danbacher “Make no mistake,” Sisk emphasized. “The peripheral canal will destroy river ecosystems, destroy fisheries and sentence us to a future where clean water is a luxury rather than a right. Make sure your voice is heard!”
By Dan Bacher
Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, has issued a urgent call to show opposition to the state-federal plan to build a peripheral canal or tunnels at a rally on the West Steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento on Wednesday, July 25 starting at noon.
Governor Jerry Brown is expected on or near July 25 to announce his plans to build two gigantic tunnels to divert Sacramento River south to corporate agribusiness and southern California, killing Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other species and destroying the estuary.
“California Indians and Tribes need to come make your voices be heard on July 25 at the Capitol if you need salmon and/or water,” said Sisk. “The old failed plan in back in the saddle and needs to wear an arrow shirt if the life of the California homelands are to survive this harebrained plan.”
“Please join the efforts of Restore the Delta and many others in opposing this! We need to unite about this misinformation of no scientific common sense! This a drastic mistake!” Sisk urged.
“Make no mistake,” Sisk emphasized. “The peripheral canal will destroy river ecosystems, destroy fisheries and sentence us to a future where clean water is a luxury rather than a right. Make sure your voice is heard!”
Sisk and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe are leading a campaign to stop the raising of Shasta Dam and to reintroduce winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Lake Shasta. The Tribe has been one of the most steadfast opponents of the tunnels that the expanded Lake Shasta would supply.
The construction of a peripheral canal or tunnels that would divert water 35 miles around the Delta to the Tracy water export pumps is expected to hasten the extinction of Central Valley chinook salmon, steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species, according to agency and independent scientists.
A broad coalition of Delta residents, Indian Tribes, fishermen, family farmers, and environmentalists believes that you can’t “save” the Delta by draining it.
Sisk compared the governor’s “twin tunnels” plan to the Brazilian government’s plans to build the third-largest dam in the world and one of the Amazon’s most controversial development projects – the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River in the state of Pará.
“The Governor’s proposed gigantic tunnels and the raising of Shasta Dam are the same as what they are doing at the Belo Monte Dam….totally ignoring the needs of the animals, the environment, and the people, and most of all ignoring the the total IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO THE WATERS!” said Sisk. “It is all about the money and who’s pockets it is in!
“The Governor and Government is wrong about this water plan on all levels,” she emphasized. “California Tribes need to be included and come to the water talks and plans! We have not given our ‘free, prior, and informed consent’ on this water plan that affects our tribal communities and way of life!”
In case of Bel Monte Dam, up to 80% of the Xingu River will be diverted from its original course in order to feed the powerhouse of the dam coplex, causing a permanent drought on the river’s “Big Bend,” and directly affecting the Paquiçamba and Arara territories of the Juruna and Arara indigenous peoples, according to Amazon Watch (amazonwatch.org). To make this possible, two huge canals 500 meters wide by 75 km long – in a scheme similar to Jerry Brown’s twin peripheral tunnels – will be excavated, unearthing more land than was removed to build the Panama Canal.
“The common people will pay for the peripheral canal and a few people will make millions,” summed Sisk. “It will turn a once pristine water way into a sewer pipe. It will be all bad for the fish, the ocean and the people of California.”
“Are you a warrior who will come to the aid of this river and fish? I will be there!” she concluded.
Restore the Delta, elected leaders, the Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Planning and Conservation League, the Environmental Water Caucus, Delta Counties Farm Bureau Caucus and a dozen other groups announced last week they will launch their campaign against the “Peripheral Tunnels” with the rally at the State Capitol on Wednesday.
As the governor and federal officials prepare to unveil their proposal, opponents will point out expected damage to water, the environment, fish, farming and water ratepayers.
“The governor and federal officials are poised to pursue one of the largest public works projects in our history,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “We oppose the rush to build Peripheral Tunnels that would exterminate salmon runs, destroy sustainable family farms and saddle taxpayers with tens of billions in debt, mainly to benefit a small number of huge growers on the west side of the Central Valley.”
For more information about the Winnemen Wintu Tribe, go to: http://www.winnememwintu.us.
For more information about Restore the Delta, go to http://www.restorethedelta.org.
danbacher “We are very happy with the outcome of this long and challenging process,” said Foothill Conservancy President Katherine Evatt after the meeting. “We’re proud of our foothill communities for coming together to tell EBMUD “no” and to protect the Mokelumne River. We’re glad we filed the suit and saw it through. And we’re grateful to EBMUD for changing course.”
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On Tuesday, April 24 in Oakland, the East Bay Municipal Utility District Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve a revised district Water Supply Management Plan 2040 that drops the controversial expansion of Pardee Reservoir.
The expansion would have destroyed at least a mile of the Mokelumne River, including a section eligible for National Wild and Scenic River designation.
The original WSMP 2040, adopted in October 2009, was successfully challenged in court by the Foothill Conservancy, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and Friends of the River. A resulting court order required EBMUD to conduct further environmental review and consider participating in the expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County.
The revised WSMP is a result of the revised environmental review. It includes a partnership with the Contra Costa Water District in the Los Vaqueros Expansion, expected to be completed later this year.
“We are very happy with the outcome of this long and challenging process,” said Foothill Conservancy President Katherine Evatt after the meeting. “We’re proud of our foothill communities for coming together to tell EBMUD “no” and to protect the Mokelumne River. We’re glad we filed the suit and saw it through. And we’re grateful to EBMUD for changing course. Their decision is right for the foothills, right for the East Bay, and right for the Mokelumne River. Now we can move on to permanently protecting the river with National Wild and Scenic River designation so no one has to go through a process like this on the upper Moke again.”
“The judge’s order led to a better outcome,” said Chris Shutes of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “EBMUD has taken a stand to protect Delta inflow and water quality. West-of-Delta storage is a forward-thinking approach that should be front and center for the entire Bay Area.”
