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November 22, 2008             Headlines:: Commission Redues Water Exports

FISH STOCKING PROGRAM WILL CONTINUE FOLLOWING COURT ORDER

From the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance:


November 2008 -- SACRAMENTO – An order today signed by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette will allow the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to stock more waters than would have been allowed under his Nov. 6 tentative ruling. The order is a result of weeks of negotiation among DFG, and the Pacific Rivers Council and Center for Biological Diversity, along with their counsel Stanford Legal Clinic.

“DFG fought hard in the negotiations to save its fish stocking programs,” said DFG Director Donald Koch. “We are pleased that the order allows us to continue stocking in a number of areas where the communities depend on fishing.”

The order, with some exceptions, has a broad prohibition against DFG stocking “nonnative” fish in “any California fresh water body” where surveys have demonstrated the presence of 25 specified amphibian or fish species or where a survey for those species has not yet been done. The order does not address the stocking of native fish into native waters.

The order lists exceptions to the prohibition regarding stocking nonnative fish, which include:

Stocking in human-made reservoirs larger than 1000 acres.

Stocking in human-made reservoirs less than 1000 acres that are not connected to a river or stream, or are not within red legged frog critical habitat or where red legged frogs are known to exist.

Stocking as required as state or federal mitigation.

Stocking for the purpose of enhancing salmon and steelhead populations and funded by the Commercial Trollers Salmon Stamp.

Stocking of steelhead from the Mad River Hatchery into the Mad River Basin.

DFG’s Aquarium in the Classroom program.

Stocking actions to support scientific research.

Stocking done pursuant to an existing private stocking permit or to be done under a new permit with terms similar to one that was issued in the last four years.

DFG is preparing a list of waters where stocking will cease based on these parameters. It will be available on the DFG Web site early next week.

In October 2006, Pacific Rivers Council and Center for Biological Diversity, represented by Stanford Law students, sued DFG over fish stocking programs it has engaged in for more than 100 years, claiming that no Environmental Impact Report (EIR) had been completed for the programs. The result of the case was a court order requiring DFG to complete an EIR. DFG is engaged in the years-long and multimillion dollar EIR process, now scheduled to be completed in January 2010.

Due to delays in the EIR process, which involves combining the EIR with a federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), on Friday, Nov. 7 Judge Marlette told the department to negotiate with the petitioners to seek an agreement on terms for how and where DFG may continue stocking fish during the time it is preparing the EIR/EIS.
 


Fish and Game Commission votes to reduce water exports
November 14, 2008
California fish and wildlife managers approved major new restrictions on water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect a native fish, triggering protests from farmers and cities reeling already from water shortages.
The Fish and Game Commission voted 3-0 Friday to enact emergency regulations to scale back water pumping for 90 days starting on Dec. 1 to safeguard the longfin smelt, considered a bellwether species for the estuary.
"Clearly as a society we haven't erred on the side of the fish in the past, we've erred on the side of the water supply," said Commissioner Michael Sutton. "We have to come down on the side of the fish. If we don't take care of these ecosystems, they're not going to yield us the services for much longer."
The latest round of pumping cutbacks will slash state and federal water deliveries by up to 1.1 million acre feet, bringing California's total water supply to slightly more than half of what it would be in an average year.
That's in addition to recent water cutbacks imposed by the state Department of Water Resources, which plans to deliver just 15 percent of the amount that local water agencies request every year.
The combination "could create a water supply and delivery crisis the likes of which Californians have not seen in decades," warned Director Lester Snow in a statement.
 


State of Bay-Delta Science Book, Fact or Fiction?
by Dan Bacher

October 23, 1008 -- The CAL-FED "Science" Program yesterday published a book, the "State of Bay-Delta Science, 2008," summarizing the "new knowledge" gleaned from eight years of CAL-FED science research into water supply and water quality, ecosystems and levee fragility in the California Delta. 

For those not familiar with CAL-FED, it is the joint-state federal agency, formed after a "Water Summit" by the state and federal governments in Sacramento in 1994, that has presided over the dramatic decline of Central Valley chinook salmon, Delta smelt, green sturgeon, white sturgeon, striped bass, threadfin shad and other fish in the California Delta-San Francisco Bay Estuary.  

