A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 2, 2008
3. Watersheds –
Fishers struggle with salmon shutdown: Salmon fishers are reeling from canceled season
Contra Costa Times – 6/1/08
Is the
Los Angeles
Tahoe mussel inspection gets agency enforcement
'SalmonAid' promotes rescue of fishery
Clock ticking on levees: Officials begin to assess what structures OK
Editorial
It only takes one
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Fishers struggle with salmon shutdown: Salmon fishers are reeling from canceled season
Contra Costa Times – 6/1/08
But for how long, and just what the coastal fishing industry will look like when he once again pulls Chinook onto the Langosta II are questions that leave French and other commercial salmon fishers clouded with doubt.
"It's death by a million small cuts. We're pretty anemic," said French, of
His wife, Lori, said, "We're getting beyond creative."
Already, some coastal retailers are shifting to tourism, trading rods and reels for T-shirts and floppy hats amid the first yearlong closure of commercial and recreational salmon fishing off
Several fishers who gathered Sunday at
Small marinas are bowing under the economic weight of empty berths, they said. And several fishers feared for a teetering commercial fishing infrastructure.
If fish buyers dry up for a lack of business, they say, it will leave a gaping hole in the ability to distribute their catches once the salmon returns, perhaps in a few years.
"There will always be somebody to fish for (salmon). We just might have to sell 'em out of the back of a truck," said Bill Ward, who fishes out of Port San Luis and is trying to catch halibut to make up some of the lost income.
For a business in which hope is nearly as common as rod and reel, several older fishers expressed little of it Sunday. Most seemed resigned to another closure next year, as federal regulators try to get a grip on a steep depletion in coastal salmon runs.
"For at least two years, we'll be sitting on the beach," said Bob Carraher of
"It's hard for the guys who don't have crab permits, or their (boats are) not big enough for tuna. Everybody's sitting around, looking at each other."
The shutdown follows a slow year in 2007 — the second-lowest spawning season recorded along the
Scientists in part blame abnormalities in ocean temperature that may be related to global warming for a dwindling of the downstream food supply for salmon. Fishers and other critics call that a smokescreen, blaming water diversion programs and fishery mismanagement for the bleak picture.
Two recent studies by a
Congress last month approved some $170 million in aid to businesses affected by the shutdown, including both commercial and sport fishing operations and related businesses. It remains unclear when that money will arrive. Several fishers hoped it would come by late summer.
The number of commercial salmon fishing permits statewide has dropped in 30 years from several thousand to 1,400, of which fishers said only about 500 are active. Their numbers will likely slide further with the bleak picture, fishers said.
Some have joined in efforts to rebuild the fishery. In the Delta, for instance, one program transports young salmon to netted pens around the
Some fishers held out hope that the awareness raised by the crisis will help spur additional measures.
"I bought my boat four years ago and I've never seen a full season," said Brand Little, who was selling Bay-caught halibut off the Fair Seas, tied up at Jack London Square with his salmon sticker in full view.
"If it comes back like it should, it could be big numbers of salmon, and few guys doing it," he said. "For guys that are going to make it, it could be a thriving industry."
For Little, awareness is key, in part so the public understands that the problem stems from causes other than overfishing.
But fisher Duncan MacLean of El Granada sounded frustrated that only with the plummet in salmon runs in the Sacramento River — from 475,000 to a meager 90,000 last year — did the troubling picture for salmon seem to attract much attention.
"It's taken that radical of a drop for people to say, 'What's going on?'"#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_9448434
Is the
By Deborah Schoch, Staff Writer
Over the years, the
Now comes the latest slap. The city's river can't even float enough boats to qualify as a full-fledged navigable waterway, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
River advocates are outraged.
"They're just wrong. That's the simple version of it. We've done kayak trips from the Valley to
It doesn't end there. What might seem a minor bureaucratic tweak by the Corps could have a domino effect across the river's 834-square-mile watershed, say worried environmentalists and some federal, state and local officials.
Critics say the draft decision issued by Corps regulators weakens federal water protections for many seasonal streams that feed the river. They say this could translate into more mountain development and more dirty runoff flowing through cities to the Pacific.
