by Dan Bacher  

First Assembly District 

Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 27, 2010      

Contact: Andrew Bird (707) 445-7014; 498-2483

State of California’s Fisheries 2010

Joint Committee on Fisheries & Aquaculture’s Annual Fisheries Forum is Wednesday

Chesbro to preside over first meeting as Committee chair

SACRAMENTO – A Golden State tradition continues Wednesday afternoon, April 28, when the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture hosts the 37^th annual California Fisheries Forum at the Capitol.

“Since 1974 this forum has offered fishermen the opportunity to educate the Legislature on issues that affect them on a daily basis,” said Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast), who will preside over his first meeting as chair of  the Committee.  “The state of our fisheries is a critical part of our Californian economy and an indicator of the health of our rivers, lakes and offshore waters.” 

The Forum, titled “State of the Fisheries 2010,” will be held in Capitol Room 112 from 1-5 p.m. 

California’s salmon fishery will receive special focus with of a series reports delivered by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, the Department of Fish and Game, a University of California at Davis professor of fish biology, the Yurok Tribe, California Trout and Trout Unlimited, Pro Troll and a seafood restaurateur. 

The California Department of Fish and Game will deliver a report, followed by reports from the Ocean Protection Council and the California Coastal Conservancy. 

There will also be reports by the California Dungeness Crab Committee, Salmon Stamp Committee, Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead and reports on the Klamath Basin Resource Agreement and the Ocean Science Trust. 

The California Fish and Game Commission will update the Committee on the Marine Life Protection Act, with a presentation on the intent of the Act, its history and the process of implementation. 

A public comment period will follow the reports. Comments will be limited to two minutes each. 

For more information about the 37^th Annual California Fisheries Forum, contact Emily Rogers at (916) 319-1113.

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In the latest episode in Governor’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, an independent journalist said he was arrested by a Fish and Game warden on April 21 for exercizing his right to video a meeting of what MLPA proponents describe as an “open” and “transparent” process. 

The MLPA process, privately funded by the shadowy Resource Legacy Foundation Foundation, has taken the “protection” out of the Marine Life Protection Act and made the process into the Marine Life Privatization Act Initiative. 

The original legislation was designed to protect the ocean from pollution, development and other uses that impact the marine ecosystem – not just impose more fishing restrictions. The legislation states very clearly, “Coastal development, water pollution, and other human activities threaten the health of marine habitat and the biological diversity found in California’s ocean waters.” 

However, Schwarzenegger has completely taken coastal development, water pollution and other human activities other than fishing and seaweed harvesting “off the table” in his MLPA process. Schwarzenegger has appointed to the Blue Ribbon Task Forces that design the marine protected areas corporate officials from the oil, marine development and real estate industries to make sure that the marine reserves don’t conflict with their plans for exploitation and development of the California coast. 

Schwarzenegger, an advocate of increased oil drilling off the California coast, very strategically appointed Catherie Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, as chair of the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast and as a member of the North Central Coast and North Coast MLPA panels. Reheis-Boyd, an oil industry “superstar,” is a strong supporter of new oil drilling off the California coast. 

It should be no surprise that the Schwarzenegger administration, the worst ever for fish and the environment in California history, wants to suppress free speech by arresting an independent journalist for exercizing his right to document the proceedings of this widely-contested process. 

“My wife Barbara and I invite you to join us in supporting David Gurney’s efforts to record MLPAI meetings for the public, and to politely but firmly advocate for our rights to speak at open, recorded meetings. We owe it to present and future Californians to record the truth about the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative process, and to document its public and private meetings,” said John Stephens-Lewallen, North Coast environmental leader and sustainable seaweed harvester. 

I agree. Why are the MLPA officials so afraid of what transpires in their meetings that they won’t allow somebody to film them? 

Here is the press release from John Lewallen:

“In honoring Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his continuing devastation of California’s rivers and their threatened and endangered fishes, Riverkeeper has betrayed its stated mission on the Hudson and the cause of rivers everywhere,” said Robert H. Boyle, Riverkeeper Founder, who left the organization 10 years ago. 

Before he was arrested, activist Robert Jereski, left, protested to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., about the Hudson Riverkeeper’s honoring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor in California history for fish and the environment. Photo by J.B. Nicholas, the Villager. 