Those of us aware of the numerous examples of political manipulation of science to serve corporate agribusiness and water developers under the Schwarzenegger and Bush administrations have become very wary of "political science" masquerading as "natural science" in reports such as this one. For example, the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, a supposedly "independent" body appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, released a report last week advocating the construction of a peripheral canal and more dams to "restore" Delta fisheries, even though they would certainly further imperil collapsing populations of Central Valley chinook salmon and Delta fish. 

The CAL-FED publication was released on the eve of the  5th Biennial CALFED Science Conference, initiating the gathering of 1,200 San Francisco  Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta scientists, managers and policy makers at the Sacramento Convention Center, according to a CAL-FED news release.

“This is a landmark publication summarizing our current understanding of the Delta by the most  knowledgeable experts on the estuary,” claimed Cliff Dahm, CALFED Lead Scientist.  “I envision this as a go-to book for managers and policy makers, as well as interested members of the public that are working to gain a better understanding through science of forces at work in  the Delta."

The effort was led by Michael Healey, a former CALFED Lead Scientist and Science Advisor to the  Governor’s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force. 

One of the key findings, in an apparent attempt by "political biologists" to exonerate the Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations from their role in engineering the Pelagic Organism Decline, as well as the collapse of Central Valley salmon populations, appears to dismiss water exports as a primary cause for the unprecedented fishery collapse.

" Since 2001, both public and scientific attention has focused on the unexpected decline of several open-water fishes (delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass, and threadfin shad)," the report claims. "It is clear that export pumping is only one of several factors contributing to the decline. Other factors include changes in food supply, loss of habitat and toxic chemicals. (Chapter 4).

Other "key findings" include:
• The Delta of tomorrow will be very different than it is today. Intensifying forces of change, such as land subsidence, rising sea level, species invasions, earthquakes and regional population growth, virtually guarantee that current land and water use in the Delta cannot be sustained. (Chapter 1).

• The largest estuary in western North America, the Bay-Delta is a system of extremes. Discharge from tributary rivers varies more from year to year than other large western rivers, such as the Columbia or Colorado. (Chapter 2) 
• Many toxic chemicals are a concern in the Delta. Organisms can often be affected by very low concentrations of contaminants. Effects can be magnified though concentration up the food chain or synergistic effects of mixtures. (Chapter 3)

• With climate change, California will become warmer, more precipitation will fall as rain and less as snow, the snowpack will be much reduced, and there will be less groundwater recharge. These changes will challenge the capacity of California’s water management system to provide reliable, high-quality water to satisfy human and environmental needs. (Chapter 6) 

Other areas of the book deal with Delta history, science, geophysics, water quality and supply, aquatic ecosystems, levees, climate change, policy development and some themes that are crosscutting across areas and issues. 

In addition to Healey, other editors of the publication are Michael D. Dettinger, Research Hydrologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; and Robert B. Norgaard, Professor of Energy and Resources at the University of California, Berkeley. Darcy Jones and Jana Machula of the CALFED Science Program were managing editors.  

The conference features seminars on the Pelagic Organism Decline - the dramatic decline of Delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad and juvenile striped bass in recent years. The event will also offer sessions about salmon management and ecology. 

Ironically, as these presentations are being made, our public trust fisheries continue to collapse. CAL-FED, a joint federal-state agency, has spent millions and millions of dollars on scientific studies, conferences and "restoration" programs, but has been a dismal failure to date. 

The reason for its failure is that the state and federal governments have constantly resisted taking the drastic measures needed to restore salmon and other fish populations, including dramatically reducing water exports from the California Delta and taking drainage impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley out of production. The CAL-FED Process to date has produced nothing but the collapse of Central Valley salmon fisheries and the Bay-Delta ecosystem. 

The CAL-FED process has been an elitist process where the people most impacted by fishery declines - recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and California Indian Tribes - have been excluded from the decision making process. Meanwhile, those who have presided over the destruction of public trust fish populations - the Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Resources - have completely bent over to serve the needs of corporate agribusiness and the state water contractors. 

Although I think there is some good information available at conferences like this, the problem is that there are lot of agency people and consultants making good salaries incessantly "studying the issue," often with apparently pre-determined conclusions, while failing to stop the decline. The state and federal governments have set up a de-facto "restoration industry," in cooperation with some corporate funded NGO's, that extracts millions of dollars from the taxpayers with fishery collapses the only concrete result!  

