A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 21, 2008
3. Watersheds –
75,000 young salmon die in truck transit
The Associated Press -5/21/08
Some reservoirs to reopen for boating: Funding dispute means ban could be re-imposed in July
Mercury News -5/21/08
Screens set stage for steelhead return
The Oakland
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75,000 young salmon die in truck transit
The Associated Press -5/21/08
REDDING – About 75,000 young chinook salmon died while being hauled in tanker trucks from a federal fish hatchery in
The hatchery's manager suspects a problem with the oxygen level killed about 40 percent of the 180,000 fish in the tankers.
Monday's delivery was the first of 18 planned in the next several weeks as part of an effort to revive the state's salmon population, which has suffered a severe decline in recent years.
Officials hope more salmon will survive by being trucked to the ocean instead of trying to navigate the Delta, where they must survive the state's water pumps.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Alexandra Pitts said scientists plan to perform necropsies on some of the chinook salmon smolts to determine the cause of death.#
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/955002.html
Some reservoirs to reopen for boating: Funding dispute means ban could be re-imposed in July
Mercury News -5/21/08
By Karen de Sá
The saga of the invading mussels heated up Tuesday, with Santa Clara County
But in authorizing just $200,000 for a vessel inspection program, the supervisors also stuck it to the local water agency to share the bill.
"We need to be abundantly clear that if the water district doesn't pick up their half, then boaters will be taken off the waterways in high season," Supervisor Liz Kniss said.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District banned boating in county reservoirs May 13 to protect the local water supply from zebra and quagga mussels - invasive species that can cause extensive damage to waterway pumps, valves and other infrastructure.
The mussels can enter the reservoirs by clinging beneath boats or via water piped in from elsewhere.
Both agencies agree on the potential problem: The fingernail-sized mussel species can cause millions of dollars in damage if left to multiply. But who should pay to prevent it - with hundreds of boaters poised to launch a busy summer season - remains in hot dispute.
The water board will take up the matter in a Thursday session that will be closely watched. Water district spokesman Rick Callendar, who attended Tuesday's meeting, said afterward he could not predict how his board would vote.
County supervisors expect the district to pay for half of a mandatory inspection program, now estimated at $566,000 through December. The county voted to contribute $200,000 for now, which will only pay for inspections until July at the four reservoirs: Coyote,
The water district owns the reservoirs, but the county runs their recreation programs. The mussels, meanwhile, threaten both.
Zebra and quagga mussels have been creeping ever closer to
Starting Friday, boaters will be required to pay a $7 fee to launch in local reservoirs, an effort to offset the total cost of the inspection program.
Russ Robinson, past president of the Recreational Boaters of California, said Tuesday's vote moved matters forward but did not resolve the issue.
"The boaters need access to the waterways," he said. "The county needs to set an example, and so does the water district."#
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9331257
Screens set stage for steelhead return
The Oakland
Matthew Artz, STAFF WRITER
The Alameda County Water District unveiled four fish screens Monday in Alameda Creek designed to keep fish from getting sucked into a diversion pipeline and ending up in Quarry Lakes.
The screens, which cost a combined $2.5 million, are part of an estimated $19 million program to return steelhead trout to the watershed for the first time in nearly a half-century.
The cylindric screens are about 15 feet long with quarter-sized slots that let water pass through, but not fish. They each block an opening that feeds into a diversion pipeline located at the mouth of
Steelhead live most of their adult lives in the ocean before migrating up freshwater streams and rivers to spawn and rear their young. Young steelhead then head downstream to spend most of their adult lives in salt water.
Alameda Creek had been home to one of several
If all goes as planned, steelhead would return to Alameda Creek in 2010 when fish ladders are scheduled to be constructed over the flood control channel and a cement structure further upstream.
The ladders, which are expected to cost about $3 million apiece, would allow the fish to jump over the barriers and continue upstream.
They are now being designed, but grant money is still needed to pay for their construction, said Robert Shaver, the water district's engineering manager.
The district is also planning to build additional screens along the creek where water is diverted to Bunting Pond, Kaiser Pond and the Quarry Lakes.#
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_9327391
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