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by Dan Bacher

The California Fish and Game Commission today voted to delay the approval of a limited recreational salmon fishing season on Central Valley rivers until the next Commission meeting on May 5, but unanimously approved a recreational season on the Klamath River and the ocean salmon season adopted by the Pacific Fishery Management Council on April 15.

During the teleconference in Sacramento, Neil Manji, Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Fisheries Branch Chief, said the delay in adoption of regulations for the Central Valley rivers was necessary to simplify the regulations as much as possible and to incorporate the late fall run Chinook salmon season into the regulations.

The PFMC decided on April 15 to allow the harvest of 8200 fish in the Sacramento, American and Feather rivers in a limited season, based on a projection of 245,000 ocean abundance of Sacramento River Chinook this year by federal fishery scientists. The 8200 fish allocation includes 1,000 from the Feather, 1,000 from the American River, 3600 from the lower Sacramento below Knights Landing and 2600 from the upper Sacramento from Knights Landing to the Deschutes Road Bridge.

Manji said that postponing action until May 5 would not delay any opening day for the public, since none of the seasons is scheduled to begin until July 31. “By delaying the vote, we want to make sure we are providing angling opportunities while protecting the species,” said Manji.

Commissioner Dan Richards said he was disappointed by the request for the delay based on “late submissions by third party interests” – and criticized the Department for not being prepared and “not doing its job.”

“I’m one thousand percent for any expansion of any fishing seasons that can be backed up scientifically,” he emphasized. “My issue is that the Department had a range of an allowable harvest from 0 to 10,000 fish to work with – and 8200 fish falls in that range. These constant delays or extensions are foisted upon already overworked and underpaid staff.”

Nonetheless, Commissioners Richards, Richard Rogers, Jim Kellogg, Michael Sutton and Don Benninghoven voted unanimously to postpone the vote until May 5.

Under the proposed regulations, the Upper Sacramento River would be open to fishing from Deschutes Road Bridge to Highway 113 Bridge from Oct. 2 through December 12. This proposal would allow limited fishing for fall Chinook while incorporating the late fall season that anglers enjoyed over the past two years.

Last year the late fall season was from November 16 to December 31. Manji wants to allow increased fishing opportunity in November for fall run Chinook while minimizing any impacts upon winter run Chinooks, an endangered species, by moving the closure date up to December 12.

Manji said this proposal incorporates both the limited fall Chinook season and the late fall run Chinook salmon season. “We recovered 3 winter run Chinook tags from December 6 to December 27, so we want to minimize the impact upon winter run Chinook this year,” he said.

The lower Sacramento River would be open from Highway 113 Bridge to Carquinez Bridge from Sept. 4 to Oct. 3.

The American River would be open to salmon fishing downstream from Ancil Hoffman Park from Oct. 30 to Nov. 29.

Finally, the Feather River salmon fishing season downstream from below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet would run from July 31 to Aug. 29. Manji said that the Department plans to close the “outlet hole” to fishing, but is still evaluating a closure point.

The proposed season calls for a 2 fish per day and 2 in possession limit.

The Commission also unanimously adopted the 2010 Ocean Salmon Sport Regulations approved by the PFMC on April 15. Ocean recreational seasons will be as follows:

• The Klamath Management Zone from the Oregon border to Horse Mountain will be open from May 29 through September 6. Minimum take size is 24 inches.

• The waters from Horse Mountain to Point Arena will remain open through September 6. Minimum take size will increase from 20 inches to 24 inches beginning May 1.

•The waters from Point Arena to the United States/Mexico border will remain open through September 6. From May 1 through September 6, fishing will be allowed only from Thursday through Monday. Minimum take size will increase from 20 inches to 24 inches beginning May 1.

All zones have a limit of two Chinook salmon. No take of coho salmon is allowed.

This decision to target fall run chinooks this year controversial, with anglers split over whether or not to have a recreational season after the fall run Chinook return was only 39,530 fish in 2009, the lowest on record.

Many charter boat skippers and party boat anglers initially opposed a recreational season, since they feared that the federal biologists’ estimate of 245,500 adult salmon this year could be wildly inaccurate again this year like it was in 2009. Last year they predicted a spawning escapement of 122,196 fish, but less than a third of this number of fish actually returned to the rivers and hatcheries to spawn.