"Practically speaking, the March 20 decision would open up a number of tributaries and streams to the argument that the Clean Water Act doesn't apply," said David Beckman, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
But how is the Clean Water Act -- among the strongest federal laws guarding rivers, lakes and streams -- linked to the ability to float a boat down the
The answer is cloaked in bureaucracy and court rulings.
A 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision weakened the power of the Clean Water Act to protect certain seasonal streams. Federal regulators who decide whether a stream is protected by the law must first find the closest navigable waterway. Then they have to decide whether the stream has any effect on that waterway.
If it doesn't, landowners may not be required to obtain certain federal permits before building homes, roads or other projects over those seasonal streams. Their plans, however, would still be subject to local zoning laws and building codes.
In a case involving the
The local Corps officials who wrote the March 20 draft decision say they strictly followed guidelines developed after the Supreme Court decision.
"When we looked at the L.A. River, we did not find evidence of navigation" beyond the Pacific Coast Highway bridge in Long Beach, two miles north of the ocean, said Aaron Allen, the regulator who wrote the draft decision.
He stressed that the decision does not weaken any federal laws that protect the water in the river, which is fed in part by reclaimed water from sewage treatment plants. He agreed that seasonal streams far up in the watershed, however, could have less protection.
But in the face of critics' concerns, the Corps has withdrawn the navigable river decision pending further study. The results of that review are expected within days.
Col. Thomas Magness, commander of the Corps office that oversees part of the Southwest, emphasized that the Corps is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a final decision.
He promised, "it's going to be something we can all understand and defend." He said it was "purely speculative" to conclude that designating the Los Angeles River as nonnavigable would lead to more lax development standards over streams. "I would not begin to throw in the towel and submit to that conclusion."
Any proposal to fill in or build over streams will still be reviewed on a case-by-case basis "on its own merits," he said.
Yet the
"The implications of these decisions could be quite large," said David Smith, chief of wetlands regulation at the EPA southwest region, who has met twice with Corps officials while trying to change their decision.
"If the Corps of Engineers applies a similar approach to other rivers, protections against water pollution that are now taken for granted could be seriously eroded throughout the nation," Waxman wrote in a letter to the EPA. He said the draft decision could undercut Clean Water Act rules governing waste discharges, dredging, oil spill prevention and water quality standards in much of the
Meanwhile, local river enthusiasts are rushing to collect photos and videos of friends and relatives paddling on the river in canoes and kayaks.
Their goal is to prove that yes, indeed, just like the
Web of tributaries
The drama got its start not on the river but in a far-flung web of tributaries in the
There, rancher Wayne Fishback hoped to fill some seemingly dry stream beds to build a road and prevent erosion on his sweeping mountain property above
Fishback's request landed on the desk of Aaron Allen, chief of the Corps'
Ten years ago, Allen's job would have been easier. In those days, federal clean-water laws typically covered the seasonal streams, marshes and pools common in the arid West.
All that changed with the 2006 Supreme Court decision in which Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the Clean Water Act would apply to a water body if it had a "significant nexus" with "traditional navigable waters."
So Allen's review ballooned into a full-scale review of the
The remaining 49-mile stretch -- which cuts north through southern
"Presently, the occasional use of kayaks and/or canoes on other reaches of the river are sporadic and do not support any associated commerce," Allen wrote in the March 20 memorandum. Nor could he find evidence of historical navigation.
"Finally, the capacity to provide navigation at some point in the future is highly doubtful given the river's configuration, hydrology and fundamental use as a flood control channel."
Memo leaked
For Fishback, that was good news: His land lies so far upstream from the PCH bridge that he probably can fill four of his streams without navigating the time-consuming permit process.
But when the Corps memorandum was leaked to river advocates in April, the uproar ensued.
George Wolfe, a Venice-based kayaker who founded the satire website www.lalatimes.com, helped create a video last year featuring him commuting by kayak on the river in a business suit.
"As a boater with some 30-plus years of boating I can honestly say that it's a perfectly navigable river," he said in a letter submitted to the Corps along with the video.
Some local officials are urging the Corps to conduct its review in public.
"My agency wasn't consulted, wasn't made aware of it," said Tracy Egoscue, executive officer of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, who learned about the decision from the EPA and criticized the lack of citizen input.
Magness said the Corps invested countless hours in the decision and conferred with other federal, state and local officials. "By no means have we done anything without public involvement."