The proposed Pardee expansion would have flooded the Mokelumne River’s Middle Bar reach below Highway 49 and part of the Electra Run upstream. The lower end of the Electra Run has been found eligible for National Wild and Scenic River designation, and advocates want the designation to extend to the existing high pool of Pardee Reservoir.
“Every river eligible for National Wild and Scenic River designation is nationally significant,” said Friends of the River’s Ronald Stork. “They’re just as valuable as our national parks. That’s one of the reasons we joined in this important effort to save the Mokelumne.”
“This process worked,” said John A. Coleman, EBMUD board president. “We listened, we heard, and we acted. It has always been our intent to do the right thing for our customers and partners to get the best use possible out of this precious resource. Together, we will continue to work cooperatively as a region to solve other tough problems ahead.”
For more information, contact Katherine Evatt of Foothill Conservancy at 209-296-5734, Bill Jennings of CSPA at 209-464-5067, or Ronald Stork of Friends of the River at 916-442-3155 x 220.
danbacher “Our records request turned up evidence that green sturgeon were not adequately considered in the certification,” said Victor Gonella, GGSA’s President. “We’re asking the Board to amend the certification to provide more water to attract and successfully spawn green sturgeon. We’re confident this action will have positive impacts on salmon runs as well, and help maintain the jobs, food production, world-class recreation, and economic activity healthy salmon runs can provide.”
Photo of green sturgeon by Toz Soto, Karuk Tribe Fisheries Dept.
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Petaluma, CA – The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) and California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) have petitioned the state Water Quality Control Board to re-write terms of a clean water certification for a massive state-run dam complex on the Feather River near Oroville, California.
The groups were moved to action following a GGSA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that demonstrated green sturgeon spawn much further upstream on the Feather River than previously acknowledged.
Through the request, fishing advocates learned that during high flow in the Feather River in late 2010 and early 2011, the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) documented the presence of green sturgeon at the river’s uppermost barrier to anadromous fish.
The first-ever scientific evidence of green sturgeon spawning in the Feather River was also collected at this time. DWR efforts to reduce flows likely drove sturgeon out of the uppermost accessible river reaches and may have interfered with spawning there, in possible violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.
The appeal to the state board comes as the National Marine Fisheries Service is writing a biological opinion on how dam operations will affect the Feather River’s federally protected salmon and sturgeon runs. The dam complex is currently undergoing a relicensing process to set new state and federal rules governing operation of the facilities for the next 30 to 50 years.
The state Water Resources Control Board is charged with protecting the public trust resources all Californians share, including its wildlife.
The state board approved the certification under the faulty assumption the waters below the dam were not used by green sturgeon. Accordingly, the Board’s certification does not provide sufficient springtime flows for green sturgeon to access much of the newly discovered river habitat, except in the wettest of years. Improved green sturgeon flows under a revised certification would also greatly improve survival of baby Feather River salmon during their annual springtime migration to the sea.
“Our records request turned up evidence that green sturgeon were not adequately considered in the certification.” said Victor Gonella, GGSA’s President. “We’re asking the Board to amend the certification to provide more water to attract and successfully spawn green sturgeon. We’re confident this action will have positive impacts on salmon runs as well, and help maintain the jobs, food production, world-class recreation, and economic activity healthy salmon runs can provide.”
“Greater springtime flows released from Lake Oroville will help green sturgeon and salmon. Salmon will have more of a burst of water to carry them safely downstream and out to sea if the state board issues a protective order,” said Bill Jennings, CSPA Executive Director.
The dam complex, operated by DWR and commonly known as the Oroville Facilities, make up part of the State Water Project. The dams take a heavy toll on fish, cutting off access to 66.9 miles of habitat for salmon upstream. They also negatively impact downstream salmon habitat, water temperature, water quality, and natural flows needed by fish.
The river below the facility is vitally important for commercially-valuable fall-run Chinook salmon and also designated as critical habitat for Central Valley spring-run Chinook and steelhead under the Endangered Species Act. The National Marine Fisheries Service lists the Feather River as critical for green sturgeon survival.
“This relicensing process represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve conditions for salmon and other fish in the Feather River,” said Gonella of GGSA. “Our salmon-dependent communities and business have suffered heavily in recent years, largely as a result of poor water management in the Central Valley. We’re working to ensure that any new rules protect salmon, so we won’t ever again have the kind of disastrous, jobs-destroying collapse of the salmon runs that we saw in 2008, 2009, and 2010.”
The certification in question, granted in December 2010 by the state Board as part of the relicensing process, contains conditions relating to water quality and fish. Although the certification has already been issued, the Board can modify it based on new information. GGSA and CSPA believe the new information they have presented will spur the Board to revise and improve its requirements relating to fish.
Contact:
Victor Gonella, GGSA, 855-251-GGSA
Bill Jennings, CSPA, 209-464-5067
Jim McCarthy, McCarthy Consulting (GGSA contractor on Petition), 541-941-9450
To view the groups’ petition and its attachments, please visit the
following link:
http://goldengatesalmonassociation.com/2012/04/26/oroville-hydroelectric-project-petition/
danbacher “It is rare for so many diverse groups to be on the same page about an issue,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “That’s a clear indication of just how bad this bill is.”
Photo: Restored after 40 years – this section of the San Joaquin would be dried up all over again because of HR 1837. Photo courtesy of Friends of the River.
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Delta Region Unites Against H.R. 1837
Organizations throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region have united against a horrible piece of legislation that would upend water rights in California, gut protections for imperiled Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, and halt a historic plan to restore salmon to the San Joaquin River.