Patrick Porgans, independent natural resources consultant in Sacramento, often refers to CAL-FED as "CAL FED UP." This is an appropriate term to describe his and my view of the agency that has squandered millions of the taxpayers money, with only unprecedented fishery collapses to show for all of the money spent!

Copies of the The State of Bay-Delta Science, 2008, will be available to attendees of the CALFED Science Conference October 22-24, at the Sacramento Convention Center, or beginning October 22 on the CALFED website. Hard copies are available by contacting Rhonda Hoover-Flores at rhondah [at] calwater.ca.govhttp://www.science.calwater.ca.gov/pdf/publications/sbds/sbds_2008_final_report_101508.pdf


Water4Fish October 2008 Newsletter
2009 Salmon Season Outlook

Most of the fall run salmon have now returned from the ocean to the Sacramento River and its tributaries. The news is mixed but is mainly bad for a 2009 fishing season. At the end of September, 2,700 fall run salmon had passed through the weir counter at the entrance to Battle Creek in the upper Sacramento River. Last year at the same date 6,500 had passed and as recently as 2003, 25,000 had passed. Hopefully, the run is just late but the figures are disturbing particularly since there was no fishing season this year. Jack counts are also low. As of October 6th, Coleman hatchery had 3,000 fish in its holding pond. They will immediately start spawning these fish. Coleman needs approximately 10,000 fish to make its egg quota. More data on the final run size will be available by the end of October..

Cal Trout and Water4Fish Cooperate

In a move to strengthen the impact of both organizations, Cal Trout and Water4Fish have entered a cooperative promotional program. Cal Trout is asking its members to log onto Water4Fish and send political letters. Water4Fish will highlight several of the key Cal Trout objectives including their comprehensive statewide salmon, trout and steelhead report coming out in November. Log on and join Cal Trout at http://www.caltrout.org The truth is, if we are going to turn the fisheries around, we need to support every active fishery group in the state.
Please Help, We Are Gaining but Need More Angler Support
Thank you for your Water4Fish support. 62,000 supporters have already gone on line at Water4Fish and asked for water policy changes but we need thousands more before we can move the political needle firmly in our direction. Unfortunately, fish in California continue to get the short end of the stick in water policy decisions. The drought and the emergency water declarations by the Governor are taking a huge toll on the runs of salmon, steelhead and striped bass. In the past year, almost nothing positive has taken place that will help these species recover other than court actions. We are being ignored by the Governor, the Legislature and the Bush Administration. Water4Fish is the only place where all fishermen and supporters can unite to demand change. Please ask your friends and associates to go online to Water4Fish.org and send letters to the politicians and give us their proxy as a constituent. Forward this email to others or send an email to mailto action@water4Fish.org and ask us to send you one of our email flyers you can then forward to others.

Lucky Strike Charters to Run Water4Fish Fundraiser

The week of November 15th - 22nd, Captain Kevin Yost of Lucky Strike Charters will run a Water4Fish fundraiser. Water4Fish will receive a donation for every sturgeon landed that week. He will run two trips per day. To book a trip
and help, call (707) 301-8050

Salmon Fishery Groups Meet with the National Marine Fishery Service

In September, recreational and commercial fishery groups met with leaders of the National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) in Sacramento to discuss the California salmon crisis and actions the agency is taking to restore the salmon and steelhead runs. The stakeholder group included commercial and recreational fishermen, fishery conservation groups and fishing businesses. They represented over 250,000 fishermen and supporters and over 1,000 businesses with a California economic contribution of over $1 billion.

NMFS has the federal authority and responsibility to protect and recover all marine species that are listed under the Endangered Species Act. It is the agency that has the most authority to protect endangered salmon and steelhead. It has failed to do this in the last several years and the federal court has rejected their biological opinions on delta pumping as inadequate to protect salmon. Pumping has been reduced and NMFS has been ordered to produce new biological opinions. In addition, the agency has the responsibility to produce a salmon recovery plan. These opinions and plans were the subject of the meeting. Following the NMFS presentations, a number of the fishery participants expressed serious concerns that the agency's actions would be too little and too late to restore the salmon runs. The stakeholders requested several actions by the agency.

