[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 7/3/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

July 3, 2008

 

3. Watersheds –

 

 

On Wildlife Conservation: A recipe for wild salmon

The San Francisco Chronicle- 7/3/08

 

Hundreds of threatened salmon rescued on creek

Orange County Register- 7/3/08

 

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On Wildlife Conservation: A recipe for wild salmon

The San Francisco Chronicle- 7/3/08

Paul Johnson,Brian J. Johnson

 

The recipe for bringing back wild salmon is simple - ample cold, clean water; access to spawning and rearing areas; and abundant supplies of food. It's not complicated, but it will require a sustained commitment from everyone who values wild, local salmon.

 

Those who love to dine on salmon today are faced with a choice: wild-caught salmon harvested by fishermen or farmed salmon grown and harvested in captivity. This year, with the collapse of the West Coast's commercial salmon fishery, locally caught, wild California salmon is not available, but wild-caught Alaskan salmon is. We must continue to choose and demand wild, rather than farmed, salmon - on our plates, in our markets, and in our restaurants.

 

Why? Wild salmon are better for the environment, our health and for the communities that depend on them. Farmed salmon jeopardize wild salmon populations, directly and indirectly. Even organically, ecologically, or sustainably farmed salmon have a devastating effect on wild Pacific salmon species.

 

The simple act of choosing wild over farmed salmon sends a message to business and government that we want healthy wild salmon runs and sustainable fisheries. It is a vote to restore habitat, improve water management, take down obsolete dams and manage our salmon runs sustainably.

 

The salmon crisis affects communities up and down the Pacific Coast: from commercial and recreational fishermen to marina owners, from hotels to restaurants, and fish wholesalers and retailers to consumers. We can't let this year's closed West Coast fishery become the new normal.

 

As a consumer, you have a big role to play: vote with your fork. By asking for wild salmon at local stores and restaurants, and supporting businesses with a conservation ethic, you use the power of the marketplace to help recover wild and maintain salmon stocks. Wild salmon are a heritage we cannot afford to lose.

 

Choosing wild over farmed salmon means we can increase the quality of our food, restructure markets for agriculture and food delivery, and usher in a new era of land and water stewardship and fishery health.

 

Choosing wild salmon supports decision-makers who favor water and land-use policies that protect rivers and the wild salmon and steelhead that swim in them. When economic horsepower and public demand join forces with conservation, wild salmon - and those who love them - will benefit.

 

It's your choice.#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/03/ED4U11IRVS.DTL

 

 

 

Hundreds of threatened salmon rescued on creek

Orange County Register- 7/3/08

 

CHICO, Calif. (AP) -- State Department of Fish and Game crews have rounded up more than 300 stray salmon and returned them to their rightful spawning path.

The migrating spring-run salmon are supposed to swim up Butte Creek Canyon to find cold water in which to spawn in the fall.

 

But the threatened fish got stuck in two pools just west of Highway 99. Rescue crews on Wednesday used nets to capture the fish one-by-one and drive them to the canyon.

 

Department of Fish and Game officials say the cold water fish probably would have died in the pools when the water got too warm.

Authorities say they rescued the fish because there are fewer salmon returning to the Central Valley this year.#

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CA_NORCAL_SAVING_SALMON_CAOL-?SITE=CAANR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT