some insightful articles on Delta tunnels and water exports and a call to action~

On another thread, Tony Buzolich pointed out the proposed changes in fish and game regs regarding striped and black bass and Aron commented on 'over-harvest mentality'...

Below is my reply and a bit of expansion...

The greater, underlying problem is not the proposed increased limits and decreased size restrictions on bass... it is that politicians and powerful decision makers are being persuaded by non-scientific, corporate farmers, lawyers, water-brokers and bank-rollers that warm water, predatory game fish are to blame for the demise of salmon and delta smelt.

In reality, the health of the entire delta ecosystem (not just delta smelt or winter run king salmon but all forms of fauna and flora) hinges upon maintaining fresh water in to it and through it.

POD or Pelagic organism decline (the general demise of fish utilizing the San Francisco Estuarine System) has been scientifically correlated with steep increases of water exports as happened in the 1970's and again in the early 1990's.

https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/04...really-broken/

Proponents of the tunnels argue that they do not want to take more water but simply want to take it from a different position upriver from the current delta pumps (directly from the the Sacramento River in the rural town of Hood, CA.)

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/a...r-8414743.phpe

As I mentioned in an earlier thread on the conservation and/or striped bass forum... there is an opportunity for us to voice our opposition to these proposed changes regarding allowable harvest of striped bass and largemouth bass. I hope many of you on this board will join me at the meeting:

We need everyone...guides, charter captains and all recreational anglers to pack the Fish & Game Commission Meeting Aug. 24-25 at the Lake Natoma Inn & Conference Center, located at 702 Gold Lake Road in Folsom.

What time on Wednesday or Thursday?

Here's a link to the meeting agenda (includes start times but not when a particular subject might be discussed):

http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2016/Aug/08242516agd.pdf

Thanks Darian

I feel like such a slacker...

I'll try and nail down times and post them here.

I still have many friends who work for CDFW. Most of the field employees (hatchery personnel, biologists, wardens) are good folks who care about the resource...

Unlike the commissioners and higher up administration, they are not part of my conspiracy theory~;)

What time on Thursday?

If this meeting is like others I've attended, items are taken in sequence but the discussion time on a particular subject begins when prior subjects have been covered. If the discussion is lively/well attended, that can knock the schedule off a bit. I plan to attend.... Can't say when our subject will be discussed. I know,.... That's not much help.

Amazing how things change so fast.... There's a thread on Blanton's BB that says the petitioners for the proposed changes to the regs on Black/Striped Bass have withdrawn their petition. I'm wondering what this change of intent means. I'll try to confirm.... :cool: