Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 16, 2009
3. Watersheds –
The Humboldt squid strikes once again
L.A. Daily News
San Diego County's 2003 wildfire losses top $2 billion
L.A. Times
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The Humboldt squid strikes once again
L.A. Daily News-7/15/09
By Phil Friedman
For five straight days the San Pedro and Long Beach local fleets were enjoying some of the best local fishing of the year. The Pursuit from 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro, the Enterprise from Marina Sportfishing in Long Beach as well as the Icon from Long Beach Sportfishing had a great week of barracuda fishing and a sign of migratory sand bass.
In a normal year, thousands of sand bass are being taken up and down the Southern California coast in July; not in 2009. There has been very little if any sign of the barred sand bass that provide anglers with a decent fight and some great eating as well.
While there was not a tremendous amount of sand bass being metered by the local fleet, more and more sand bass were moving in and every day, more were being caught. That was until Wednesday when fishing ground to a halt.
Icon skipper Shawn Morgan said it could have just been one of those days when the fish don't bite. That happens all the time as evident by the all-too-familiar line "you should have been here yesterday."
But there was a new arrival in the past 24 hours to our local waters that may have something to do with the sudden downturn in fishing. For the first time this year, the Humboldt squid returned.
For scientists, the evidence is unclear about what effect the jumbo (incorrectly referred to as giant) squid have on local fishing. For sportfishing captains, however, a clear correlation exists between poor local fishing and the arrival of these carnivorous marine invertebrates.
They grow at an astounding rate, in some cases reaching 7 feet in length and 100 pounds in a year's time. They are aggressive when feeding and must consume vast quantities of food to grow so rapidly in such a short period of time.
Their behavior can be cannibalistic as they have been seen attacking and eating other injured jumbo squid.
Mexican fishermen in Baja California refer to these giant mollusks as "diablos rojos," red devils. Humboldt squid also hunt in packs, sometimes 1,200 strong, and swim at speeds of up to 15 mph.
"You tell me what happens when over 1,000 of these feeding machines move in to the sand bass grounds?" asked Morgan rhetorically. "What they don't eat, I'll bet they scare the hell out of."
Don Ashley from Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach agrees.
"There is the whole novelty thing when they arrive and it's pretty exhilarating to catch a 50- or 60-pound squid," Ashley said. "I just worry what they do to the environment and our fish stocks."#
http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_12848587?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
San Diego County's 2003 wildfire losses top $2 billion
L.A. Times-7/13/09
By Bettina Boxall
How much did the Southern California fire storms of 2003 really cost?
Matt Rahn, a research director at San Diego State University, delved into the losses and concluded that the final bill in San Diego County alone was $2.4 billion.
“What astounded us most was the total economic loss,” Rahn said.
The expense of fighting the wildfires turned out to be less than 2% of the total. Restoring burned watersheds cost more than the firefight, according to Rahn's tally.
San Diego Gas and Electric spent $71 million replacing thousands of charred power poles, transformers and hundreds of miles of wire. The state reimbursed the utility for more than half that.
Businesses shut down for days during the fire siege.
The fire blackened 375,917 acres, destroyed 3,241 homes and killed 16 people in the county. (All told, the 14 wildfires that raged across Southern California in late October charred 750,000 acres, burned down 3,710 homes and killed 24 people.)
Airline flights were canceled because the skies were thick with smoke. A high-tech manufacturer had to replace all the air filters in its plant. The insurance industry paid an estimated $1.1 billion in property claims.
It cost Caltrans $15 million to fix fire-damaged highways in the county.
Rahn said the figures underscore the importance of maintaining firefighting forces to control blazes in their early stages, before they become an unstoppable force of nature.
“Pay now or pay a whole lot later," he said. "We're in an economic crisis in California, and we're talking about reducing firefighting levels. Cutting them in the short term may actually wind up with a longer-term impact.”
For an in depth look at escalating wildfire in California and the West, check out The Times' Pulitzer Prize winning series, "Big Burn."#
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