[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 8/14/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

August 14, 2008

 

3. Watersheds –

 

 

 

3 common pesticides said to harm West Coast salmon: The National Marine Fisheries Service is expected to issue recommendations based on its report in coming months.

The Los Angeles Times- 8/14/08

By Eric Bailey, Staff Writer
 

SACRAMENTO -- Three common pesticides are helping push the Pacific Coast's prized but imperiled salmon closer to extinction, a new federal report has found.

A 377-page draft study by federal fisheries experts contends there is "overwhelming evidence" that unfettered use of the pesticides is "likely to jeopardize the continued existence" of 28 salmon stocks off the West Coast.

 

The National Marine Fisheries report says the pesticides interfere with basic functions of the fish: their ability to find food, reproduce, even to swim. The three pesticides -- malathion, diazinon and chloripyrifos -- have been used for decades by farmers and home gardeners.

Joshua Osborne-Klein, an attorney with the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice, said the report pointed to a need to find alternatives to the chemicals.

The fisheries service is expected in coming months to make recommendations on potential remedies to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which governs pesticide use. Agency officials could order restrictions or prohibit use of the pesticides.

 

Fisheries scientists say the biggest threat comes when the chemicals are washed into small tributaries that contain young salmon.

If the chemicals are in large-enough concentrations, the juveniles can perish. Even if they survive, the salmon can suffer diminished sense of smell, affecting the ability of the young fish to avoid predators and of older fish to mate.

Agricultural officials have long argued that such pesticides rarely reach the nation's waterways at the concentrations that can prove detrimental to fish.

The report was spawned by a lawsuit brought by environmentalists in U.S. District Court in Seattle, where Judge John Coughenour ordered the Fisheries Service to conduct the study.

As part of a legal settlement, fisheries scientists will review 34 additional pesticides to determine if they also are nudging the salmon toward extinction.

Osborne-Klein of Earthjustice, which represented environmentalists in the Seattle lawsuit, said the study underscored the need for independent appraisal of regulatory decisions at a time when the Bush administration is pushing to slash such reviews.#

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-salmon14-2008aug14,0,549738.story?track=rss