A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 14, 2008
3. Watersheds
SALMON SEASON:
Salmon collapse cancels early fishing - Associated Press
Salmon fishing could be halted - Stockton Record
Dire salmon outlook; North Coast fishermen, consumers brace for possible ban on salmon fishing; federal panel to lay out options today - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Chinook season prospects bleak; California,
Outdoors Column: News is bleak on the salmon front - Auburn Journal
'Outdoors' column: Emergency closure of ocean salmon season, Sacramento River closure possible -
QUAGGA MUSSEL:
Guest Opinion: Closing waters is not the answer -
WETLANDS RESTORATION:
Saving Batiquitos Lagoon; Too much sediment collecting, which could threaten habitat - San Diego Union Tribune
What a difference a deluge makes; A Grand Canyon flood left enough sediment to boost sandbars and expand habitat - Associated Press
SALMON SEASON:
Salmon collapse cancels early fishing
Associated Press – 3/14/08
By Jeff Barnard, staff writer
The managers are also considering whether to close most of the Pacific salmon fishery. The best West Coast salmon fishermen can hope for is a "bare bones" sport and commercial fishing season this year, but the outlook remains bleak, officials say.
Federal fisheries managers meeting this week in
On Friday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council is expected to choose three management options for the rest of the season, and will set final regulations when they meet in
One possibility is shutting down the salmon fishery from the northern tip of
"We had a pretty good idea they were going to cut it back," said Mark Newell, a fisherman from
"We are trying to craft a very bare bones season which would give
In angling, trolling is the practice of fishing by trailing a baited line behind a slow-moving boat.
Some marine scientists say the salmon declines can be attributed in part to unusual weather patterns that have disrupted the marine food chain along the
But many fishermen believe the main culprit behind the Sacramento River's collapse is increased pumping of freshwater from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmers and water districts in the Central Valley and
http://www.montereyherald.com/search/ci_8571109?IADID=Search-www.montereyherald.com-www.montereyherald.com
Salmon fishing could be halted
By Alex Breitler, staff writer
If that happens, it would be the first time the agency charged with managing West Coast fisheries cancels the April-to-November salmon season.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council has been meeting all week in
A closure would be most painful in coastal towns heavily dependent on fishing dollars. Salmon fishing was a $38.9 million industry in 2007.
But the
"It's gonna be a major impact, believe me," said Steve Cooper of
The number of salmon returning to Valley rivers to spawn last fall was little better than one-third of 2006. The drop-off was blamed largely on unfavorable conditions in the
Shutting down fishing wouldn't be a total shock. Salmon have been in decline for several years now. Fewer people are using professional charter boats for their excursions, and anglers aren't having particularly good luck. They caught on average less than one salmon every two days in 2007, worse than the two previous years.
"It's been so slow lately anyway," said Allison Shawnego at Hap's Bait in Rio Vista.
At Fisherman's Friend bait and tackle shop in
"It's a bummer," he said. "We've got to do something, even if it takes shutting the whole system down and letting the fish come up and do their thing."
Folks with lures and tackle boxes won't be the only ones affected by a closure.
Consumers who buy wild salmon at a store or restaurant will likely pay more. Last year, prices rose to a record $5.27 per pound due to fishing restrictions.
Not to be ignored are the environmental consequences of a depleted salmon run.
"When the salmon are gone, that's the start of the river dying. I don't care if you're talking about sturgeon, striped bass, beavers, muskrats - anything," Cooper said.
A final end-of-season recommendation from the Pacific council will be made in April to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Even if fishing is closed, the number of salmon that return to spawn in 2008 may not be much higher than last year, officials warn.
"Hopefully, they'll get it straightened out," Cooper said. "And when they do, we'll go fishing." #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/A_NEWS/803140330
Dire salmon outlook; North Coast fishermen, consumers brace for possible ban on salmon fishing; federal panel to lay out options today
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 3/14/08
By Robert Digitale, staff writer
Chris Lawson expects to take his boat far from his home fishing grounds off
"We're not going to have enough of a season to pay the bills," said Lawson, 46, the president of the Fisherman's Marketing Association of Bodega Bay. Instead, this summer he likely will catch albacore off central
Today, the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council at its meeting in
One option is likely to be a complete ban on fishing, something proposed before but never enacted. Regulators say the predicted lack of salmon from the
That possibility already has West Coast members of Congress calling for disaster relief aid, similar to the $60 million they provided for the 2006 season.