Other recreational anglers argued that the anglers had to go with the “best available science” provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The federal biologists argued that the numbers of returning jacks and jills (two year olds) – 9,216 jacks (two-year-olds) in 2009 – pointed to a sufficient number of salmon in the ocean this year to allow some fishing.

After the Commission teleconference, Bob Boucke of Johnson’s Bait, owner of Johnson’s Bait and Tackle in Yuba City, commented that it is “very unfair to allow a big season on the ocean, but not on the Central Valley rivers.”

During the teleconference, the Commission also approved the recreational fishing season on the Klamath-Trinity River system. The system willl have a recreational quota of 12,000 chinooks this year; last year an estimated 5500 fish were caught, according to DFG fisheries biologist Larry Hansen. The daily bag limit will be 3 chinooks, including 2 adults and one jack.

The collapse of Sacramento River fall Chinook salmon, the driver of West Coast salmon fisheries, resulted in a complete closure of recreational and commercial fishing in California and most of Oregon in 2008. Commercial fishing was again closed in 2009, while only a limited 10 day recreational fishing season to target Klamath River Chinooks in Northern California and southern Oregon ocean waters was allowed.

Commercial salmon fisheries in California will be very limited again this year, but will include two four‐day openers in July south of Point Arena, and additional quota fisheries in the Fort Bragg area during late July and August. California and Oregon fisheries also include a catch‐and‐release genetic study during closed periods.

Although fishing is tightly restricted on the ocean again this year, it is important to realize that the collapse of Central Valley salmon populations wasn’t caused by overfishing, but was spurred by record water exports out of the California Delta to corporate agribusiness and southern California.

“Many factors have contributed to the historic collapse of the California and Oregon salmon fishery,” summed up Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisheries Associations. “However, the operations of the State Water Project SWP and Central Valley Project CVP have played a critical and central role in the decline of salmon and the health of our rivers, streams, bays and estuary.”

To view excellent videos about the Central Valley salmon collapse and what you can do to restore the fishery, go to http://salmonwaternow.org. 

Photo of Alyson Huber at a rally against the peripheral canal at the State Capitol on July 7, 2009 courtesy of Jerry Neuburger, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.

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Huber Reintroduces Bill To Stop The Peripheral Canal 

by Dan Bacher 

Assemblymember Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills) has reintroduced a bill, AB 1594, that would prevent construction of a peripheral canal around the California Delta without a full fiscal analysis and a vote of the legislature. 

Huber’s bill prohibits the construction of a peripheral canal – defined to include any facility or structure that conveys water directly from a diversion point in the Sacramento River to SWP or CVP pumping facilities south of the Delta – unless expressly authorized by the Legislature. It further requires the Legislative Analyst’s Office to complete an economic feasibility analysis prior to the enactment of a statute authorizing the construction of a peripheral canal, according to Jane Wagner-Tyack, Policy Analyst for Restore the Delta. 

The bill would also require that the construction and operation of a peripheral canal “not diminish or negatively affect the water supplies, water rights, or quality of water for water users within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed.” 

“Last November’s water package completely omits legislative oversight, merely leaving it to the Delta Stewardship Council to decide whether the BDCP is consistent with the co-equal goals of water supply and ecosystem restoration for the Delta,” said Wagner-Tyack. 

Rollout of the bill is scheduled for Monday, April 26. The bill is scheduled to be heard by the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee on April 27. 

The co-oauthors of the bill are Assembly Members Wesley Chesbro (D-Eureka), Paul Fong (D-Mountain View), Ted Gaines (R-Granite Bay), Tom Torlakson (D-Martinez), and Mariko Yamada (D-Davis). 

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senator Diane Feinstein and Legislative Leaders are campaigning for the construction of a peripheral canal and new dams to facilitate increased water exports to corporate agribusiness and Southern California water agencies. Delta advocates fear that the canal, estimated to cost $23 to $53.8 billion, will push collapsing populations of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species over the edge of extinction. 

