Emergency Drought Relief Bill 1894 [Archive] - Bill Kiene's Fly Fishing Forum

tcorfey

10-29-2015, 10:30 PM

Hey Bill

Here is an excerpt

1 (B) remove, reduce, or control the effects
2 of species, including Asiatic clams, silversides,
3 gobies, Brazilian water weed, largemouth bass,
4 smallmouth bass, striped bass, crappie, bluegill,
5 white and channel catfish, and brown bullheads.

I know there are some (from the south) that are pushing for large scale electro-shock harvest of any predatory or invasive species. Not just open limits. This bill does not seem to address that.

The bill does say that they want to follow the CALFED INVASIVE SPECIES PROGRAM which as late as 2008 listed Striped Bass as a fish they wanted to protect. I did notice that in 2014, Delta Plan Recommendation ER R6 calls for CDFW to develop, for consideration by the Fish and Game Commission, proposals for new or revised fishing regulations to help reduce predation of listed native fish by introduced sport fish (which must mean all Bass species), based on sound science. DFW took the first step toward addressing this recommendation by issuing a call for proposals in Fall 2014 for research on the impacts of predation on native listed fish species that can help inform the development of new regulations.

I could not find anything for 2015 regarding how Calfed is enacting the eradication of invasive species currently or which species they are targeting for extinction.

From what I have read the species they are most interested in protecting currently are Salmon, Steelhead and the Delta Smelt.

I also read that our friends down south want to change how Salmon are counted. They want no distinction between hatchery fish and natural reproducing fish so the Salmon counts would in effect be artificially raised if that ever gets in to one of these bills.

This bill and 2898 both seek maximum water exports to agriculture and they include provisions for making agriculture the top priority for all water usage in California, this bill 1894 does not seem to be as predatory as 2898 but still….

Regards, Tim C.

Mike McKenzie

11-09-2015, 09:44 AM

Note! HR 2898 (known as the Water Contractors Bill) passed the House and went to the Senate where it was morphed into Senate Bill 1894 by Senators Feinstein and Boxer. It has been read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S6141-6142)
Type of Action: Introduction and Referral
Action By: Senate and now "languishes" in said Committee. There is still time to try and get the Senators to adopt the suggested changes

Below are the main points and arguments against components of the Feinstein – Boxer Bill SB 1894. All are supported by real science and not Water export Contractors propaganda! We urge your support and for everyone to take action and contact both Senators to ask for them to adopt the requested changes.

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3841

Barbara Boxer
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3553

•The California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2015. While the legislation has admirable provisions that we support to help recover our salmon fisheries, it also has some provisions regarding fisheries dependent upon the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary that are not based on the best available peer reviewed science as they should be. We urge you to correct these deficiencies to avoid doing significant damage to many of estuary’s fisheries held in trust for the public.

•The peer reviewed scientific studies on predation in the estuary have consistently found that that striped bass predation does not impact the population levels of any of the estuary’s fisheries listed under the State and Federal Endangered Species Acts.

•In 2010 the California State Water Resources Control Board, during its hearing on “The Delta Flow Criteria”, appointed a panel of fishery experts to review the impacts causing the collapse of the Bay-Delta estuary’s and its fishery resources. They unanimously agreed that predation by striped bass was an insignificant impact and the lowest of all the stressors affecting the ecosystem.

•In July 2013 California Department of Fish and Wildlife, The Delta Science Program and NOAA’s Natural Marine Fisheries Service convened an independent expert panel of scientists to review fish predation on salmonids in the Bay Delta. They concluded that there was no peer reviewed scientific evidence that predation by fish (including striped bass) was affecting population levels of listed species.

•It was noted that other significant stressors were far more important in addressing the recovery of listed species including ensuring flows and habitat conditions in the estuary and its tributary rivers were appropriate for anadromous fisheries.

•S. 1894 unfortunately requires the eradication of a number of sport fisheries including striped bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and catfish in the estuary. The need for this is not supported by the peer reviewed science. In fact there is no feasible way to eradicate these species in the estuary.

•When fish eradication programs have been attempted in other estuarine ecosystems they have been costly and all have failed miserably.

•Fisheries such as striped bass were intentionally introduced into the estuary by the California Fish & Game Commission in 1879 and have been a part of the Delta ecosystem since then. Their populations flourished alongside salmon and steelhead for a hundred years.