But for Egoscue and others, the designation reaches beyond the thicket of environmental bureaucracy.
Egoscue characterizes the Corps' decision as showing "a fundamental lack of understanding and respect for the resource to come in and make a decision without citizen involvement."
"It's not just about the law and the permits this board writes," she said. "It's about the perception of the river. . . . The
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-river1-2008jun01,0,1128187,full.story
Tahoe mussel inspection gets agency enforcement
By Jeff Delong
Boaters launching into 
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on Wednesday approved new regulations prohibiting introduction of invasive aquatic species and requiring that boats and other watercraft launched into the lake be subject to inspections. Violators could face penalties of $5,000 or more.
Voluntary inspections started at public boat launches around the lake in mid-May, but the action approved Wednesday gives the effort some teeth, officials said.
The program aims to prevent the introduction of quagga or zebra mussels into Tahoe's waters, a possibility experts said could come with devastating results.
"We have to become a little more adamant that this is a serious problem," said Shelly Aldean,
Quagga mussels, previously found only in the Midwest and Northeast, were first discovered in Southern Nevada's Lake Mead in early 2007 and have spread to other parts of
Closely related, both types of mussels could cause widespread problems were they to make
Species tend to spread
If established in Tahoe, the mollusks could then enter the
"They can actually collapse the whole aquatic ecosystem," said Ted Thayer, natural resource and science team leader for TRPA. "There's really no effective way to remove them" once they are established.
Another potential aquatic invader is the
Mussels attach themselves to boats and officials fear a vessel that has been in contaminated waters will be towed to Tahoe, providing a quick avenue of introduction there.
"It takes one boat, and that's it," said Jennifer Quashnick, a Sierra Club representative who spoke in support of the new regulations.
Inspections will be at 10 public boat launches around the lake. Not every boat will be inspected, but after Wednesday's action anyone refusing to have their vessel scrutinized when asked could face penalties starting at $5,000.
Inspectors also will be watching for invasive species already in
The primary vessels of concern are trailered powerboats but the new program also extends to personal watercraft, kayaks, canoes and rafts, officials said.
To avoid what Nicole Gergans of the League to Save Lake Tahoe described as a "potential disaster," inspection programs should be ramped up to levels beyond what's currently contemplated, she said.
The agency must adopt a "zero tolerance" approach to invasive species, said Mayor Mike Weber,
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080529/NEWS04/805290345/1047/TT
Editorial
It only takes one
It’s difficult to overstate how damaging quagga or zebra mussels could be if they infiltrate
And after the quagga and zebra mussels ruined the beaches, boats and life in the lake, it would destroy the water itself. As the fast filtering creatures increased lake clarity, sunlight would penetrate deeper into the water, creating algae blooms that could give then lake an unpleasant odor and color. The mussels have never been successfully eradicated from a large body of water.
In short, it would be devastating.
And all it takes is one boat.
One boat carrying one, tiny mussel, or holding a batchful of larvae in its bilges or live wells. One larvae, one mussel could wreak havoc.
The onus is on boaters, anglers and any other person who travels from one body of water to
This summer, inspectors will be posted at public launch points to ask boaters questions and if necessary scan the boat for mussels. Compliance is now mandatory since Wednesday’s Tahoe Regional Planning Agency meeting.
But compliance should not only be mandatory by law, but by conscience and respect for the lake. A boat inspection could take a few minutes out of the day, but could save the lake from irreversible damage.#
http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20080530/OPINION/292395329
'SalmonAid' promotes rescue of fishery
By Kevin Leahy, correspondent
OAKLAND — Hundreds of people converged on Jack London Square on Saturday to hear live rock bands and rally for a good cause — saving California's dwindling wild salmon population.
The free SalmonAid festival, which will continue today, was organized to raise awareness about the fish's upstream battle against climate change, dams and damaged river habitats.
"The major thing is, water has to run downstream, and it has to be cold," for salmon to survive, said Jon Rosenfield, an ecologist who helped organize the festival. "We make it complicated because we find a number of ways to screw that up."
The Pacific Fishery Management Council placed the most stringent limits ever on recreational and commercial salmon fishing this year, and the U.S. Commerce Department declared the West Coast's salmon fishery a commercial failure earlier this month.
