A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 1, 2008
3. Watersheds –
Dreaming of barbecued salmon? Save water for its return
San Jose
CA Op-Ed: Dan Bacher: Another Delta species, the longfin smelt, needs to be protected under CESA
YubaNet- 6/30/08
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Dreaming of barbecued salmon? Save water for its return
San Jose
By Tony Bogar
Will you eat salmon at your Fourth of July barbecue? How much will you pay for it? Will you even be able to find it?
There is no salmon fishing season this year, so there may be no wild salmon for your party. If you think that's bad, imagine how it feels to the commercial fishermen, fishing guides, seafood shops and all the local businesses that rely on salmon for their livelihood.
As you slap farm-raised tilapia on your grill Friday, give a thought to our rivers.
The disappearance of wild salmon has many causes, and most of them relate to rivers. This year the salmon population in the
Rivers have been dammed, diverted and drained for so long and so often, there is barely a free-flowing river left in
We have lost 95 percent of our salmon and steelhead habitat. We have destroyed 90 percent of our river environment. Toxic algae blooms in stagnant reservoirs.
Once-mighty rivers sputter to a dry end.
We have learned a few lessons. We have preserved a small portion - 1 percent - of our rivers for future generations, and two bills working through Congress would set aside more. We operate our dams to better simulate natural river flows that salmon and other species rely on.
Unfortunately, we threaten to repeat our mistakes. In the midst of this drought, developers and corporate agribusiness want us to build even more dams. They couldn't generate support among everyday Californians, so they are looking for help from powerful folks.
They have asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to support a proposal for the November ballot to build more dams. They have the ear of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who continues to push for dams that cost billions of dollars each, even though no one has figured out who would get the water or how they'd pay for it.
Dams were modern marvels 100 years ago. Today they are low-tech answers to problems that require innovation and common sense. Groups like the California Clean Tech Open, based in
If we use less water at home, at work and in our fields, we can take less out of our rivers and the delta. If we do that, maybe the salmon can make a comeback.
So as you clean those remnants of tilapia off your grill, turn your tap off between scrubbings. Then maybe you'll be cleaning wild salmon off your grill next year.#
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_9750545
CA Op-Ed: Dan Bacher: Another Delta species, the longfin smelt, needs to be protected under CESA
YubaNet- 6/30/08
Dan Bacher
As Governor Arnold "Fish Terminator" Schwarzenegger continues to campaign for more dams and the peripheral canal ("conveyance"), the Department of Fish and Game is seeking public input on a petition to list longfin smelt under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).
The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) announced on June 20 that it is seeking public input regarding a petition to list longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), another victim of years of abysmal water management by the state and federal governments, under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).
The California Fish and Game Commission is currently considering the petition to list the fish as "threatened" or "endangered" under CESA.
The Bay Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council filled the petition on Aug. 14, 2007 after the longfin smelt, along with its cousin, the delta smelt, declined to record levels after record levels of water were exported out of the California Delta by the state and federal governments.
By operation of law, longfin smelt became a "candidate species" under the CESA when the Commission found that the petition contained sufficient information to warrant further consideration, according to a news release from the DFG.
"Pursuant to the provisions of Section 2074.6 of the Fish and Game Code, DFG must complete a status review of the species and provide a written report to the commission that recommends - based upon the best scientific information available - whether listing the longfin smelt as threatened or endangered under CESA is warranted," the DFG stated. "DFG plans to submit its report to the commission in January 2009 and seeks information from the public to help formulate its recommendation."
The longfin smelt is a small native fish that migrates from salty water to spawn in fresh water. In
"Their abundance has declined substantially since systematic monitoring began in 1959 and has been at record-low levels since 2000," said Marty Gingras, DFG supervising biologist.
The longfin smelt has declined as part of the Pelagic Organism Decline
(POD) on the
The Pelagic Organism Decline team, a group of federal and state scientists, has been studying the decline and attempting to develop solutions to the unprecedented collapse of the California Delta food chain. The number one reason behind the collapse is record exports of water to subsidized agribusiness and southern
Some of 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 increased to an average of 6 MAF between 2000 and 2007, a rise of almost 30 percent, according to the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
In addition, water agencies have refused to pay for state-of-the-art fish screens that were required in the 2000 CALFED Record of Decision as mitigation for exporting water. These fish screens have killed millions of chinook salmon, striped bass, delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad and other species over the past 20 years.
For example, the federal pumps that export water from the California Delta entrained (trapped) over 370,000 threadfin shad in one week in November 2007!
Central Valley fall chinook salmon populations have also collapsed, prompting the closure of recreational and commercial salmon fishing off the
While the state and federal governments continue to point to "ocean conditions as the likely culprit for the collapse, commercial fishing groups, recreational angling organizations, Indian Tribes and environmentalists point to the key role that freshwater factors, led by massive increases in exports, have played in the collapse.
I urge people to comment and support listing of the longfin smelt under CESA in order to provide increased protection for this imperiled fish.
Comments from interested and affected parties, including members of the public and local agencies, are requested by Aug. 1, 2008. Please send data and comments related to the petitioned action and/or the status of longfin smelt toFG Supervising Biologist Marty Gingras, Department of Fish and Game. Re: Longfin Smelt Petition,
You can also comment via e-mail to mgingras [at] dfg.ca.gov with "Re:
Longfin Smelt Petition" in the subject line. Send faxes to (209) 946-6355, Attention: Marty Gingras, Re: Longfin Smelt Petition. For more information, call Gingras at (209) 948-3702.
In a parallel development, a petition by The Bay Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, and Natural Resources Defense Council for federal protection of the San Francisco Bay-Delta longfin smelt population is moving forward.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May made a positive initial finding on a petition to list the
"Unfortunately, longfin smelt is just the latest victim of federal and state mismanagement of
said Dr. Tina Swanson, senior scientist with the Bay Institute. "But maybe this decision, following close on the heels of the collapse of the state's salmon fishery and court-ordered changes in water export operations to protect Delta smelt, will serve as a reality check for those who still think our rivers and the Delta can supply ever-increasing amounts of water without devastating environmental and economic consequences."
The Fish and Wildlife Service must now conduct a status review of this population and make a final listing determination, which is legally due in August of 2008.
Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger, defying all logic in the face of the collapse of longfin smelt, delta smelt,
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