According to a news release from Restore the Delta, sixteen Delta-region environmental, business, and municipal organizations have signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner voicing strong opposition to H.R. 1837, “The San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act,” sponsored by south San Joaquin Valley Congressman Devin Nunes and scheduled to be heard by the House on February 29. (http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102037578231-134/Signon+Letter+to+Speaker+Boehner+opposing+HR+1837.pdf)
Opponents have also written to area congressional representatives Tom McClintock and Jeff Denham, both of whom support the measure, a water grab by the Corporate Welfare Kings of the San Joaquin Valley.
“The environmental community, fishing groups, and the Building Industry Association of the Delta all recognize how dangerous this bill is,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “It would strip away 150 years of water rights law and public trust protections in California.”
H.R. 1837 would relax water pumping restrictions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. These restrictions have been the last line of defense for protecting water quality for Delta farming and urban users.
“The bill would create a new system that would give a handful of southern San Joaquin Valley corporate farmers all the water they want at any time at the expense of Delta farmers, urban communities, and fisheries,” she added.
Co-signers of Restore the Delta’s opposition letter include the California Striped Bass Association, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the California Delta Chambers and Visitors Bureau, the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, and the City of Stockton.
A huge, diverse coalition of 190 environmental, environmental justice, tribal and fishing organizations from around the state also sent comments in opposition to H.R. 1837 to Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. California Indian Tribes opposing the legislation include the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Karuk Tribe and Modoc Nation. (http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102037578231-135/HR+1837+Opposition+Letter+Final.pdf)
“It is rare for so many diverse groups to be on the same page about an issue,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “That’s a clear indication of just how bad this bill is.”
Supporters of big government subsidies and corporate welfare for rich agribusiness interests, including the National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Tax Reform, California Water Alliance and the Family Farm Alliance, are backing HR 1837.
“Organizations from across the country are calling for passage of H.R. 1837, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act, legislation to prevent future California man-made droughts,” claimed a press release from Nunes’ office. “This comprehensive solution will bring water supply certainty to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, protect 30,000 jobs, generate millions in federal revenue, and decrease reliance on foreign food sources.”
At the same time Nunes, McClintock and Denham are attempting to ramrod HR 1837 through the House, the Obama and Brown administrations are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal.
If built, the canal would lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales. The canal would also result in the eradication of striped bass, now officially classified as a native species by the California Fish and Game Commission.
For more information, contact: Contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Phone (209) 479-2053, Restore the Delta, 10100 Trinity Pkwy, Suite 120, Stockton, CA 95219, Email: Barbara [at] restorethedelta.org, http://restorethedelta.org.
To send a quick letter in opposition to HR 1837, go to: http://www.friendsoftheriver.org.
danbacher by Dan Bacher
In a move celebrated by anglers and conservationists, the California Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento on Thursday, February 2 took final action to reject the Department of Fish and Game’s controversial proposed changes to striped bass regulations.
In a unanimous 4-0 decision, Commissioners voted not to pursue a proposal that would have liberalized sport fishing regulations related to anadromous striped bass, including increasing bag limits and decreasing size limits. Hundreds of anglers from an array of fishing groups attended the meeting and dozens spoke in opposition to what they described as the striped bass “eradication” proposal.
“This is a great victory for northern California, its water, ecosystem and species,” said Victor Gonella, President of the Board of the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA).
The GGSA opposed the DFG plan – and submitted an alternate proposal to the DFG plan focusing on reducing the pumping of Delta water and identifying and eliminating “hot spots” where striped bass and other predators congregate to prey on juvenile salmon.
Commission President Jim Kellogg made the motion after speaking passionately about his eyewitness experience with the results of export pumping when he worked from 1966 to 1969 on installing the first pumping station on the South Delta for the State Water Project.
“I was there when Governor Reagan was there to cut the ribbon on the completion of 7 pumps, including 4 big ones and 3 small ones,” said Kellogg. When the small pumps were turned on, he witnessed large numbers of fish going into the canal.
“There is more to this than striped bass predation – it’s about water pumping and saltwater intrusion in the Delta,” he noted. “And invasive species are just as big an issue, not just fish species but plants also.”
Kellogg, like many anglers in the room, noted that the striped bass and listed salmon and Delta smelt had coexisted for 130 years. He also declared that striped bass are a “native species” in California, since they have been here for so long.
“Nobody’s got an answer on how this is done, or who declares it, so I’m going to declare the striped bass a native species of the state of California,” he said.
Commissioner Dan Richards seconded the motion to reject the striper eradication proposal – and then the 4 Commissioners, including Jack Baylis and Michael Sutton, voted for the motion. The anglers in the room gave a standing ovation to the Commission after their vote.
A panel of three representatives of the Allied Fishing Groups, including John Beuttler, Dave Hurley and Mike McKenzie, voiced their “complete opposition” to the DFG’s proposed changes to the striped bass sport fishing regulations for a number of reasons. The Allied Fishing Groups include 40 organizations and businesses, such as the Black Bass Action Commitee, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Dan Blanton’s StriperFest, Delta Fly Fishers, California Striped Bass Association and Recreational Fishing Alliance.
“Adopting this proposal would be a violation of the Department’s and the Commission’s fiduciary obligations to hold the public’s fish and wildlife resources in trust and manage them at sustainable population levels in accord with the Commission’s policies and statutory responsibilities including your striped bass management policy,” said Beuttler.
“Since the striped bass fishery has declined from some 3 to 4 million adult fish in the 1960’s to 650,000 today, its collapse has paralleled that of several runs of listed salmonids that utilize the Bay-Delta estuary. It’s clear all of these fisheries are not being managed on a sustainable basis,” stated Beuttler.
The proposal introduced by the DFG arose out of a settlement agreement resulting from a 2008 lawsuit. In that lawsuit, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, an agribusiness Astroturf group consisting of San Joaquin Valley water districts, claimed that striped bass are “harming” native species, including endangered Central Valley chinook salmon and steelhead and Delta smelt.
Representatives from the Coalition, Department of Fish and Game and NOAA Fisheries spoke in favor of the proposal.