•These fisheries are utilized by recreational anglers as both a source of food and for enjoyment. The population declines of striped bass, salmon and steelhead have cost local, state, and national economies billions of dollars according to a report by the California Department of Fish & Game ("Administrative Report No. 85-03”).

•Destroying valuable public fishery resources that are not causing the fishery declines would not be good legislation and would violate state and federal law.

•Given the limited resources are available to address the really important impacts to the productivity of the estuary and the fishery resources it once sustained, we encourage you to require the significant problems causing the decline of the estuary’s ecosystem to be corrected.

•These impacts are primarily caused by the design and operation of the State and Federal water projects. These projects have created an ecosystem similar to that of a large lake instead of a dynamic estuary with appropriate tidal influences, variability and fresh water inflows.

•Considering the above, it’s no wonder that salmon, steelhead, striped bass, delta smelt and sturgeon that require an estuarine ecosystem have declined to the point where extinction is a very real possibility.

•It is unfortunate that some of the beneficiaries of the state and federal projects have made striped bass and other non-native fish a scapegoat so they can play down the importance of the impacts caused by the development and export of the Delta’s water resources. They have tried unsuccessfully to prevail in court, in the state legislature and with the California Fish and Game Commission to destroy the striped bass fishery.

•They have failed because these venues know that it is the impacts caused by the water projects that are killing the estuary and its fisheries. There is no credible peer reviewed science to support their predation impact claims.

•The key to restoring populations of endangered and desirable species and reduce the numbers and impacts of undesirable species is to return the Delta to a dynamic variable estuarine environment. We should be protecting and working on the recovery of the existing fisheries rather than destroying fisheries vital to the Delta’s ecosystem health.

Text of the Bill is here: https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/s1894/BILLS-114s1894is.pdf

Here are the requested changes to S.1894 that would make it acceptable to the Sportfishing community..
You can follow from the original text in the link above if you're really into it!

1) Page #27, line #17-18 after section (B) that reads “To reduce predation at the existing state and federal fish salvage systems”. Please add: “(C) Analyze, assess and report on the extent to which Salmon smolts migration through the Delta are impacted by the State and Federal export facilities. The report shall include an estimate of the fish lost in the Delta and those entrained and killed by the State and Federal projects export pumping facilities.”

2) Page #31, line #s 1-3. In the title of Section 202 strike “deltas, and other Delta tributaries.” In this section there are no programs mentioned or listed that would be conducted on the Delta and other tributaries. The title of Section 202 should now read as follows: SEC 202. PILOT PROGRAM TO PROTECT NATIVE ANADROMOUS FISH IN THE STANISLAUS RIVER

3) Page #31, lines #4-5 strike “NONNATIVE” (to ensure the potential success of this program, all predators should be removed and relocated). Amended it reads as follows: PREDATOR FISH REMOVAL PROGRAM ON STANISLAUS RIVER

4) Page #31, line #16. Strike “nonnative” and add the following language such that lines #16-17 read: “program to remove and relocate to the Delta in suitable habitat predator fish from the Stanislaus River and record an estimate of the number and species of fish that do and do not survive this relocation.

5) Page #32 lines #3-4. Please amend and add the following language to (B) to read as follows: (B) PARTICIPATION BY NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE AND THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH & WILDLIFE.

6) Page #32 line #9 strike the word “may” and replace with the word “shall” such that it reads as follows: “shall, in conjunction with the director of California Department of Fish and wildlife.”

7) Page #32 lines #11-13 after “Fisheries Service” please add the following language such that it reads as follows: “Fisheries Service and the Department of Fish and Wildlife shall be present in supervising all activities (performed in the field).

Page #36 lines #19-25. In line #20 strike the word “predators,” and add “non-fish competitors (e.g. invasive clams), line #21 strike the words “native” and “listed” such that the amended section now reads: “(A) seek to reduce invasive aquatic vegetation and other non-fish competitors (e.g. invasive clams) which contribute to the decline of pelagic and anadromous species that occupy the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta; and”

9) Page #37 lines #1-5. Line #3 strike largemouth bass and strike entire lines 4 & 5 such that (B) reads as follows: “(B) remove, reduce, or control the effects of species, including Asiatic clams, silversides, gobies, and Brazilian water weed”

Mike McKenzie
Allied Fishing Groups / Striperfest