On November 9, 2009, Assemblymember Huber delivered to the Governor’s office 2000 postcards from Delta residents who are opposed to Schwarzenegger’s plan to build a peripheral canal. 

“I have heard from my constituents – residents of the Delta region – and they have said loud and clear they oppose the construction of a peripheral canal,” said Assemblymember Alyson Huber. “The Governor showed how out of touch he is with my communities when, just hours after the water package was passed, he touted his plans to build a canal through the Delta at a business event in Stockton. He just doesn’t get it – he might as well walk into a Giant’s game wearing a Dodger jersey.” 

Assemblymember Huber said she opposed the water package because “it creates a new layer of bureaucrats who will make decisions on water” that will impact the communities in her district, including the details of a canal. 

To counteract proposals to give all authority to a group of unelected appointees, the Delta Stewardship Council, Huber offered up a simple bill (AB 13 7x) one to require a full analysis of the peripheral canal and require legislative approval – a common sense approach. Unfortunately, that bill was killed without a hearing. 

Opponents of AB 1594 argue that it is a threat to achieving the co-equal goals of ecosystem restoration and reliable water supplies in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as passed in the water legislation package in 2009. 

The opponents include the Desert Water Agency, Eastern Municipal Water District, Municipal Water District of Orange County, The Chamber Alliance of Ventura & Santa Barbara Counties, The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Valley Ag Coalition and Westlands Water District. 

Assemblymember Alyson Huber deserves kudos for reintroducing her bill to prohibit the construction of “Arnold’s Big Ditch” without a full fiscal analysis and a vote of the legislature. 

For more information, go to http://www.restorethedelta.org

Here is John Beuttler’s great piece on the defeat of the Striped Bass Eradication Bill sponsored by corporate agribusiness.

Striped Bass Eradication Bill Defeated

AB 2336 Gutted and Amended by Assembly Committee

By John Beuttler, CSPA Conservation Director

April 15, 2010 — In a move designed to avoid complete failure, Assemblymember Fuller (Bakersfield) struck the entire contents of her bill during the hearing held by the State Assembly’s Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee on April 13 that would have sent the estuary’s striped bass fishery on a path toward oblivion.

Fuller’s gutting of her bill is good news for the state’s sport fishing industry and anglers. This legislative attack on what was once one of the state’s premiere sport fishery was aggressively supported by two dozen water districts, corporate agricultural interests, and some valley politicians who have cloaked their attack on striped bass behind pseudo – biology and the facade of protecting endangered species.

That their effort did not succeed given the money and power behind these political forces is a testament to the latent power of recreational anglers when they stand their ground to protect their fisheries. An estimate one hundred anglers attended the hearing in the state capitol. Many of them had to take a day off of work, and no one paid them to show up and make a stand to save the fishery.

While the CSPA Conservation Director spoke in opposition to bill during the hearing along with Dr. Tina Swanson of the Bay Institute, the battle was won days prior to the hearing with hundreds letters sent to the Committee from the public and an additional forty five letters of opposition from some of the state’s sport fishing organizations. Our success was due to grass roots action of anglers and sport fishing groups effort to form an alliance to oppose this extremely divisive legislation.

All those who engaged in defending the striped bass fishery deserve credit for their volunteer efforts to protect this fishery. The striped bass population has declined to it lowest level in history as has many of the other fisheries in the estuary that they have co-existed with for 130 years. The peer reviewed science that has studied predation in the Bay-Delta estuary makes it clear that striped bass do not impact the population levels of salmon or Delta smelt, but AB 2336 alleged that the fishery posed a serious risk to these species.

The bill’s remedy was the elimination of fishing regulations that protect the fishery from excessive harvest. Had it passed, it would have ushered in area of resource management mandated to destroy “non-native” sport fisheries that compete with native fishes. CSPA opposed some of the new amendments presented during the hearing with support from the Bay Institute.

However, Committee Chairman Jared Huffman told the hearing audience that he had previously met with Assemblymember Fuller and advised her that he could not support her original bill. When she agreed to jettison the language in that bill, he agreed to support her amendments that would send the issues of estuary’s fishery declines to be reviewed by Delta Stewardship’s Council “Independent Science Board”. He noted that he would be happy to work with us to try and address our concerns.