1. Adopt the salmon doubling goals required by state and federal law and
lay plans to achieve them. In salmon production terms, doubling means laying plans that will allow 15 to 20 million pounds of commercial catch along with a parallel recreational catch.

2. Change their current salmon recovery project list to a full plan with
priorities and steps along with a financing proposal that the stakeholders can support.

3. Focus more on the real causes of the decline. Set plans that will
reduce the amount of water taken out of the delta and reduce its pollution.

4. Improve enforcement of illegal water movements and diversions.

5. Stop focusing on compromises and bring the agencys full focus on the
needs of fish. Use the unique position of the agency and its bully pulpit ability to get positive results for fish.

Mr. Rod McInnis, the Regional Director for NMFS responded to each of these requests and indicated the agency will try to be responsive within the limits of its authority. A follow up meeting will be held in December.

Thanks for your continuing support
Dick Pool - Editor


Fishery Groups Take Aim at Lawsuit Filed by Central Valley Water Users: Lawsuit Blaming Striped Bass Called ‘Ridiculous’ and ‘Desperate’ 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Aug 27, 2008 -- A coalition of Central Valley water agencies that import water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta re-filed a lawsuit that attempts to blame the beleaguered striped bass for the collapse of delta smelt and Central Valley Chinook salmon -- signaling their resolve to confuse the public and blame others for the decline of the Delta fisheries. 

Calling themselves the “Coalition for a Sustainable Delta,” the water groups first filed a lawsuit in January 2008 claiming that efforts by the California Fish and Game Commission and California Department Fish and Game to support the striped bass accelerated the demise of endangered salmon and smelt. U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger dismissed the complaint on July 24, 2008 because the Coalition lacked standing to bring the lawsuit. The coalition amended and re-filed their complaint on August 22, 2008. 

California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), one of three fishery groups who have intervened on behalf of the State. “The truth is that the massive increase in the diversion of water in recent years has accelerated the crash of the Delta fisheries. Although many factors such as pollution, urban development, and invasive species affect the Delta, excessive water diversion is the leading cause of the decline in the fisheries.” 

Experts also disagree with the Coalition’s premise for the lawsuit. “Delta smelt, salmon and striped bass have successfully co-existed in this ecosystem for more than a century. There is no evidence that recent population declines of either delta smelt or Chinook salmon resulted from predation by striped bass, whose numbers have also collapsed,” says Dr. Tina Swanson, a nationally recognized expert on the delta smelt who is affiliated with The Bay Institute. “In contrast, there is strong scientific evidence that dams, water diversions, pollution and the collapse of the planktonic food web in the upper estuary are harming all the fishes that rely on the Bay-Delta.” 

“Delta smelt and Chinook salmon have shown continuous, long term declines since the 1960s and 1970s when the state and federal water projects began exporting water—and striped bass have shown the same decline,” reinforced Doug Lovell, PE, an environmental engineer and a director with the Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers. “There has been no evidence of a classic predator-prey relationship. No reputable scientist has pinned the crash of smelt and salmon on the striped bass.” 

“Although they claim to care about the ecological health of the delta, the so-called ‘Coalition for a Sustainable Delta’ is most interested in maintaining their historic allotment of taxpayer subsidized water exports. Their efforts to blame striped bass are ridiculous and a desperate move,” says Gary Adams, vice president of the California Striped Bass Association. “We hope they will focus their attention on the real issues affecting the health of the Delta. Compared to the alleged striped bass predation issue, there are hundreds of more important issues affecting salmon and smelt in this once-great estuary,” he continued. 

The coalition’s revised claim to standing in this lawsuit will most certainly be challenged in court, but even if they are able to successfully establish standing, the merits of the case will still need to be argued, including the coalition’s novel application of the Federal Endangered Species Act. 

“I’m certain the Endangered Species Act was never designed to decimate an important recreational asset like the West Coast striped bass fishery and remove its status as a sport fish,” asserts Dan Blanton, a nationally recognized author, photographer, and fisherman who has plied the waters of the Bay and Delta for more than 30 years. “Yet, that’s exactly what will happen if the irrigators prevail in this lawsuit,” continues Blanton. 

