrigated lands program into a regulatory system similar to the industrial and construction storm water programs. We urge the Board not to abdicate its responsibility to protect the quality of water discharged from irrigated lands.