And consumers who yearn for wild salmon may have trouble finding it in the stores this year.
If fishing is banned, "certainly people who want to buy local won't have that opportunity," said David Goldenberg, chief executive officer of the California Salmon Council.
Given the tremendous volume of salmon on the market,
Sport fishing businesses tout the economic benefits to both ocean and river communities that accompany the salmon season. At a meeting in
The West Coast commercial and sport salmon fisheries added an estimated $39 million to the economies of coastal communities last year, according to the fisheries council. That figure is considerably below the economic contribution of two decades ago when the salmon season was far less regulated.
Such economic impacts help explain why the federal regulators have been reluctant to ban all salmon fishing.
But some who rely on salmon for their livelihood acknowledge that even if they get the chance to fish this season, the prospects may be too scarce to make it worthwhile.
Les Fernandes, a charter boat skipper and owner of Fish On Bait and Tackle in
Fernandes, a skipper for five years, charges $120 per person for the chance to catch two salmon from his six-passenger vessel, the Samantha Irene. "Nobody," he said, "wants to pay that kind of money to catch one fish."
Julie-Ann Hill, an adviser at the Sonoma Coast Visitors Bureau in
"Will it hurt the economy?" Hill asked in regard to a poor salmon season. "Of course it will." But it remains too early to know the impact.
Consumers, meanwhile, likely still will be able to eat wild salmon, but perhaps not from
"If in fact we cannot supply the demand for salmon with local product, we will seek out other fresh product from places like
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, believes the economic blow to coastal communities this year will exceed the 2006 salmon disaster, partly because it could affect a greater area and because the sport fishing industry may suffer more than in the previous season.
Thompson, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, and 46 other West Coast members of Congress have asked Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to prepare for the declaration of a "federal fisheries failure," the first step for providing aid to the region.
Pacific salmon, Thompson said, matter not only as a delicacy and an economic resource but also as an indicator of the state's environmental health.
"Wild salmon are to the rivers and the watershed and the ocean what the canary is to the miners in the coal mine," said Thompson. #
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080314/NEWS/803140365/1033/NEWS&template=kart
Chinook season prospects bleak; California,
Marysville Appeal Democrat – 3/14/08
By Howard Yune, staff writer
Fishing boats on much of the Pacific coast may be idle this year.
A cancellation of this year’s chinook fishing season is increasingly likely, according to fishing officials and researchers attending this week’s meeting of the Pacific Fishery Management Council in
The council could close the
Meanwhile, scientists and fishers are struggling to agree on why a once-bountiful fishery is evaporating.
"We're all just baffled by this," admitted Robert Kope, a National Marine Fisheries Service researcher who attended the
The crisis emerged in January, when the fishery council reported fewer than 90,000 chinook, or king salmon, returned last year to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from the ocean to spawn. That figure was the second-lowest on record and about one-ninth of the 804,000 fish tallied in 2002.
Council members wrapping up their weeklong meeting today will choose three options to deal with the crash in chinook numbers, including a ban on ocean fishing this year from
On Wednesday, the fishery council canceled or delayed several shorter ocean fishing seasons that were to open April 1 in
A blanket ban on harvesting chinook likely will trigger a halt to the fishing season in
In the Mid-Valley, chinook season is slated to start July 16 along the
Some marine biologists say the salmon declines can be attributed in part to unusual weather patterns that have disrupted the marine food chain along the
But many fishermen, guides and suppliers are blaming excessive water pumping from the
"Until we see more water in the rivers, until we see more stable water flows and releases, we'll continue to have problems with the salmon fishery," said Mike Searcy, owner of Star Bait and Tackle in Linda. Without a salmon season, he estimated, business would drop by at least 25 percent – a prediction other Mid-Valley fishing suppliers have echoed.