The Central Valley water agencies admit the lawsuit is in response to Judge Wanger’s recent decisions to protect smelt and salmon by limiting water exports from the Delta. But blaming striped bass for the woes of Chinook salmon and delta smelt will not increase their irrigation allotment; it will only hurt the middle and lower income Californians who fish for striped bass, along with the local industries that support these recreational fishermen. “I hate to think of all the tackle shop owners, marinas, and fishing guides that will be unnecessarily harmed if the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta wins this suit,” states Blanton. 

“Blaming striped bass for the decline of endangered Bay-Delta fisheries is yet another devious plot of the water grabbers who comprise the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta. It is obvious the Coalition considers the striped bass to be a roadblock for claiming more northern water,” sums up Keith Fraser, owner of Loch Lomond Live Bait and Tackle and a fixture in the history of San Francisco Bay fishing. “They should put their effort s toward addressing the real problems that have adversely affected delta smelt and Chinook salmon. If the Coalition is successful in their greedy attack, it will signal the end of a great fishery for many individuals and families, and for many young and old anglers who love the thrill of catching a striped bass.”  


U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger has granted the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the California Striped Bass Association, and the Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly fishers the status of defendant interveners, supporting the State of California in this lawsuit. 

About the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance: CSPA is a public benefit conservation and research organization established in 1983 for the purpose of conserving, restoring and enhancing the state’s water quality and fishery resources and their aquatic ecosystems and associated riparian habitats. CSPA actively promotes the protection of water quality and fisheries throughout California. 

About the California Stripe d Bass Association: CSBA is a non-profit organization working to preserve, conserve and enhance striped bass while promoting recreational sport fishing, environmental awareness and good fellowship. Founded in 1974 with a Chapter in Stockton, California, CSBA is one of the largest and most active fishing clubs in California’s Central Valley, and one of the oldest fresh-water fishing clubs in the state. 

About the Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers: NCCFFF is the California affiliate of the Federation of Fly Fishers, a 43-year old international non-profit organization dedicated to the betterment of the sport of fly fishing through conservation, restoration and education. In California, these efforts focus on advocating for wise stewardship of our rivers, streams, lakes and other water resources and the fisheries that occupy them.


Fisheries Service Finds Three Pesticides Imperil West Coast Salmon

Seattle, WA -- A new draft biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service has found that three commonly-used agricultural pesticides are increasing the chance of extinction for 28 different threatened and endangered salmon stocks. The assessment by the federal fisheries service reverses earlier assurances from the EPA that the three poisons pose either no or minimal threat to protected salmon stocks.

NMFS found "overwhelming evidence" that three pesticides -- chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion -- interfere with the ability of salmon to swim, find food, reproduce, and escape bigger fish trying to eat them. If these pesticides are used as currently authorized, they are "likely to jeopardize the continued existence" of all 28 threatened and endangered salmon populations, the 377- page assessment concludes.

The assessment was completed as a result of several years of legal wrangling by Earthjustice attorneys. Back in January 2001, Earthjustice first went to court to force EPA to protect salmon in the Pacific Northwest from 54 pesticides that EPA approved without checking with federal fish biologists, as required by the Endangered Species Act. As a result of that lawsuit, a federal court ordered EPA to consult with federal fish biologists at NMFS on the impacts these pesticides have on salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest and California.

In 2007, Earthjustice filed a second lawsuit because the court-ordered consultations were never completed. As a result of a settlement reached in that second lawsuit, NMFS agreed to complete the long overdue assessments over a four-year period. The new assessment, released pursuant to that settlement agreement, represents the first time NMFS has evaluated large-scale impacts of pesticides on salmon. The assessment concludes that three of the most dangerous pesticides still on the market are "jeopardizing" salmon and steelhead stocks, a finding 180 degrees at odds with EPA's earlier conclusions.

The new NMFS assessment and EPA's total failure to catch this in their internal review, comes during the same week the Bush administration has proposed that all federal agencies be released from legal requirement to consult with federal wildlife scientists on many actions that affect endangered species.

"The federal government has just admitted that these three deadly poisons are washing off into our rivers and streams and harming west coast salmon runs and who knows what else," said Joshua Osborne-Klein, of Earthjustice. "The government says these poisons are increasing the risk of salmon extinction substantially. We need to find alternatives and act quickly to prevent these chemicals from reaching west coast rivers and streams.

