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CSPA's Mike Jackson Speaks Out!

ISE Salmon And Steelhead Panel: Act Now Or Lose Our Fisheries!

by Dan Bacher, editor of the FishSniffer

January 23, 2009 -- Unless anglers and the public wholeheartedly join the effort to save California salmon and Delta fisheries now, they will see these fisheries disappear within five years, urged Michael Jackson, attorney for the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).

CSPA, together with the California Water Impact Network and other groups, is engaged in a series of lawsuits to achieve these goals. In November 2008, Jackson filed notice of a landmark "wasteful use" suit against the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation asking the court to curtail water exports from the Delta.

"We're going to sue everything that moves," Jackson quipped. "We need everybody that fishes and sells boats and fishing gear to rally to our cause because otherwise there will be no fish left."

"Management of fisheries by the courts is not the best way to proceed in the long term, but is absolutely necessary in the short term if the species are to survive," said Jackson. "Therefore, if the state and federal governments fail to obey the laws, we have no recourse."

CSPA needs your help in funding these suits. You can help by going to the CSPA website, www.calsport.org and become a CSPA member. Contributions can be sent via Paypal or by printing the membership form and mailing it in.

Jackson appeared as part of a panel of fishing, biological and environmental experts convened at the ISE at Cal Expo to discuss, "Salmon: Extinction Or Recovery: the uncertain outlook for salmon and steelhead in California." A press conference took place at 12:00 noon, followed by a public presentation at 1 p.m. moderated by Sep Hendrickson, host of California Sportsmen Radio.

The other panelists beside Jackson were Dr. Joshua A. Israel, UC Davis State of the Salmon Team; Barry Nelson, Water Policy Director, Natural Resources Defense Council; Assemblyman Jared Huffman, Chair, Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife Committee; Zeke Grader, Executive Director, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations; and Dick Pool, Administrator, Water4Fish Program.

Dr. Joshua Israel, part of the prestigious team of fishery researchers led by Dr. Peter Moyle at U.C. Davis, has spent the last two years in a study commissioned by California Trout to analyze the current conditions of the 31 remaining species of salmon, steelhead and trout in California. He said that many of these species may go extinct unless the federal and state government agencies are forced to act.

"Unless society makes substantial changes in river flow management and estuarine habitat conditions for salmon and steelhead in the near future, two-thirds of the runs are headed for extinction," said Israel. "The extinctions include three runs of Sacramento River Chinook and one run of Klamath River Chinook that have been the backbone of the California recreational and commercial salmon fishery. Every citizen and leader of California needs to do more to avoid this extinction crisis so our families and communities can benefit from a resilient environment and reliable water."

Among the solutions to declines he recommended are providing passage for salmon and steelhead above dams, reforming hatchery practices to reduce impacts upon wild salmon and steelhead, selective harvesting of hatchery fish by the adoption of marking programs, and large scale ecosystem preservation to reconnect populations.

Barry Nelson, Water Policy Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), discussed the comprehensive study, "Fish Out of Water," showing how California can recover its salmon and also meet its water needs for several decades.

"The salmon and steelhead decline is not just an environmental disaster, but a human disaster," he emphasized. "They're an iconic fish, a valuable commercial and recreational fishery, and a keystone species that can help us manage our water and rivers in a more sustainable way. If we invest properly, in alternative water supplies - what we call the "virtual river" - we can develop enough water to meet our future water needs and leave more water in our rivers."

Zeke Grader, executive director of PCFFA, noted that the state and federal governments over the past forty years have developed plans for recovery that were in reality "just lists," with no prioritization of actions. In his talk, "The Elements of Success," he compared restoring salmon and steelhead to building a house, where the foundation, water, has to be built first.

"When you build a house, you don't start by putting in a fancy dishwasher, you lay the foundation first," said Grader. "The foundation of a recovery plan is water. We need to first fix the Delta Estuary and that requires fresh water - what we have now is a dying estuary. The same thing is true in the Klamath river and every stream along the coast."

"Fish don't swim in processes," said Grader. "They swim in water."

He also urged strong opposition by sportsmen and the public to the peripheral canal and any new dams. He recommended the promotion of self-sufficiency by water districts, sustainable groundwater management and environmentally sound desalinization facilities as solution to the current "water crisis."

Assemblyman Jared Huffman, a recreational angler who now chairs the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee that has oversight over legislation affecting the state's fisheries, emphasized that salmon and steelhead restoration is very achievable if anglers, environmentalists and others rise to the challenge now.

"Can we bring the salmon back?" he said. "Yes, we can! It was in a sports show like this that I caught my first-ever fish, a trout."

Huffman pinpointed the operation of the Delta pumps and the lack of cold water resulting from upstream dam operations as the key factors in the current fishery collapse. Not only are salmon and steelhead impacted by the current operation of the pumps, but export pumping has spurred a simultaneous decline of other species including threadfin shad, delta smelt, longfin smelt and striped bass.

"The system has failed and we can't continue business as usual," stated Huffman. "However, I think that critical masses of stakeholders are starting to get it."

He said that water management policies and practices must change in order for California to meet the various competing demands.

"We clearly face a growing crisis in the salmon, steelhead and trout populations of California," said Huffman. "We also face a crisis in allocating and managing the water deliveries of California to sustain our population growth and our economy. Unfortunately, the legislature and the governor have been unable to develop a consensus on how to do this job. We want to solve the problems and I am dedicated to see that we do not leave out the needs of fish and the industries they support."

Dick Pool, administrator of Water for Fish, finished the presentation by urging anglers to join the growing coalition of recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, fishing businesses, environmental groups and Indian Tribes now fighting for salmon and steelhead restoration.

"So far we are losing the battle to protect salmon and steelhead," said Pool. "The water people have been in control and the fish are the losers. Fishermen and wildlife supporters are currently not players in the political process. We are ignored. Our only recourse is to get more politically involved and get organized."

The Pelagic Organism Decline Continues

The decline of salmon and steelhead in Central Valley rivers occurs within the context of the pelagic (open water) organism decline in the California since 2005. The fall 2008 midwater trawl survey by the California Department of Fish and Game documented a record low abundance of delta smelt, American shad, threadfin shad and Sacramento spittail, as well as alarmingly low levels of longfin smelt and juvenile striped bass.

The three major causes of the dramatic decline pinpointed by state and federal scientists are increased water exports out of the Delta, toxics and invasive species. Meanwhile, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein are campaigning for a peripheral canal and more dams that would only exacerbate the deplorable state of Central Valley salmon and steelhead and Delta pelagic fish species by exporting more water out of the imperiled estuary.