On Thursday,
One of the more direct stakes in the chinook’s future is found mere yards away from the
Pat Kittle, a co-owner, tried to manage some optimism for his fishing supply business despite the prospect of a summer without salmon, which accounts for 15 percent of his revenue. He held out hope that a reserve of the fish could be holding out in the ocean, even if river conditions are deteriorating.
"I'm leaning toward having more faith in the fish than in the politicians," said Kittle. "But for now I’m willing to trust both." #
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/year_61534___article.html/coast_fishing.html
Outdoors Column: News is bleak on the salmon front
Auburn Journal – 3/14/08
By J. D. Richey, staff writer
Well, if you had plans of doing some salmon fishing in
I can honestly say that I never thought I’d have to write those words, but it’s the new, ugly reality we’re facing.
With 2007’s Chinook salmon run in the Valley down 90 percent from just five years ago and the 2008 forecasts even worse than that, spawning escapement goals are not being met in our rivers, and both state and federal fisheries managers will likely close most or all of California’s saltwater and freshwater areas to salmon fishing.
At the Pacific Fisheries Management Council’s meeting on Tuesday, managers opted to close the ocean seasons that are currently open and will vote later today on whether or not to allow any salmon fishing along the
At today’s meeting, the Council is looking at three options ranging from a fairly normal season to none at all. Based on the fact that, even with no fishing, the lowest ever return of king salmon is expected for the Valley in 2008, I wouldn’t count on them allowing the sport or commercial guys to fish the salt this summer.
Next month, the California Fish & Game Commission will meet to discuss what sort of regulations and restrictions the rivers will be hit with. Rest assured, however, that if the PFMC today votes to close the entire coast, there’s not much of a chance that we’ll see any recreational angling opportunities for salmon in freshwater, either.
It simply wouldn’t make sense to close down the ocean and then allow people to intercept kings just before they reach the hatcheries or spawning beds.
So, what happened?
It’s simply amazing that we could go from just under 1 million kings in Valley rivers back in 2002, to under 90,000 last fall. Doing the basic math, we’re missing approximately 900,000 fish. How could this have happened?
Well first off, more water than ever is getting diverted away from our rivers and Delta system — it’s getting shipped off to the Westlands Water District and
Just as devastating (or more so) has been the fact that the ocean off our coast is in sorry shape. There’s been a lack of upwelling in recent years, which brings the nutrient-rich water up from the depths on which the entire food chain is based.
Without that upwelling, it’s a sterile world out there for feeding salmon. Warmer than normal water temperatures are also having devastating effects on the salmon and their food sources out in the ocean.
Huge Impacts
This salmon disaster will have huge economic impacts this season and, likely, for years to come. Aside from salmon guides like me basically losing our jobs, there are a lot of party boat skippers, commercial fishermen, fuel stations, tackle shops, restaurants, motels, boat dealers and more that will be severely hurt.
I spoke with Alan Fong, who manages Fishermen’s Warehouse in
Consider also that salmon annually inject $130 million into the state’s economy. This thing is going to hurt a lot of people. And I think the pain is going to last a long time, too. #
http://www.auburnjournal.com/detail/79379.html
'Outdoors' column: Emergency closure of ocean salmon season,
By Steve Carson, outdoors columnist
Already reeling from unfavorable news about salmon populations and returning fish,
At meetings held this week, representatives of the National Marine Fisheries Service, California Department of Fish and Game, Pacific Fisheries Management Council and others made the decision based on a forecast of only about 59,000 chinook salmon returning to the
That number is substantially below the minimum "escapement floor" of 122,000 to 188,000 fish. In 2007, only 87,966 chinooks were estimated on the
Exactly how all of this will affect our local salmon fishing seasons remains to be seen. The only currently open fishing season for river salmon in the state is for "spring run" salmon on our own
On Thursday afternoon, Department of Fish and Game spokesman Harry Morse said, "What is going on right now relates to jurisdictions in federal waters. There are seven ocean area closures from
All of the emphasis is on the 'fall run'. When the
Morse added, "Although much is still to be determined, it is likely that there will be limited if any salmon fishing this season in the main stem of the
Another public discussion meeting is going on today in
http://www.chicoer.com/advertise/ci_8569062?IADID=Search-www.chicoer.com-www.chicoer.com
QUAGGA MUSSEL:
Guest Opinion: Closing waters is not the answer
By Jim Matthews
Water agency heads are thrilled about quagga mussels.
