[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 4/29/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 29, 2009

 

3. Watersheds –

 

 

State guts bass bill

Stockton Record – 4/29/09

By Alex Breitler

 

SACRAMENTO - More than 100 Delta anglers cast aside their poles for a few hours Tuesday and watched with relief as legislators gutted a proposed law that would have targeted the striped bass fishery in California.

 

The crowd was large enough to fill the hearing room at the Capitol and spill into the hallway, observers said.

 

"This was the first time we've had such a diverse group of fishermen and fishing interests represented," fisherman Robert Johnson said. "We take this as a total win, but we don't think this is the end" of wrangling over the future of the estuary.

 

The bill by Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, would have ended funding to support striped bass, tossed out limits on how many fish can be caught and prevented any more stripers from coming into the state.

 

Some water exporters say striped bass, introduced to California waters in the late 19th century, chow down on sensitive species such as the Delta smelt and salmon. This, the exporters say, contributes to the decline those species, reducing the amount of water that can be sent to two-thirds of California.

 

It is disputed whether stripers actually eat enough smelt or salmon to make much difference.

 

The Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee approved Fuller's bill only after it had been gutted and amended; the new version of the bill does not remove protections for stripers but mandates further study of any fish species that might eat smelt or salmon.

 

Fuller said in a statement that resolving the state's water problems "obviously requires compromise, and having the state take a fresh look at the impact of predatory fish species is a step forward."

 

John Beuttler, a representative with the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, said that while the changes in Assembly Bill 1253 are good news for the valued striped bass fishery, he doubts further studies are necessary.

 

"The science is already peer-reviewed, already looked at," he said. "This would be simply a duplication of what's been done before."#

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090429/A_NEWS/904290341/-1/rss01