We greatly appreciate the support of the Chairman to take a strong stand for good natural resource management and not bow to the political pressure generated by misguided political forces that place corporate profits above the welfare of the public and the viability of our fishery resources.

by Dan Bacher 

Political satire in the United States will officially die tonight, April 14. 

That’s when Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, will honor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor for fish and the environment in California history, for his “environmental advocacy.” 

Schwarzenegger will be honored at the “Riverkeeper’s Annual Fishermen’s Ball” at Pier Sixty on the Hudson River in New York City at a dinner fundraiser that will begin at 6:30 p.m. Spike Lee will also present an award to HBO during the event (http://www.riverkeeper.org/news-events/events/rvk-events/the-fishermens-ball). 

No late night comedian, inflammatory radio talk show host or other practitioner of political satire could come up with a scenario this bizarre no matter how they try. Reality, particularly in Schwarzenegger’s California, has become a self-parody, a living satirical comedy that knows no bounds. 

Kennedy and the Riverkeeper are giving this award in spite of the deluge of letters and phone calls from conservationists, fishermen and environmental justice advocates blasting them for honoring Schwarzenegger. During his tenure, Schwarzenegger has presided over the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, striped bass, threadfin shad, American shad and other fish populations in the California Delta. 

Confronted by pleas by fish advocates to withdraw the award to Schwarzenegger because of his abysmal environmental record, Kennedy and Riverkeeper staff have not only proceeded forward with their plans to honor Schwarzenegger, but they have refused to respond to the barrage of phone calls and letters. 

In fact, a Riverkeeper spokesman would only speak on the condition of anonymity to reporters from the Sacramento Bee, and the Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow (New York) Patch to explain why they would honor Schwarzenegger in spite of such widespread opposition to his environmental policies. 

“The group is honoring Schwarzenegger specifically for his work on climate change, according to a press contact who declined to be named for this post,” reported Kevin Yamamura in his article in the Sacramento Bee (http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/2010/04/ny-water-enviro.html). 

Likewise, a Riverkeeper official, who did not want to be named, told Dan Wiessner of the Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch, “The governor’s work speaks for itself. He’s recognized across the world for his work in combating global climate change (http://tarrytown.patch.com/articles/green-governator-or-fish-terminator). 

The Riverkeeper’s mission is “to protect the ecological integrity of the Hudson River and its tributaries, and to safeguard the drinking water supply of New York City and the lower Hudson Valley.” 

The Hudson Riverkeeper, founded by commercial and recreational fishermen in Tarrytown 40 years ago, has spawned a nationwide network of more than 150 groups, including many in California, that lobby for clean water and other environmental initiatives. 

Since Schwarzenegger took office in 2003 in a recall election, he has waged a relentless war on salmon, salmon fishermen and the environment in California that is diametrically opposed to the Riverkeeper’s mission of protecting the “ecological integrity” of rivers. His administration has become known for its numerous conflicts of interests, corruption and violation of the state’s environmental laws. 

In the latest Field Pool, California voters gave Schwarzenegger the lowest rating of his career, with his approval dropping to only 23 percent in March, down from 27 percent in October. This is as low as Governor Gray Davis’s rating was in 2003 before he was recalled in a special election. 

I suspect that Schwarzenegger may be receiving the award because of his close relationship to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and other Kennedy family members through his marriage to Maria Shriver. 

Regardless of the reasoning behind it, the honoring of Schwarzenegger in an insult to the fishermen, Indian Tribes, environmentalists and others who have been under assault by his policies. Kennedy and the Riverkeeper, by giving “green cover” to Schwarzenegger, are in effect endorsing his war on fish and fishermen. This is greenwashing at its worst and most shameless. 

There is no doubt that George W. Bush, a man that Kennedy repeatedly criticized for his bad environmental policies, ravaged fish and the environment during his long eight years in office. However, Schwarzenegger has exceeded even Bush’s fervor in his war on fish and the environment –and Kennedy and the Riverkeeper are honoring him! 