“We believe a yes vote is justified,” said DFG Director Chuck Bonham. “Striped bass predation is not the only factor or even the most significant factor in the decline of salmon and other listed species – but any angler who fishes for stripers sees how they predate on salmon.”
Bonham emphasized that striped bass predation is a “controllable” factor in reducing salmon and Delta smelt mortality. “This controllable factor is addressable by you through this proposal,” said Bonham.
Michael Boccadoro of the Dolphin Group, a spokesman for the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, vowed further litigation if the Commission didn’t approve the striper eradication proposal.
“If the proposal is rejected, it only gets kicked backed into the federal courts,” said Boccadoro.
Three executives of Stewart Resnick’s Paramount Farms in Kern County founded the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta. Resnick is the politically connected Beverly Hills billionaire who has made tens of millions of dollars annually from buying and reselling water back to the public for a big profit.
The Coalition claimed that the striped bass, an East Coast fish introduced to the Sacramento over 130 years ago, should not be protected because the fish prey on protected chinook salmon and Delta smelt. Anglers accused the Coalition of trying to blame striped bass “predation” for the decline of salmon and smelt in order to divert attention from record exports out of the Delta in recent years that resulted in the 2008-2009 Central Valley fall salmon collapse, in addition to the collapse of Delta smelt, longsfin smelt, threadfin shad, young striped bass and other species.
The coalition’s backers want to divert more Delta water to San Joaquin Valley growers and southern California. While supporters of Central Valley and Delta fish restoration scored a victory against the water contractors Thursday, this is one battle in a war by corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies to take more water from the Delta.
The same water contractors advocating for the striped bass eradication proposal are collaborating with the Brown and Obama adminstrations to build the peripheral canal, a project that would result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other imperiled fish species.
“This is a victory for any fisherman in Northern California, and a clear defeat of the agricorporations’ thinly-veiled greedy water grab,” said Jim Cox, President of the California Striped Bass Association, West Delta Chapter. “Had these changes been enacted, the striped bass would have been potentially fished to extinction, with no clear benefit to the salmon and delta smelt this was supposed to be protecting.
“The biological end of the DFG was forced to compile these regulation changes by the legal end of the Department to settle a lawsuit. Hoorah to the integrity of the Fish and Game Commission to see through this ‘fishery management by lawsuit’ and defend the autonomy of the regulation process. Particular credit goes to outgoing Commission President Jim Kellogg who, as his last piece of business in his two year term as President, declared striped bass a native species,” Cox concluded.
Kellogg, a Davis appointee, is still on the Commission, but is up for re-appointment right now. “I will continue to be a voice for hunters and fishermen,” Kellogg emphasized.
danbacher The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta is trying to blame striped bass “predation” for the decline of salmon and smelt in order to divert attention from record exports out of the Delta in recent years that resulted in the 2008-2009 Central Valley fall salmon collapse, in addition to the collapse of Delta smelt, longsfin smelt, threadfin shad, young striped bass and other species.
Photo of volunteer holding up a live striped bass stranded during the Prospect Island Fish Kill of November 2007 prior to a historic rescue effort by anglers. Photo by Dan Bacher.
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by Dan Bacher
Hundreds of anglers, conservationists and supporters of Delta fish restoration will be attending the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Sacramento on Thursday, February 2 at 8:30 a.m. to oppose the Department of Fish and Game’s striped bass eradication proposal. The meeting will held at the Resources Building in the First Floor Auditorium, 1416 Ninth Street, Sacramento.
The eradication proposal, the “request for the authorization to publish notice of the Commission intent to amend the striped bass regulations,” is number 9 on the agenda. There will be two special presentations, the first by the Department of Fish and Game and the second by the Allied Fishing Groups.
“Fishing regulations are supposed to be based on the best available science,” said John Beuttler, spokesman for the Allied Fishing Groups. “These regulations are not based on the best available science.”
Members of the California Striped Bass Association, Coastside Fishing Club, Water for Fish, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Golden Gate Salmon Association, Federation of Fly Fishers and other groups will be there in force to oppose the DFG proposal.
The DFG proposal would raise the daily bag limit for striped bass from two to six fish, raise the possession limit from two to 12 fish and lower the minimum size from 18 to 12 inches in order to reduce alleged “predation” of Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt by stripers.
It would also establish a “hot spot” for striped bass fishing at Clifton Court Forebay and specified adjacent waterways at which the daily bag limit will be 20 fish, the possession limit will be 40 fish and there will be no size limit. Anglers fishing at the hot spot would be required to fill out a report card and deposit it in an iron ranger or similar receptacle.
The Allied Fishing Groups, in a letter to the Commission on January 17, voiced their “complete opposition” to the DFG’s proposed changes to the striped bass sport fishing regulations for a number of reasons.
“Adopting this proposal would be a violation of the Department’s and the Commission’s fiduciary obligations to hold the public’s fish and wildlife resources in trust and manage them at sustainable population levels in accord with the Commission’s policies and statutory responsibilities including your striped bass management policy (See Fish and Game Code sections: 703, 711.7, 1017, 1301, 1600, 1700, 1802, 2761, 2780, 7050, 7070, 7072),” the letter stated.
“Since the striped bass fishery has declined from some 3 to 4 million adult fish in the 1960’s to 650,000 today, its collapse has paralleled that of several runs of listed salmonids that utilize the Bay-Delta estuary. It’s clear all of these fisheries are not being managed on a sustainable basis,” the groups said.
The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) has sponsored an alternate proposal for the Commission to “dedicate a much greater percentage of unimpaired runoff in the winter and spring to Delta inflows and outflows, and generally restore more natural flow patterns throughout the year, in order to provide habitat conditions that promote much greater survival of native species populations and reduce the effects of predation.”
