[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 3/29/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

March 29, 2007

 

3. Watersheds -

 

 

Catch quotas may benefit Morro Bay fishermen -

San Luis Obispo Tribune

 

California climate heating things up -

Whittier Daily News

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Catch quotas may benefit Morro Bay fishermen

San Luis Obispo Tribune – 3/29/07

By David Whitney

 

WASHINGTON — A catch quota system is curbing waste in the commercial fishing business while stabilizing employment, according to a new report that advocates think could encourage adoption of the practice in Morro Bay's struggling industry.

 

The system assigns quotas to fishermen, and sometimes fishing communities, for fish stocks that are at risk from overfishing.

With these quotas, fishermen can catch their allotment at a more leisurely pace, ending the frenetic race to pull as many fish out of the water before competing boats get to them.

 

According to a report released by the group Environmental Defense on Wednesday, by limiting access to boats with assigned quotas, fewer fish are removed from the seas and more of them are making it to market at better prices.

 

"This study shows that we can simultaneously protect the environment, increase profits, provide for higher-quality fish, create more full-time jobs and save lives," the report states.

 

So far, the quota system has had limited application along the Central Coast.

 

Such quotas are in effect for 10 commercial fish and seafood varieties in the North Pacific, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The only stock along the California coast affected by the system is Pacific whiting.

 

But Steve Gaines, Marine Science Institute director at UC Santa Barbara, said the commercial fishery along the Central Coast is moving toward more conservation-oriented practices. Using catch shares could help revive and sustain the local rockfish and sole fisheries, he said.

 

The Nature Conservancy has purchased permits from many boat owners, resulting in the closure of a large area to commercial fishing.

 

In addition, Gaines said the university is working with Environmental Defense to develop an $8 million program that would start next year that is designed to revitalize California's fisheries with $2 million recently allocated by the state.

 

"I'd be surprised if some of what's done there doesn't involve some form of catch shares," Gaines said.

 

One of the best examples of how the program works is found in the Alaska halibut fishery, which before the quota system was basically a one-day free-for-all that sent fishing boats to sea despite weather conditions.

 

Large volumes of fish were landed in a single day, overwhelming processors and resulting in most of the catch being delivered to markets frozen.

With the quotas, boats are free to fish when they choose for their allotment, and the result is fresh halibut in the markets throughout the year, higher prices and fewer injuries and deaths from fishing in bad weather.

 

"It's a fundamental change in the business of fishing," said David Festa, Environmental Defense's program director.

 

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, whose coastal district includes Morro Bay, said a new way of doing business can't come too soon for the city, which she noted is "struggling to keep its fishing industry going."

 

"Morro Bay's fishing fleet has gone from hundreds in the 1990s to fewer than 50 today," she said. "These boats are staying out longer but coming back emptier."

 

David Whitney covers Central Coast issues for The Tribune from the McClatchy Washington Bureau.

Do you think a quota system could help the Morro Bay fishing industry?#

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/16991517.htm

 

 

California climate heating things up

Whittier Daily News – 3/29/07

By Elise Kleeman Staff Writer

 

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - There's no denying it, California is heating up.

 

A study released this week by researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cal State L.A. has added to the growing collection of data showing the state's temperatures are on the rise.

 

According to the analysis of more than 330 weather stations, California's average temperature has increased 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 50 years, said JPL climatologist Bill Patzert.

 

Perhaps even more striking, though, is the impact that urban sprawl has contributed to the temperatures - even more than global warming, Patzert said.

 

"We've essentially done an extreme makeover on the surface of California," he said.

 

The spread of heat-absorbing buildings, roads, and grassy lawns has caused the average temperatures of some urban areas to rise two or three times faster than their surroundings, said Steve LaDochy, a Cal State L.A. climatologist.

 

In California, coastal areas and the southern third of the state - areas that have seen the largest population booms - also experienced the largest temperature increases.

 

Overall, nighttime lows were affected more than daytime highs. At the Los Angeles Civic Center,

for example, the average annual minimum temperature has increased 9 degrees Fahrenheit since 1878. The average highs, meanwhile, jumped 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

There have been some benefits to the temperature rise - the warmer days and nights have been a boon for the California wine industry. But to many climatologists, the numbers forewarn a grim future.

 

"The one reason I stayed on \ is because I've got seven grandkids, and I know how bad it could get," said Tim Barnett, a researcher at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego. "By the time they're my age, L.A., Phoenix and Sacramento could be ghost towns.

"If you were to stabilize the \ emissions today, the planet would continue to warm for another 50 years," Barnett said. "We're taking a hit. The question is: How big of a hit is that going to be?"

 

Among the long-term impacts will be the burden shrinking snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains will place on the state's water supply, and the growing use of air conditioners will have on power consumption.

 

"Absolutely we're concerned about it," said Eric Klinkner, assistant general manager of Pasadena's Department of Water and Power.

It's still cheaper to buy water than build the infrastructure to recycle water, said Sean Kwan, head of the department's water division.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena, was optimistic the state legislature will soon address climate change issues.

 

"I think we have to look and see how we plan our communities," Portantino said. "Urban sprawl is no longer the model for the future. We have to be smarter, and we have to be greener." #

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_5544296