West Coast Congressional Democrats Blast NMFS Over Salmon Losses

  by John Beuttler, Conservation Director, CSPA
May 21, 2008. During a House of Representative’s Hearing on May 15th,  West Coast Democrats took testimony on the collapse of Central Valley salmon stocks and berated the federal fishery agency that is charged with their protection. The National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS), an agency of the Department of Commerce, took it squarely on the chin for over ruling their biologists and rewriting Biological Opinions required by the Endangered Species Act that played a key role in letting the collapse happen. It seems the agency edited the opinion to permit significant increases in the amount of water that could be exported from the Delta. This, in turn, caused more Delta smelt and salmon smolts to be impacted by the water diversion with greater associated losses. Dick Pool with Water4Fish and Roger Thomas with the Golden Gate Fishermen’s Assoc., attended to represent California fishing interest and they did a great job!

You might be surprised to know that the head of this Region of the NMFS, Rod McInnis, actually blamed the Central Valley fall-run salmon collapse on ocean conditions. He is quoted as saying by the McClatchy Newspapers that his scientists believe the cause is related to poor ocean conditions for the fish. This stands in sharp contract to the statement by the Pacific Fishery Management Council found in their April 10, 2008 News Release wherein they discuss the potential causes for the catastrophic salmon decline and note:

“[It] is clear that over fishing did not cause the depressed condition, as the parent spawning populations were all above the goal (or escapement number set to renew the fishery annually). The National Marine Fisheries Service has suggested ocean temperature changes, and a resulting lack of upwelling, as a possible cause of the sudden decline. Many biologists believe a combination of human-caused and natural factors will ultimately explain the collapse, including both marine conditions and freshwater factors such as in-stream water withdrawals, habitat alterations, dam operations, construction, pollution, and changes in hatchery operations.”

Dr. Peter Moyle, with UC Davis, and one of the foremost experts on the state’s fishery resources had this to say on the topic:

“Thus blaming “ocean conditions” for salmon declines is a lot like blaming the iceberg for sinking the Titanic, while ignoring the many human errors that put the ship on course for the fatal collision. Managers have optimistically thought that salmon populations were unsinkable, needing only occasional course corrections such as hatcheries or removal of small dams, to continue to go forward. The listings as endangered species of the winter and spring runs of Central Valley Chinook were warnings of approaching disaster on an even larger scale. “Ocean conditions” may be the potential icebergs for salmon populations but the ship is being steered by us humans. Salmon populations can be managed to avoid an irreversible crash, but continuing on our present course could result in loss of a valuable and iconic fishery.” (From: Comment by Peter B. Moyle, Professor of Fish Biology, and University of California Davis -from Google News)

The Council has requested a multi-agency task force led by the National Marine Fisheries Service s West Coast Science Centers to research about 50 potential causative factors and report back to the Council at the September meeting in Boise, Idaho. So, the fundamental question is “Why is Rod McIinnis (a top notch NMFS Regional Administrator) giving cover to the other impacts that have caused such drastic declines in the Central Valley salmon populations?”

John Beuttler

Conservation Director
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
1360 Neilson Street
Berkeley, CA 94702-1116
JBeuttler@aol.com