The Hudson Riverkeeper is honoring Schwarzenegger the “Green Governor” for his incessant and cynical grandstanding on “global warming” and “green energy.” Since being elected in 2003, Schwarzenegger’s record includes the following examples of “environmental advocacy”: 

• He allowed the Department of Water Resources to pump record levels of water out of the Delta from 2004 to 2007, resulting in the current Central Valley salmon and California Delta pelagic species collapses.The largest annual water export levels in history occurred in 2003 (6.3 million acre feet), 2004 (6.1 MAF), 2005 (6.5 MAF) and 2006 (6.3 MAF). Exports averaged 4.6 MAF annually between 1990 and 1999 and increasing to an average of 6 MAF between 2000 and 2007, a rise of almost 30 percent, according to the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. 

• He has vetoed numerous environmental bills, including a badly needed bill by Lois Wolk that would provide for emergency fish rescue plans. 

• He has consistently slashed funding for game wardens in the field while California has the lowest ratio of wardens to residents of any state in the nation. 

• He directed the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board to continue to grant waivers to agricultural polluters, in spite of the dire condition of Delta fisheries. 

• Since 2004, he has fast-tracked a controversial Marine Protected Area (MPA) process filled with conflicts of interest and corruption that kicks sustainable fishermen, Indian tribal members and seaweed harvesters off the water while refusing to deal with pollution, coastal development and other human uses of the ocean that have lead to fishery declines. 

• Schwarzenegger recently introduced a bill that would allow the lame-duck Governor to choose 25 development projects each year that would be exempt from the state’s strict standards under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (ttp://http://www.ecovote.org/blog/?p=1674). 

However, Schwarzenegger’s greatest passion is to make the Delta a polluted “fish-free” zone by campaigning with Senator Dianne Feinstein for a massive peripheral canal and more dams that will cost an estimated $23 billion to $53.8 billion at a time that the state of California doesn’t have enough money to pay for its teachers, game wardens and health care for children. 

In November, Schwarzenegger and Legislative Leaders pushed through a controversial water policy/water bond package that creates a clear path to the peripheral canal and new dams. If not stopped, the canal will likely lead to the extinction of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. 

In addition, at photo opportunities and in press conferences Schwarzenegger has continually attacked the court-ordered biological opinions for Delta smelt and Central Valley salmon. These plans conclude that current water pumping operations in the Federal Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project should be changed to ensure survival of Delta smelt, winter and spring-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, the southern population of North American green sturgeon and southern Resident killer whales. The whales rely on Chinook salmon runs for food. 

“This federal biological opinion puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world’s eighth largest economy,” claimed Schwarzenegger in a press release on June 4, 2009. “The piling on of one federal court decision after another in a species-by-species approach is killing our economy and undermining the integrity of the Endangered Species Act” (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/06/04/18600502.php). 

Schwarzenegger neglected to point out that sustainable fisheries contribute billions of dollars to the California economy and thousands of jobs. He also failed to note that his administration’s polices of record exports have led to the collapse of fall run Chinook salmon, the driver of West Coast salmon fisheries (http://www.counterpunch.org/bacher02122010.html). 

A record low of only 39,530 fall Chinook adults returned to the Sacramento River basin to spawn in 2009. This contrasts with nearly 800,000 salmon in 2002. 

Southwick Associates have estimated that the season closures caused by the collapse of Central Valley salmon cost an estimated 23,000 jobs and $2.8 billion in the California economy alone, according to Dick Pool, administrator of water4fish.org. California has over 2,000 small and medium businesses that derive most or all of their income from the recreational and commercial salmon industry. 

So tonight a “Fishermens’ Ball,” sponsored by a group that was founded by commercial and recreational fishermen, will “honor” for his “environmental advocacy” a Governor that is the greatest enemy of fish, fishermen and the environment in California history. 

Although I have admired R.F.K. Jr. and the Riverkeeper for their great efforts to restore the Hudson River, they have flushed their credibility down the toilet of history by honoring the “Fish Terminator” for his “environmental advocacy” tonight. 

“The award is a farce,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta. “Schwarzenegger is perpetuating a water delivery system that will wipe out what’s left of California’s salmon run and will deal the final death blow to the Delta. This award is a classic example of greenwashing.” 

“Governor Schwarzenegger’s term has been a disaster as far as protection of water quality and fisheries in California is concerned,” said Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and former Deltakeeper, who emphasized that he has enormous respect for RFK, Jr., and his environmental work. “Schwarzenegger has used his stance on air quality as a cover and shield for the harm he has done on water issues.” 