"We got into this mess because the Bush administration's EPA refuses to take seriously the harm that pesticides pose to salmon. The biologists at the National Fisheries Management Service have now confirmed that EPA failed to acknowledge the true danger posed by these poisons. Earlier this week the Bush administration announced a set of proposed rules that would cut these all federal wildlife experts out of similar future decisions. They must think no one is noticing," he concluded.


Dusting Off the Soap Box
Fish & Game's Yellow Eye Numbers Don't Add Up
August 22

DFG is proposing to close the rockfish season north of Pt Arena on September 2nd. They announced this just yesterday Wednesday, August 19th for a meeting to be held just two days later in Trinidad on Friday, August 21st. We are guessing that with the late notice they are hoping that few angers will take notice and they won't have to deal with the public outcry. (I'm sorry but a two day notice from a public agency doesn't pass the smell test) They say the closure is "due to the incidental catch of yelloweye rockfish has reached 1.3 metric tons statewide out of a total of 2.1 metric tons allowed by the PFMC."
First off I will say I don't have any of the DFG harvest numbers in front of me but I am pretty confident that those numbers have been cooked like a crock of crap. Think Enron with a CDFG stamp of approval.

The majority of California incidental yelloweye rockfish catches are made north of Pt Arena and outside of 150 feet of water. With this season's 120 depth restrictions and unfishable spring weather one has to wonder "where and when were all of these yelloweye rockfish catches made??"
We have been running some of our own numbers, ones that will hold up to scrutiny. I have been in contact with several top operators out of Noyo, Eureka and Shelter Cove and we have been breaking down their trips by the numbers. We have also contacted the Shelter Cove launch ramp asking for their numbers of boats launched and the top party boat center in Fort Bragg for their boat's trip logs. We are still waiting for results and will add to the following list in the coming days.
First off the weather blew over 65% of the days from the May 1st opener through mid July and rockfish interest has only picked up for six pack and party boats north of San Francisco over the past six weeks.
We are also looking into finding a graph of the wind and swell data for May, June and July so if any of you weather freaks can work that angle for us that would be great and would save us some time. We want to put detailed weather data alongside F&Gs own harvest numbers. If they have recorded yelloweye harvested on days when the weather would make it impossible for even the largest boats to fish we could clearly show their numbers have been (like they have in the past) been out together by the PETA department of DFG
I asked captain Gary Blassi of Full Throttle Sportfishing to break down the months of May and June for us into: Number of days fished. Number of days that he canceled due to weather. Number of days spent rockfishing and the number of days spent halibut fishing.
All of these numbers are backed up by Gary's Fish and Game log book and his booking sheet. Since a log book has to be filled out daily prior to a boats return or the operator faces a huge fine we believe Gary's numbers would pass any audit.
For the entire months of May and June (61 days in total) Gary fished 16 days and canceled trips due to high winds on 36 days. (this past spring was one of the windiest in Central and Northern California in over a decade ). Of those 16 trips they targeted rockfish ONE day and halibut fished exclusively on 15 days. Gary says they have only released TWO yelloweye rockfish during the entire May through today August 19th season.
We have other six pack operators working to get their records together and will have reports from Trent of Shelter Cove Sportfishing, Phil of the six pack Shellback and another Eureka based six packs. We are also working on getting the number of days that the tractor launch in Shelter Cove has run and the number of private boats launched.
As far as Noyo harbor goes the Tigerfish has been moved and has not run a trip this season. We called the Noyo Sport Center and asked them to compile: number of trips and passengers they ran in 2007 verses 2008 and their estimate on the private boat pressure between this season and last.
I know that in Bodega Bay private boat rockfishing trips are probably off by at least 80% and that with the high price of gas private boater trips are down in the same range if not higher everywhere on the Lost coast.
Party boats out of the Golden Gate fleet didn't even start running rockfish trips until mid July and yelloweye inside of 120 feet are rare south of Pt Reyes. So again, I have to ask where and when were all these yelloweye caught??
I believe that once we see the F&G harvest numbers they will not add up to factual data brought forward by these private businesses log books. If they don't add up some hard questions need to be asked to the Fish and Game Commission at their next meeting.
We will be adding to this story all this coming week.  If any of you have some data to share please email us at fishsite@aol.com
Please use  a word format or a jpeg for any graphics.
Stay Tuned
Mike Aughney

DFG Proposes Change to 2008 Ocean Sportfishing Regulations from Point Arena to the Oregon Border
Public Meeting to be Held Aug. 21 in Trinidad, Calif.