The proposal also advises the Commission to “aggressively remove hot spots where striped bass and other predators can congregate and easily attack juvenile native fish.” (http://goldengatesalmonassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Striper-Proposal-GGSA-Final.pdf)
The DFG striped bass eradication proposal is the result of a court settlement of a lawsuit between the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, an agribusiness “Astroturf” group representing San Joaquin Valley corporate growers. This group is housed in Stewart Resnick’s headquarters for Paramount Farms in Kern County. Resnick is the politically connected Beverly Hills billionaire and largest tree fruit grower in the world who has made tens of millions of dollars annually from buying and reselling water back to the state for a big profit.
The Coalition claims that the striped bass, an East Coast fish introduced to the Sacramento over 120 years ago, should not be protected because the fish supposedly prey on protected chinook salmon and Delta smelt. The Coalition is trying to blame striped bass “predation” for the decline of salmon and smelt in order to divert attention from record exports out of the Delta in recent years that resulted in the 2008-2009 Central Valley fall salmon collapse, in addition to the collapse of Delta smelt, longsfin smelt, threadfin shad, young striped bass and other species. The coalition’s backers want to divert more Delta water to San Joaquin Valley growers and southern California.
Agency staff “salvaged” over 11 million fish, including a record 9 million imperiled Sacramento splittail, in the state and federal pumps in 2011. Scientists estimate that the actual amount of fish lost in the pumps is 5 to 10 times the “salvage” numbers.
Last year was also a record one for water exports from the Delta. The total water exported was 6,633,000 acre-feet in 2011 – 163,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, according to DWR data. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/12/30/states-first-snow-survey-follows-record-water-export-year)
It is noteworthy that Resnick sits on the Board of Conservation International, a corporate environmental NGO, with Walmart Chairman Rob Walton. Walton’s Walton Family Foundation dumped $36 million into ocean privatization efforts through “catch shares” programs and the creation of so-called “marine protected areas” in 2010 in an attempt to kick sustainable recreational and commercial fishermen off the water.
Resnick and Walton’s Conservation International received the top amount, $18,640,917, of the five NGOs receiving Walmart money to promote ocean “conservation” programs including marine protected areas similar to those imposed by the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative in California. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/30/the-worst-of-the-one-percent).
Remember to get there early to get a good seat at the Commission meeting. For more information, go to: http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2012/020212agd.pdf. To sign a petition opposing the DFG striper eradication proposal, go to: http://water4fish.org/striper/protest-letter.
danbacher “The CVPIA requires full environmental review, including an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), before any long-term water service contracts can be renewed by USBR,” said Bill Jennings, Chairman/Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “However, since passage of the CVPIA, USBR has been sequentially issuing two-year interim renewal contracts to avoid having to conduct a full environmental review of project operations.”
Aerial photo of Delta fish “salvage” facilities on the Delta courtesy of the Department of Water Resources. Over 11 million fish, including 9 million Sacramento splittail, were “salvaged” in the Delta pumping facilities in 2011.
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by Dan Bacher
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), North Coast River Alliance, Friends of the River and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe have sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Federal Court for failing to conduct a full environmental view of interim Central Valley Project (CVP) water delivery contracts.
The water is exported from the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, to irrigate drainage-impaired land owned by corporate agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
“Specifically, the lawsuit challenges the Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for eleven interim renewal contracts for water deliveries to the San Luis Unit, which includes Westlands Water District,” according to Bill Jennings, Chairman/Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
The Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George Bush in 1992 to address the adverse environmental impacts that result for Central Valley Project operations. It made fish and wildlife a purpose of the Central Valley Project for the first time.
“The CVPIA requires full environmental review, including an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), before any long-term water service contracts can be renewed by USBR,” said Jennings. “However, since passage of the CVPIA, USBR has been sequentially issuing two-year interim renewal contracts to avoid having to conduct a full environmental review of project operations.”
The CVPIA’s goals included the doubling of anadromous fish populations, including Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, white and green sturgeon, striped bass and American shad, by 2002. Of course, that goal was never reached, due to massive water exports to Westlands Water District, declining water quality and bad state and federal fishery management practices. In fact, many fish populations declined even further, as evidenced by the Central Valley fall chinook salmon collapse of 2008 and 2009.
The action requests the Court to: 1) find that USBR has acted contrary to law by issuing a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for interim contract renewals; 2) issue an order requiring USBR to withdraw their FONSI until they have complied with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act; and 3) and issue an injunction against further water deliveries until USBR has complied with the law.
“It is amazing that the CVPIA ‘requires’ an EIS, yet the government finds ways around that ‘requirement’ to keep pumping water while it is responsible for killing the millions of fish that should be protected in a full and complete EIS,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, a traditional tribe whose ancestral territory extends from Mount Shasta down the McCloud River watershed. “There should be no more two-year contacts to Westlands or any other water agency until the EIS is completed! Stalling or ignoring the required environmental review, including an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), should be a crime and there should be financial citations attached to the destruction of the fish.”
The Law Offices of Stephan C. Volker are representing CSPA, North Coast River Alliance, Friends of the River and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe in this litigation against the Bureua. A copy of the complaint is available at: http://calsport.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/BureauContractsSuit-30Dec2011.pdf. For more information, go tohttp://www.calsport.org.
The lawsuit takes place as the Brown and Obama administrations are fast tracking the construction of a peripheral canal through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to export more water to southern California and corporate agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley. The Winnemem Wintu, other Tribes, fishing groups, environmental organizations, Delta residents and family farmers oppose the construction of the canal because it will likely lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail green sturgeon and other imperiled fish species.
The Winnemem Wintu Tribe is now leading an ambitious campaign to reintroduce winter run chinook salmon from New Zealand’s Rakaira River to the McCloud River above Lake Shasta.