Jennings, whose organization has 55 pending appeals and several lawsuits directed against the Schwarzenegger administration, is puzzled why the Riverkeeper, an organization that focuses on water quality, is awarding the Governor for his stance on air quality. 

The Governor’s remarks from the “Fishermen’s Ball” will be webcast live at http://www.gov.ca.gov. 

I urge you to write, call and email the Riverkeeper to let you know them how you feel about the Riverkeeper’s honoring the “Fish Terminator at: 828 South Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591, Phone: 800-21-RIVER, Email: info [at] riverkeeper.org.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Marine Poaching Areas” will go into effect, in spite of opposition by fishermen, environmentalists and seaweed harvesters, on the North Central Coast from Pigeon Point to Point Arena on May 1, 2010. 

Photo: Governor Schwarzenegger, the “Fish Terminator,” took a break from his war on salmon and other fish to tour earthquake damage in Calexico in the Imperial Valley last week. 

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Schwarzenegger’s “Marine Poaching Areas” to Go Into Effect on May 1 

by Dan Bacher 

The California Fish and Game Commission on April 8, after approving some technical changes, unanimously voted to impose a series of controversial “marine protected areas” (MPAs) – also known as “marine poaching areas” – on the North Central Coast from Pigeon Point to Point Arena on May 1, 2010. 

The marine reserves were originally proposed to go into effect on April 1. However, during the regulatory process to amend Section 632 of the California Fish and Game Code, changes were made in the originally proposed regulatory language that was adopted at the Commission’s August 5, 2009, meeting. The Administrative Procedure Act requires that the Commission make these changes available to the public for at least a 15-day written comment period, so the beginning of the area closures was changed from April 1 to May 1. 

According to the Commission, corrections were made to the latitude and longitude coordinates for Gerstle Cove State Marine Reserve (SMR), Salt Point State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA), Estero de San Antonio State Marine Recreational Management Area (SMRMA), Point Reyes SMR, Point Reyes SMCA, and the Southeast Farallon Island Special Closure. In addition, a variety of other changes were made to the regulations for the purpose of improving the clarity of the regulations. 

Department of Fish and Game wardens jokingly refer to the new reserves as “marine poaching areas” since the state of California doesn’t have the money or staff to patrol these new reserves, let along the existing marine reserves along the Central Coast. By removing the guardians of the ocean – law-abiding fishermen and seaweed harvesters – from these areas, poachers will be able to practice their dirty work unobserved and unhindered. 

The California Fish and Game Wardens Association has repeatedly opposed the creation of any new marine reserves until funding is provided for the patrolling of these areas. 

Jerry Karnow, Legislative Liason for the association, blasted the Schwarzenegger administration for pushing the MLPA process forward even though California has the “lowest ratio of wardens to population of any state or province in North America” in an excellent op ed in the Sacramento Bee (http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/2500939.html). 

These new reserves will go into effect at a time when the lack of wardens has made California into a virtual paradise for poachers of fish and wildlife, as revealed in James Swan’s ground breaking documentary, Endangered Species: California Fish and Game Wardens (2009). The movie is an expose of the extreme shortage of game wardens in California and its impact on fish, wildlife and wild lands. 

In spite of claims by Governor Arnold Schwarzengger and his collaborators that these MPAs will “protect” the ocean, the only thing that these areas will do is further restrict commercial and recreational fishing on the most restricted area of coast on the face of the planet, as well as kick tribal and commercial seaweed harvesters off their traditional areas off Stewarts Point and Point Arena. 

The Marine Life Protection Act, a landmark law passed through the Legislature and signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, has become under Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor for fish and the environment in California history, a surreal parody of marine “protection.” 

The original legislation was designed to protect the ocean from pollution, development and other uses that impact the marine ecosystem – not just impose more fishing restrictions. The legislation states very clearly, “Coastal development, water pollution, and other human activities threaten the health of marine habitat and the biological diversity found in California’s ocean waters.” 