 The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) today proposed closing the recreational fishery for rockfish, lingcod, cabezon and greenlings, beginning Sept. 2. If approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL), the closure, from Point Arena north to the Oregon border is expected to keep California's recreational yelloweye rockfish catches within the 2008 federal harvest guideline of 2.1 metric tons.

Keeping the rockfish season open could result in exceeding the yelloweye rockfish harvest guideline, said DFG Director Donald Koch.

While we are aware that a shortened season will affect sport anglers, we are also concerned that failure to take action at this time could jeopardize the future rebuilding of this important over-fished species.

DFG estimates that through Aug. 10, 2008 approximately 1.3 metric tons of yelloweye rockfish have already been incidentally taken in ocean fishing activities statewide this season. The 2008 season was originally slated to run through December in the Northern Management Area and through November in the North-Central Management Area North of Point Arena.

In 2007, the yelloweye rockfish stock assessment estimated the current biomass at only 16.4 percent of the historic population size. Under federal laws, any species with a biomass at or below 25 percent of its historic size is considered over-fished. Federal law requires that steps be taken to rebuild over-fished stocks within the shortest time practical, requiring management measures that minimize fishing impacts on these stocks.

A public meeting to discuss the proposed regulation change will be held Aug. 21, 2008 from 1-5 p.m. at the Trinidad Town Hall, at 409 Trinity Street, in Trinidad. DFG staff will be available to answer questions, accept public comments and discuss additional details concerning the need for this in-season action.

To institute the closure, DFG must adopt regulations that are then reviewed and approved by the OAL. Documents describing the need for the proposed action have been prepared by DFG staff and may be viewed on DFGs Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/inseason2008.asp. Written comments on the proposed action will be accepted by OAL f or a five day period commencing on the date the documents are posted on OALs Web site at:  http://www.oal.ca.gov/New_Emergency_Now.htm.

If the proposed changes are approved, beginning Sept. 2, 2008 the seasons and depth restrictions for boat-based anglers would be as follows:

Northern Management Area (Oregon border south to 40° 10' N. latitude near Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County):CLOSED Fishing for rockfish, cabezon, greenlings and lingcod would be closed to boat-based anglers beginning Sept 2, 2008.

North-Central Management Area North of Point Arena (40° 10'N. latitude near Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County to 38° 57.5'N. latitude, Point Arena in Mendocino County):CLOSED Fishing for rockfish, cabezon, greenlings and lingcod would be closed to boat-based anglers beginning Sept 2, 2008.

Regulations for all Management Areas south of 38° 57'N. latitude:
Seasons remain as defined in the California Marine Sportfishing Regulations for 2008 (sections 27.35-27.50). For more information about the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the federal agency responsible for setting harvest guidelines for groundfish, visit www.pcouncil.org.

For more information regarding recreational groundfish regulations and to stay informed of in-season regulation changes, call the Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulation Hotline at (831) 649-2801, or visit the DFG Marine Region Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/marine.


Bad News: Senate Votes Down AB 1806

The California Senate yesterday voted down Assemblywoman Lois Wolks's landmark delta restoration bill, AB 1806, to the great disappointment of fishing and environmental groups. 

Photo: AB 1806 would have stopped future fishery disasters like last year's Prospect Island fish kill from taking place by mandating the state and federal governments to develop fish rescue plans. Photo by Dan Bacher

by Dan Bacher 

Yesterday the California Senate failed to pass AB 1806, the landmark bill by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis) that would have required the state and federal Delta export pumping operations to fully mitigate for the damage they have caused to fisheries. 

The bill would have required fish rescue contingency plans in the event of future fishery disasters like the one that took place at Prospect Island in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in November 2007. During last year's fish kill, thousands of striped bass, Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento splittail, black bass, bluegill, catfish, threadfin shad and other species perished after the Bureau of Reclamation drained the island during a levee repair operation. 