“The salmon are an integral part of our lifeway and of a healthy McCloud River watershed,” according to Sisk-Franco. “We believe that when the last salmon is gone, humans will be gone too. Our fight to return the salmon to the McCloud River is no less than a fight to save the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. As salmon people and middle water people we advocate for all aspects of clean water and the restoration of salmon to their natural spawning grounds.” (http://www.winnememwintu.us)
danbacher by Dan Bacher
Spurred by public outrage and numerous negative newspaper and internet editorials, recently retired federal judge Oliver W. Wanger today announced his decision to withdraw from representing the Westlands Water District in a lawsuit filed against it by fishing and environmental groups and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.
“Recent media comment has raised confusion about the cases upon which former Judge Oliver W. Wanger may work as a private attorney,” Wanger’s law firm, Wanger Jones Helsley, said in a statement dated Monday, December 5, but not released until Tuesday, December 6.
“He cannot work on cases involving matters he heard as a judge,” according to the statement. “The rules do not prevent him from taking cases involving parties who previously appeared before him. No conflict or violation of any rule has occurred.”
However, to avoid “misperception and diversion of attention from the merits of the case,” the statement said Wanger and his firm “have substituted out of the pending state appellate case involving the Westlands Water District.”
“Neither he nor the law firm has provided any legal service whatsoever to the Westlands Water District in the state appellate case or in any other matter, nor is Westlands a client of Mr. Wanger or the firm,” the firm emphasized.
In response to Oliver Wanger’s decision, Westlands Water District General Manager Thomas W. Birmingham said in a statement that “the Westlands Water District regrets that we will not have the benefit of Oliver Wanger’s assistance in connection with this case.”
“But we have the highest respect for his integrity and appreciate his strict adherence to the most exacting standards of legal ethics,” Birmingham stated. “His decision not to proceed with this matter is entirely consistent with the meticulous attention he applied to all aspects of the law during his long career in the federal judiciary.”
Birmingham made it clear that although Wanger withdrew from the current case, “We hope to work with him on other issues in the future.”
Wanger’s decision to represent Westlands, the largest water district in the U.S., in the case was met with outrage by environmentalists, Indian Tribes, fishermen, Delta residents and environmental justice advocates that are working to restore Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. After a series of editorials appeared in mainstream and alternative media throughout the state, Wanger and his law firm apparently decided to withdraw from the case.
A San Francisco Chronicle editorial on December 1 (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/01/EDP91M71BI.DTL), said Wanger’s “switch from jurist to courtroom litigant doesn’t appear to violate judicial rules. But it’s a disappointing mistake in judgment. It undercuts the credibility of his past rulings, and it’s another setback for the trust badly needed to work through issues of delta water flows, water rights and safeguards for jeopardized fish.”
Members of fishing organizations, environmental groups and Tribes celebrated Wanger’s decision, under political pressure, to back out from representing Westlands in the case as a victory.
“Wanger’s decision to withdraw is an inspiration to all of us who are attempting to influence public opinion through the media,” said Tom Stokely of the California Water Impact Network.
On August 25, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), Friends of the River, North Coast River Alliance, Save the American River Association and Winnemem Wintu Tribe filed their lawsuit against Westlands and its two water distribution districts over the renewal of six interim water service contracts.
The groups and Tribe say water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are a key reason for the dramatic decline of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, while Westlands claims the contracts are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The lawsuit asks for: “injunctive relief, restraining the defendant from carrying out the project; a writ of mandate, setting aside contract approval; and declaratory relief, declaring the contracts to be unlawful,” according to Bill Jennings, Executive Director/Chairman of CSPA.
“The environmental devastation wrought on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by Central Valley Project operations generally and Westlands’ diversions specifically has become patent in recent years,” the petition states. “The importation of over 1,000,000 acre feet of water from the Delta to Westlands has caused substantial harm to the Delta’s imperiled fisheries. Boron, selenium and salt pollution in the Delta originates in part from return flow discharged by Westlands and surrounding water contractors.”
Key fish species imperiled by Delta water exports and contaminated return flows include winter, spring and fall runs of Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and threadfin shad, according to the petition.
Westlands has a long history of opposing fish restoration on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and Trinity River. It has launched a series of lawsuits and has often used its political muscle at the state and federal level to lobby for for more water exports from the Delta and to strip Endangered Species Act protections for imperiled fish species. The district, located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, irrigates drainage-impaired land laced with boron, selenium and other salts.
danbacher 
by Dan Bacher
An unprecedented 240 environmental organizations, environmental justice groups, Native American Tribes, recreational angling organizations, commercial fishing groups and outdoor businesses sent a letter on November 16 to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird urging them rescind a controversial Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).
The state-federal BDCP aims to build a peripheral canal or tunnel to export more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to corporate agribusiness and Southern California. Delta advocates believe it would lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other imperiled species ravaged by record water exports from 2003 to 2006 and in 2011.
The list of logos of organizations, tribes and businesses signing the letter alone is six pages long. This letter features probably the most extensive, diverse list of organizations ever mobilized in defense of our fish populations and waterways in California history.
For example, Tribes signing the letter include the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Karuk Tribe and Modoc Nation. Environmental groups signing the letter include the Environmental Water Caucus, Sierra Club, Friends of the River, Restore the Delta, Save the American Association, Planning and Conservation League, California Water Impact Network, North Coast Environmental Center, and Environmental Protection Information Center.
Commercial fishing groups include the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fisherman’s Association and Half Moon Bay Trollers Association. Recreational angling groups and businesses include Water for Fish, the Golden Gate Salmon Association, Coastside Fishing Club, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Northern California Council Federation of Fly Fishers, California Striped Bass Association, Black Bass Action Commitee, Kokanee Power and the Fish Sniffer magazine. And these organizations are just a fraction of the 242 featured on the letter.