However, Schwarzenegger has completely taken coastal development, water pollution and other human activities other than fishing and seaweed harvesting “off the table” in his MLPA process. Schwarzenegger has appointed to the Blue Ribbon Task Forces that design the marine protected areas corporate officials from the oil, marine development and real estate industries to make sure that the marine reserves don’t conflict with their plans for exploitation and development of the California coast. 

Schwarzenegger, an advocate of increased oil drilling off the California coast, very strategically appointed Catherie Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, as chair of the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast and as a member of the North Central Coast and North Coast MLPA panels. Reheis-Boyd, an oil industry “superstar,” is a strong supporter of new oil drilling off the California coast. 

Reheis-Boyd told the San Francisco Chronicle that she hopes the Obama administration “will eventually allow new drilling off the California coast.” (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/31/MNU41CO3O4.DTL) 

“We are disappointed,” Reheis-Boyd said, in response to Obama’s recent announcement that the U.S. companies can begin drilling for oil in the waters off the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. “When you look at the resources here, they’re considerable.” 

North Coast environmentalists, fishermen and seaweed harvesters are very concerned that MLPA Initiative, rather than protecting the ocean as it was originally intended to do, will actually facilitate the exploitation of the oceans by corporations. 

“A major criticism of the MLPA is that it restricts only fishing, but does not address other impacts to marine resources such as water pollution, development, and ocean industrialization,” said Judith Vidaver of the Ocean Protection Coalition. “Of concern to some is that implementation of the MLPA will somehow lead to oil/gas drilling or make it easier for other forms of industrialization of the ocean by projects such as wave/wind power, fish farms, seabed mining, etc. that the federal government is looking at zoning and promoting.” 

She said California State Attorney General (AG) Jerry Brown has possibly provided a way for anglers and environmentalists to address these concerns. 

On September 25, 2009 the AG wrote a “letter of opinion” to the Assistant Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Policy of the Natural Resources Agency. The letter addresses a number of issues regarding MPAs including whether it is necessary to specifically identify what uses are allowed or prohibited in SMCAs. 

In the AG’s opinion, “The designating or managing agency may identify prohibited recreational and commercial activities that would compromise protection of the species of interest, natural community, habitat, or geological features or it may identify allowable uses within marine conservation areas.” 

“SMRs (State Marine Reserves) already prohibit any kind of activities in addition to fishing that may cause harm,” stated Vidaver. “So, to protect SMCAs (State Marine Conservation Areas) from destructive activities such as sewage treatment plants, oil drilling, fish farms etc. all we have to do is include such prohibitions in the language of the arrays” (MPA proposals). 

Vidaver’s proposal is to include include prohibitions of all potential industrialization of the ocean in the language of the individual MPAs. In addition, she proposes the creation of a SMCA covering all other areas not included in the final North Coast array. 

“This ‘blanketing’ SMCA would specifically list all current uses as allowed and specifically prohibit all other uses that could harm the marine ecosystem,” she stated. 

California’s North-Central Coast MPAs will take effect from Alder Creek, near Point Arena (Mendocino County) to Pigeon Point (San Mateo County). The series of 21 marine protected areas (MPAs), three State Marine Recreational Management Areas, and six special closures covers approximately 153 square miles (20.1%) of state waters in the north central coast study region, according to the DFG. 

Approximately 86 square miles (11%) of the 153 square miles are designated as “no take” state marine reserves, while different take allowances providing varying levels of protection are designated for the rest. The MPAs were developed through funding by a private corporation, the shadowy Resource Legacy Fund Foundation (RLFF). 

The state and RLFF refused to consult with California Indian Tribes in creating the North Central Coast and Central Coast reserves. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), at their annual session from October 11-16, 2009 in Palm Springs, passed a resolution blasting the MLPA process for failing to recognize the tribal subsistence, ceremonial and cultural rights of Northern California tribes. 

“The NCAI does hereby support the demand of the tribes of Northern California that the State of California enter into government to government consultations with these tribes; and that the State of California ensure the protection of tribal subsistence, ceremonial and cultural rights in the implementation of the state of Marine Life Protection Act,” the resolution stated. 

A coalition of North Coast tribes is pressuring the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to protect tribal subsistence, ceremonial and cultural rights in the North Coast process now underway. 

For more information and a full list of the new MPAs, go to: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/nccmpas_list.asp.