Ben Platt of
"I'll generally be gone from home most of five months out of every spring and summer," Platt said. "This year after crab season we just got nothing to do until next crab season."
For some, the event was an opportunity to see a free concert by local musician Les Claypool. Bands played zydeco and bluegrass music on two stages, while people strolled by informational booths, sampled food and posed for pictures with a woman in a full-body salmon suit.
But despite the festive atmosphere Saturday, the numbers tell a grim story.
In the
Robert Bush, a retiring science teacher at
"I think we have to balance the water needs with the salmon but it's clear we don't have a balance," Bush said. "The fish always lose."
Organizers say the problem is not overfishing. Water is increasingly being pumped from Northern California's Klamath and
Scientists still have a lot of questions about why salmon are not returning in large numbers to spawn after the typically three years they spend in the ocean. Some attribute the decline to changes in ocean conditions and food supply spurred by global warming.
But fishermen and conservationists Saturday said they believe excessive damming creates reservoirs where water becomes too warm for the fish to reproduce.
"Obviously the ocean is going to play a part. But the thing is, we can't do much about ocean conditions," Rosenfield said. "What we can do is provide better access to spawning grounds for these fish — and it means providing more water and taking out dams that aren't worthwhile."
The shortage has been partly fixed by fish hatcheries, but they are not enough to keep the species going in the long-term, organizers said.
If salmon returns continue to flail, the economic ripple effect would reach beyond the commercial fishing and restaurant industries. Providers of ice, fuel and tackle based around rivers would be out of work too.
Dick Poole, president of Pro-Troll Products, a Concord-based fishing equipment company, said his business has already been hurt by the recent downturn.
"We're suffering right alongside a lot of these people," he said.#
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_9440040
Clock ticking on levees: Officials begin to assess what structures OK
By
The brick basketball court, built squarely on the crown of the levee, is just one example of why thousands of
Gardens, stone steps, patios, fences, boat docks, swimming pools, a tree house, and yes, a basketball court, are among the improvements that federal officials, still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, say may be no longer acceptable on our levees.
After a wait made longer by bureaucratic entanglements, officials later this summer will notify landowners along lower Bear Creek and the south bank of the lower
Failure to heed their orders means flood insurance for thousands. And there's not much time: New maps by the Federal Emergency Management Agency could take effect as soon as April 2009.
"We've been waiting for this list for a year and one-half," said Steve Winkler, deputy director of Public Works. "Now we've kind of got a gun to our heads. I'm very concerned."
Some members of the state agency that grants permits for structures on levees visited the disputed areas Friday and promised to work together to resolve the issue promptly.
"I can't stress enough how urgent this is. We all want to meet this deadline," said Gary Hester, chief engineer for the state Central Valley Flood Protection Board.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to make final decisions by the end of July, with letters sent to landowners in the ensuing weeks.
It's a complicated issue.
The flood protection board issues permits, with the agreement of the Corps. In some cases, structures were properly permitted through both agencies. Other improvements were approved by the board, but not by the Corps. Others were built illegally.
FEMA in January issued draft flood maps that included thousands of homes in portions of southwest, central and far north
There are two solutions for the hardest-hit area, in central
» At the head of
» They'll also need to take care of the boat docks and other structures, which the Corps of Engineers frowns upon because the structures make it more difficult to inspect the levee for signs of wear and tear.
County documents shed some light on why it's taken so long to identify the structures.
The flood protection board was recently restructured, including the appointment of all-new board members and leadership. The upheaval led to delays and staffing shortages, hindering progress on
A Corps representative on Friday similarly said his agency is "grossly understaffed."
All this bureaucracy frustrates 67-year-old Rosalio Estrada, whose home is just barely within the proposed flood zone, near the head of
"What I'd like to see is something done immediately," he said Friday. He suggests local authorities use eminent domain to clear structures off the levees, something Estrada figures could be accomplished before the maps are finished next spring. He said landowners should be compensated for their losses.
Winkler responded that eminent domain is "one tool in the toolbox," but one of the last tools that officials would like to use.
"You don't start by saying we're just going to take people's property," he said, adding that some improvements on the
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/A_NEWS/805310320/-1/A_NEWS14
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