The groups wrote, “The MOA was negotiated behind closed doors and only serves to reinforce the growing awareness that the BDCP is biased in favor of the export water contractor’s agenda to increase exports from the Delta and its connected rivers, despite the documented negative impacts those exports have had on endangered fish species, Delta habitats, water quality and public trust values. Our concerns are similar to the October 24 letter you received from Congressmen Miller, Thompson, Matsui, McNerney, and Garamendi on the same subject.” (http://www.c-win.org/content/dan-bacher-california-representatives-slam-closed-door-bay-delta-process.html)
“We understand that MOAs are a regular aspect of the HCP and NCCP process. Nevertheless, this MOA makes unacceptable concessions to the exporters’ substantive agenda to influence the analytic process, extends no surprises guarantees to contractors in clear conflict with current law, and elevates the contractors to the status of permit holders for public works projects owned and operated by state and federal agencies,” the letter continued.
“We are deeply disappointed that the Obama and Brown Administrations have acquiesced to the export contractors’ efforts to twist what should have been a straightforward financing agreement for planning into a negotiation vehicle to successfully secure unprecedented influence over the HCP/NCCP process,” the letter states.
The letter concludes, “We request that you rescind this biased and unjustified MOA and prepare a new agreement that fairly includes the interests of all parties, including NGO’s, Delta residents, farming and business organizations, environmental justice groups, recreational and commercial fishing organizations, and Native American Tribes. In the absence of such a fundamental rewrite, the undersigned organizations have little alternative but to oppose continuance of the BDCP process.
Bill Jennings from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Tom Stokely of the California Water Impact Network, Dick Pool from Water for Fish and the Golden Gate Salmon Association, Mark Rockwell of the Endangered Species Coalition, and Nick Di Croce and David Nesmith from the Environmental Water Caucus were instrumental in obtaining the 242 signatories to the letter. Credit must go to Bill Jennings for masterminding the sign-ons for this amazing achievement.
In addition to the unified group letter, organizations also send letters of their own to oppose the state-federal plan to build the canal.
“This agreement corrupts the entire Bay Delta Conservation Plan and assures that there will only be one result of that plan – the export of additional water to the agricultural and Southern California interests at the expense of the water needs of the salmon, the Delta environment and every other water user in California,” wrote Dick Pool, President of Water for Fish.
“You are destroying any pretense of an open and transparent process that includes the interests of all the concerned parties including the salmon fishing industry. By doing this, it is our belief you are setting the stage for the extinction of the Central Valley salmon. By their past actions, it is very clear that the water exporters are unwilling to give up the water that salmon need to survive. You are giving them the power to destroy the salmon and 23,000 jobs in the industry,” Pool concluded.
danbacher Photo of Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), speaking before a crowd of over 350 people as DFG biologists Stafford Lehr (middle) and Marty Gingras (right) listen.
by Dan Bacher
It is rare that a group of anglers find consensus on any issue. It can be said that if you have 10 anglers in a room, you will find 20 opinions.
However, over 350 anglers and members of the public who showed up at the Department of Fish and Game “public workshop” in Rio Vista on the night of Tuesday, November 8 made it very clear – they unanimously oppose the new regulations to dramatically increase size and bag limits for striped bass in California.
The proposal would raise the daily bag limit for striped bass from two to six fish, raise the possession limit from two to 12 fish, lower the minimum size from 18 to 12 inches and establish a striper “hot spot” in the South Delta where anglers can possess up to 40 fish.
The proposal is the result of a court settlement of a lawsuit between the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, an agribusiness “Astroturf” group representing San Joaquin Valley corporate growers. This group is housed in Stewart Resnick’s headquarters for Paramount Farms in Kern County. Resnick is the politically connected Beverly Hills billionaire and largest tree fruit grower in the world who has made tens of millions of dollars annually from buying and reselling water back to the state for a big profit.
Stafford Lehr, chief of the DFG Fisheries Branch, and Marty Gingras, supervising fisheries biologist, gave a power point presentation explaining the proposed regulations, their rationale and the time table for their proposed adoption, including a series of public meetings. “This is part of a settlement that mandates us to create a proposal for striped bass regulations,” said Lehr.
He said that the Fish And Game Commission in 1996 adopted a policy goal of increasing the striper population in the Bay-Delta estuary to 3 million adults. As a result of ESA concerns and the settlement, the agency has to now balance striped bass management with the need to preserve listed species. “The data indicates that the existing striped bass population won’t collapse with these regulations,” he noted.
While the charts displayed in the presentation showed what striped bass ate back in 1967, the DFG disclosed no new data documenting alleged striped bass “predation” of Delta smelt and ESA listed salmon.
“The reason why we don’t find Delta smelt in the guts of the striped bass that we examine is because the smelt are so rare now,” said Gingras. “There are an estimated 600,000 striped bass in the system and miniscule numbers of smelt. Plus the striped bass digest their food fast.”
Anglers urge DFG to focus on curbing water exports
After the biologists made their presentation, Bob Boucke, owner of Johnson’s Bait and Tackle in Yuba City, was the first one to speak in opposition to the proposal. He urged the DFG, rather than trying to eradicate stripers, to instead focus on the real problem – stopping the massive carnage of Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and striped bass themselves that takes place in the Delta export pumping facilities.
“The stripers have been here 130 years and they have gotten along with the Delta smelt and the salmon all of that time until they started pumping all this water down there,” said Boucke. “That’s when the whole problem started. And yet Fish and Game doesn’t want to do anything about the water problem, but they want to ruin our striper fishing. There is nothing wrong with the stripers the way they are.”
“If you do this, you will run every bait and tackle store out of business from Chico to san Francisco,” explained Boucke.
One speaker after another echoed Boucke’s message that the state and federal pumps that have exported record amounts of Delta water to corporate agribusiness and southern California are the key factor behind the declines of salmon, smelt and other fish – not striped bass “predation.
I asked Lehr and Gingras for their reaction to the statement by renowned fishery scientists Dr. Peter B. Moyle and Dr. William A. Bennett, Center for Watershed Sciences, that decreasing the population of striped bass could possibly have a negative impact upon salmon and smelt by changing “basic ecosystem processes.”
