[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 10/28/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

October 28, 2008

 

3. Watersheds –

 

Protections for state's steelhead trout upheld

Associated Press

 

Radar detects huge oceanic feature off Cape Mendocino

Eureka Times Standard

 

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Protections for state's steelhead trout upheld

Associated Press – 10/28/08

Samantha Young, Associated Press

 

(10-28) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- A federal judge upheld on Monday protections for wild steelhead trout in California rivers, rejecting an argument by forestry groups that argued the success of hatchery-raised steelhead has made the population sufficiently robustMan killed in Visitacion Valley identified 10.28.08  U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger in Fresno disagreed. He said hatchery-raised fish are no substitute for wild steelhead.

 

Science shows that hatchery-fish can be beneficial, but they also can be detrimental to wild steelhead, Wanger wrote in his 168-page ruling.

Steelhead are listed as either threatened or endangered in different parts of California.

 

In a related claim, the judge also rejected a bid by Central Valley farmers to remove steelhead trout from the federal Endangered Species Act. The farmers pointed to an abundance of resident rainbow trout, steelhead that do not migrate to the ocean.

 

The Modesto Irrigation District had argued that rainbow trout are essentially the same species as wild steelhead. Wanger agreed with federal wildlife scientists, who have said wild steelhead are distinct and indispensable to the survival of the species.

 

It is the third instance in two years in which a federal court has rejected arguments that hatchery fish ought to be counted as part of salmon or steelhead populations, said Steve Mashuda, an attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit group that represented the conservation and fishing groups.

 

The groups pressing the cases say federal wildlife managers should assess an entire fish's population - both wild and hatchery-raised - when deciding whether to protect it.#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/28/BAAE13PA21.DTL

 

Radar detects huge oceanic feature off Cape Mendocino

Eureka Times Standard – 10/28/08

John Driscoll, staff writer

 

 

A giant eddy off Cape Mendocino has caught the radar eyes of researchers at Humboldt State University and University of California at Davis, who watched it evolve over the past two months.

 

Using a radar station at Point Arena, and a newly built station at Shelter Cove, scientists were able to determine the direction and speed of the massive swirl of water.

”It was arguably the biggest, most noticeable feature on the West Coast,” said Greg Crawford, chairman of HSU's Oceanography Department.

 

Part of the California Ocean Current Monitoring Project, the Shelter Cove station was vital to being able to detect the eddy, as it gave the area coverage by more than one station, allowing it to discern various qualities of the oceanic feature.

 

The researchers aren't the first to see the eddy. It had been spotted by satellites in space and detected by ship in the 1990s by Gary Lagerloef. But the long-range radar system allows researchers to continuously watch how the eddy changes over time.

 

The California Coastal Conservancy oversees the system, which is funded by the state.

 

The eddy currently appears to be a seasonal feature, which adds complexity to what was once seen as a simple system of currents along the California coast, Crawford said. It's about 110 miles in diameter and swirls at up to 1.5 miles per hour.

 

The question now is to determine what effect the currents have on marine life.

 

Crawford said that the eddy may interfere with how nutrients and marine species are moved to more southern waters, but how extensively isn't known. That could affect how marine protected areas are set up along the coast, as called for in 1999 legislation.

 

The radar system now installed up and down the West Coast may also help emergency crews determine how oil spills or pollutants travel along the coast, enabling them to better respond to disasters. It may also help U.S. Coast Guard rescue personnel more quickly find boats in trouble, or survivors drifting on the open ocean.

And it could also be used to route ships around -- or take advantage of -- an eddy, making ocean travel more efficient, Crawford said.#

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_10834861

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