The invasive mollusk will clog their water systems more effectively than a Barney doll will plug up your toilet when flushed by a 3-year-old.
So why are the bureaucrats happy? If they don't already have quagga mussels, the mere threat of them gives the agency brass an excuse to do something they've been wanting to do for years: close their lakes and reservoirs to public use.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is a perfect example. Here is an agency that kept Haiwee Reservoir in
Then came 9/11. And under the guise of protecting the public's water supply, the LADWP brass slammed the gates closed again on Haiwee.
Never mind that having anglers at the lake added more eyes to keep an eye out for terrorists trying to dump poison into the lake. Never mind that this water passes through, oh, a half-dozen water checks where any problems would be detected.
It really wasn't about security. LADWP honchos never wanted people fishing the lake in the first place. It was too much trouble, and under the made-up guise of some "terrorist threat" they closed it again.
Now water agencies have a very real threat to their entire water supply system. Quagga mussels are tiny and reproduce with amazing rapidity. In a couple of years, masses of them can carpet a lake bottom, cover docks and jam valves, pipes and aqueducts.
Because they are tiny, they can easily hitch rides attached to fishing and recreational craft. They can live out of water for days, weeks even. In bilge water, they can live months. A bass boat can be on
Water agencies were alerted to this problem in
Again, never mind that the mussels will be able to work their way through the piping system just about everywhere, let's target those people we really don't want to deal with at those water supply reservoirs. Let's ban fisherman and recreational users. If they can't bring their boats, Jet Skis, ski boats, canoes, kayaks or float tubes, most of them won't come.
Last week, the Casitas Municipal Water District banned all private boats not already in slips or in dry dock at
Recreational fishing is a major artery in little Oak View's economy. The district board clamped that artery off.
While I don't want to downplay the impact the mussels could have on any water system, the same agencies that now want to ban anglers - and you can bet they are all lining up to do the same thing done at Casitas - have done little or nothing to develop inspection or disinfection stations that are thorough and quick. They have known this problem was coming for years.
http://www.sbsun.com/sports/ci_8566530
WETLANDS RESTORATION:
Saving Batiquitos Lagoon; Too much sediment collecting, which could threaten habitat
By Michael Burge, staff writer
But lagoon watchers are concerned that the lagoon's natural beauty is hiding an ecological time bomb and they want to defuse it before it goes off.
“If you drive I-5 and look out over the east basin, you'll see mud flats that historically haven't been mud flats,” said Keith Merkel, principal ecologist for Merkel & Associates.
“That will have to be dredged and removed,” said Merkel, who monitors the lagoon for the California Department of Fish and Game, which manages Batiquitos.
Batiquitos Lagoon sits on the southwestern corner of
The restoration of the once-stagnant estuary was funded by the
The Batiquitos project was launched in 1994 after decades of urbanization and erosion clogged the lagoon with sediment. The aim was to improve water quality and make it more habitable for fish and wildlife by opening its mouth to the ocean.
That was achieved by excavating more than 3 million cubic yards of sand and silt from the lagoon bottom and constructing a wide, curving shoreline. Twin rock jetties keep the inlet open to the ocean.
The project also set aside a trust fund to provide for the lagoon's maintenance. The state Department of Fish and Game dredges sand from the western end of the lagoon to make sure the water circulates and deposits it on the beach. Three bridges – at Interstate 5, the railroad and the coastal highway – span it, restricting the exchange of water between the ocean and lagoon.
Last month the city of
Fred Sandquist, president of the lagoon foundation, said the grant will fund studies that will provide information on water flow and the rate that silt is building up in the lagoon bottom.