"Unfortunately, they just lifted the call and AB 1806 failed passage on a vote of 18-21," said Diane Colborn, Staff Director for the Water Parks and Wildlife Committee. "Reconsideration was granted, but it does not look like we will be able to get the votes to get the bill off the Senate floor." 

Senator Florez also switched his vote from aye to no which brought it down to 18 votes. "We tried to lobby the members to get the last few votes, but unfortunately the fact that the bill went on call gave the opposition more time to lobby members to move into the no column," said Colborn. 

John Beuttler, Conservation Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), expressed disgust when he heard the final vote. Beuttler stated, "This bill was to be the beginning of the delta fishery restoration process and would have provided funds for the state's impacted salmon fishery. Its defeat is a slap in the face to California's commercial and recreational anglers." 

Beuttler worked with Wolk's office in the drafting of the bill and its introduction in the State Assembly. Once introduced, CSPA mounted a letter campaign at each stage of the bill's progress, in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, on the Assembly floor, at the Senate's Natural Resources & Wildlife Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee. Beuttler of CSPA and other fisheries representatives testified at many of the committee hearings. 

Richard Pool, owner of Pro-Troll and organizer of the Water 4 Fish campaign, was disappointed by the bill's defeat because it would have been a major step forward in the restoration of Central Valley salmon and steelhead and California Delta striped bass, delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, green sturgeon, white sturgeon, steelhead and other species. 

"We were counting on this bill as a funding mechanism for hundreds of projects needed to recover salmon," said Pool. "In spite of our successful efforts to move the bill through the Assembly and two Senate Committees, in the end we were outgunned by the intense lobbying of the water contractors and the administration. The bill is dead for this year." 

On a positive note, Pool said, "Do we give up? Absolutely not. We come back next year better organized and with all the additional grassroots firepower we can muster. We won’t give up until we get the funding for mitigation and fish recovery. If you are as mad as we are, take the action that will help the most - get everyone you know to sign onto Water4Fish.org. Click and send letters to the politicians and give us the powerful proxy ammunition we can use." 

The passage of this bill was particularly urgent in light of the closure of commercial and recreational salmon fishing in ocean waters off California and Oregon and recreational salmon fishing in Central Valley rivers this year, spurred by the collapse of Sacramento River fall chinook salmon populations. Although the Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations blame "ocean conditions" for the collapse, a coalition of fishing groups, Indian Tribes and conservationists points to huge increases in water exports and a decline in water quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as the major causes of the dramatic fishery decline. 

While Central Valley salmon populations are in a state of collapse, four Delta pelagic (open water) fish species - delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass and threadfin shad - have declined to their lowest record population levels. A team of state and federal scientists have pinpointed three major factors behind the decline: (1) increases in Delta water exports in recent years, (2) toxics and (3) invasive species. More recently, two scientific reports concluded that releases of high concentrations of ammonia in treated sewage water by the city of Sacramento may also be contributing to the decline. 

The legislation was supported by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers, the California Striped Bass Association, the Recreational Fishing Alliance, the Allied Fishing Groups, the American Sportfishing Association, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and many regional fishing organizations. The Planning and Conservation League, the National Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups are also backing the bill. 

The bill was opposed by a who’s who of corporate agriculture, including the Westlands Water District, Friant Water Authority, Kern County Water Agency, State Water Contractors, Inc. and the Valley Ag Coalition. The Alameda County Water District, Association of California Water Agencies, Santa Clara Valley Water District and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California also opposed the bill. 

The fishing and environmental groups did a great job of pounding the legislature with letter and phone calls in support of AB 1806. However, the Senators who voted against the bill apparently considered the power of big money to be more important than huge grassroots support for the measure by a broad coalition of organizations. 

“The death of tens of thousands of fish, including striped bass and other sportfish, could have been prevented with some basic planning," said Lois Wolk, after AB 1806 passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee intact without amendments on Thursday, August 7. "This bill is a strong first step towards preventing further losses to our state’s fisheries." 

Unfortunately, the majority of the Senate apparently believes that mitigation for the millions of salmon, steelhead, delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, striped bass killed by the operation of the Delta pumps every year is not needed. Shame on all of the Republicans and on the agribusiness-controlled Democrats like Florez that voted against the bill! 

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