According to a letter by Moyle and Bennett to the Fish and Game Commission on August 26, 2010, “Reducing the striped bass population may or may not have a desirable effect (http://calsport.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Moyle-and-Bennett-to-CFGC-20100826.pdf). In our opinion, it is most likely to have a negative effect. While the ultimate cause of death of most fish may be predation, the contribution of striped bass to fish declines is not certain. By messing with a dominant predator(if indeed it is), the agencies are inadvertently playing roulette with basic ecosystem processes that can change in unexpected ways in response to reducing striped bass numbers.”
Lehr responded to me, “That’s a good question.” He admitted that the impact of reducing striped bass’s impact was uncertain – and that basic ecosystem principles dictate that something will fill the niche of a fish like the striped bass in the food chain as their numbers decline.
No evidence for stripers causing salmon and Delta smelt decline
Jay Sorenson, founder of the California Striped Bass Association, exposed the absurdity of blaming stripers for salmon and smelt declines when the massive Delta pumps, not striped bass predation, are the key reason for the collapse of listed fish species.
“In 67 years of fishing, I’ve caught and released thousands of stripers and I’ve also kept many stripers to eat,” said Sorenson. “However, I’ve only found one salmon in the stomach cavity of a striper among all of the fish that I’ve cleaned.”
“I hope that we will see the stripers around for future generations so that young people will enjoy what I have experienced on the Delta,” he concluded.
Roger Mammon, Restore the Delta Board Member, said, “If you’re so concerned about the Delta smelt and salmon, why doesn’t the state quit exporting so much water out of the Delta?”
Lehr responded, “There is no way I can answer that question here, but I will bring it to the attention of Charles Bonhan, DFG Director, tomorrow.”
It’s time to take our government back from the water contractors
Dawn Gulick, owner of Eddo’s Harbor, echoing the theme of the Occupy Wall Street protests taking place throughout the country, said Stewart Resnick and the big water contractors were waging “class war” against the people of the Delta.
“This is a class war and they’re winning,” she stated, followed by a person next to her shouting, “Occupy the Delta!” Others joined in shouting, “Occupy the Delta.”
“It’s our Delta. Big Money has big influence over our government and it’s time to take our government back!” she continued as people in the crowd applauded.
The proposal was released at a time when the Obama and Brown administrations, in spite of massive opposition, are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal or tunnel to export more Delta water to corporate agribusiness and southern California. The peripheral canal, a controversial plan to divert water from the Sacramento River in the North Delta rather from the existing pumps in the South Delta, came up during the workshop when Gingras responded to a question why state-of-the art fish screens hadn’t been installed at the Delta pumps, as mandated under the CalFed Record of Decision.
Neither Gingras or Lehr were able to answer this question. However, Gingras, appearing to endorse the concept of the peripheral canal, claimed, “If we take water out of the Sacramento River, we won’t have to continue the trap and truck system of salvaging fish and we won’t have the same problems with the fish screens we have now.”
“I don’t want to deal with the peripheral canal at this workshop,” Lehr noted.
Delta pumps create ‘dining halls’
Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), explained how CSPA, the Northern California Council Federation of Fly Fishers (NCCFFF) and the California Striped Bass Association (CSBA), as well as Delta water agencies, intervened in the lawsuit in support of DFG, but DFG caved and cut a deal. CSPA, NCCFFF, CSBA and the Delta agencies opposed and refused to sign the settlement agreement
“CSPA was looking forward to trial because the evidence in the record did not support the conclusion that striped bass predation caused population level effects on salmon and smelt,” said Jennings. “We felt that the predation that does occur would be pinned on the state and federal project facilities on the Delta.”
“These pumps create dining halls that invite the fish in,” said Jennings. “Now the state wants to execute the fish for entering the dining halls they created!”
Jennings emphasized that if the Fish and Game Commission refuses to adopt the striped bass proposal, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta must drop the lawsuit.
Sep Hendrickson, host of the California Sportsman Radio Show, urged everybody in the room to deluge the Fish and Game Commission with letters opposing the striped bass proposal. “If you don’t all stand up now against this proposal, the water contractors will roll over us!”
Cal Kellogg, Fish Sniffer Magazine Editor, shot this video covering the DFG meeting. Please watch this video and join the two organizations, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (http://www.calsport.org) and California Striped Bass Asssociation (http://www.striper-csba.com), listed at the end!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcwfUHHtr0A&feature=sharewww.youtube.com
Urgent Action Alert!
Send letters opposing the DFG’s striped bass proposal to:
California Fish and Game Commission
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, CA 94244-2090
Phone: (916) 653-4899
Fax Number: (916) 653-5040
E-Mail to Submit Comments on Proposed Regulations: fgc [at] fgc.ca.gov.
For more information about upcoming Fish and Game Commission meetings, go to: http://www.fgc.ca.gov.
DFG Striped Bass Proposal
The basic proposed changes are as follows:
Raising the daily bag limit for striped bass from two to six fish.
Raising the possession limit for striped bass from two to 12 fish.
Lowering the minimum size for striped bass from 18 to 12 inches.
Establishing a “hot spot” for striped bass fishing at Clifton Court Forebay and specified adjacent waterways at which the daily bag limit will be 20 fish, the possession limit will be 40 fish and there will be no size limit. Anglers fishing at the hot spot would be required to fill out a report card and deposit it in an iron ranger or similar receptacle.
Changes to the sport fishing regulations for the Carmel, Pajaro and Salinas Rivers to allow harvest of striped bass when the fishery would otherwise be closed.
DFG is also recommending an adaptive management plan that will help assess how the new regulations influence the fishery.
The proposal and management plan will be presented to the Fish and Game Commission for consideration at its December meeting.
For more information about the DFG’s draft striped bass proposal and upcoming workshops and meeting, go to: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news.