He noted that silt has collected in the lagoon's eastern basin, near El Camino Real, at such a rate that the water is shallow and a marsh is forming.
“Fish and Game, to their credit, has tried, but they're short-staffed,” he said.
Tim Dillingham, manager of the lagoon for the Fish and Game Department, said the eastern basin was designed as an intertidal zone, shifting between mud flat and marsh.
“If you get too much sediment in there, it would be a mud flat, not an intertidal area,” Dillingham said. “We don't want that.”
He said the eastern basin appears to be filling with silt sooner than expected.
“When the lagoon was restored, it was anticipated it would not need additional dredging for the next 30 years,” he said, referring to the eastern basin. “I know we have a lot of sediment in places we didn't expect.”
He said the department is about to undertake an environmental impact report on the lagoon to see if additional dredging is needed.
He said conditions in the lagoon's 59-square-mile watershed may have changed since the 1990s and are speeding the rate of sedimentation flowing down San Marcos Creek, the lagoon's major tributary.
The current regimen is to dredge the western end every two years to keep the mouth open and maintain flow.
Dillingham also said the department is waiting for a 10-year status report from Merkel & Associates, to get a picture of lagoon wildlife.
Merkel said that study is nearly complete. He wasn't sounding an alarm yet, but the lagoon needs attention, Merkel said.
“Overall, it's doing very well,” he said. “Birds there are more than before. Fish are doing well.”
He said the lightfooted clapper rail, one of the state's most endangered species, is thriving. The population of the Belding's savannah sparrow, which is on the state endangered list, doubled initially, but its numbers are down, possibly because of changes in lagoon conditions.
He said that if the lagoon fills with sand, the species that call it home will change. Water birds will yield to shore birds; the variety of marine life will shift.
Like Sandquist and Dillingham, Merkel said the city's grant will help provide needed information that can lead to an action plan.
“We don't have enough data. We do know anecdotally the lagoon is filling in. We don't know how much it varies from the norm,” he said.
Dillingham, the lagoon's manager, said he will not let the $57 million restoration go for naught.
“I think the restoration project was an initial success and with the maintenance it will continue to be a success,” Dillingham said.
“We don't want to wait until there's something seriously wrong before we do our planning.” #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080314/news_1mc14lagoon.html
What a difference a deluge makes; A
Associated Press – 3/14/08
The three-day flood that ended last Friday was designed to redistribute and add sediment to the 277-mile river in the Grand Canyon, where the ecosystem was forever changed by the construction of dams more than four decades ago.
The sediment provides a habitat for plants and animals, builds beaches for campers and river runners, and helps protect archeological sites from erosion and weathering.
But since 1963, the Glen Canyon Dam just south of the Arizona-Utah border has blocked the sediment from the Colorado downstream, turning the once muddy and warm river into a cool, clear environment that helped speed the extinction of four fish species and push two others near the edge.
Grand Canyon National Park Supt. Steve Martin, who returned from a five-day trip down the river Tuesday to see the initial effects of last week's flood, said the results are phenomenal.
"On a couple of big sandbars, there were already beaver tracks, bighorn sheep tracks," Martin said. "You could see the animals already exploring new aspects of the old canyon."
He said the new sandbars range in size from small nooks and crannies to ones as large as football fields.
"It changes the feeling of the canyon as you see the sediment along the shoreline from a feeling of increased sterility to one of a greater amount of vibrance," Martin said. "The benefits are substantial."
During the flood, flows in the
Officials released similar man-made floods into the canyon in 1996 and 2004.
But those floods actually resulted in a net reduction in overall sandbar size because they were conducted when the
Whatever benefits come from this year's flood, however, will be eroded away within 18 months without additional similar floods every year to 18 months depending on the amount of sediment available, according to Martin.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation calls for no other high-flow releases until after 2012 in its environmental assessment on Glen Canyon Dam releases.
The Grand Canyon Trust also is calling for more regular high flows and plans to challenge the bureau's environmental assessment in federal court. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-canyon14mar14,1,1711172.story
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