Disappering Striped bass...No wonder...

[Mike McKenzie]

Well..The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (aptly BuRec) is happily killing off thousands of striped bass along with who knows how many E.S.A. listed species..Typical of their total disregard for our fisheries..Any of you out there that do not like this, are welcome to join the effort at tryin' to salvage some of these fish..Wet, muddy, miserable work but you'll get your reward, you all know where...

Prospect Island lies between the Sacramento Shipping Channel and Miner Slough..I think the work is being done on the Minor Slough side..
Here's the story...

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/507812.html

Mike

[Darian]

Hi Mike,.... Seems like another example of how the right hand doesn't know what the other is doing and how little can be done if politicians only setve themselves.... The result is that fish just can't get a break.

[Tony Buzolich]

Mike,

I hope you post this on Dan's board as well. I sent he and Doug Lovell some pictures of the pumps where this was going on and have been trying to get more information about about F&G not wanting to issue permits to save the stranded striped stripers.

The pumps apparently have been shut off or pulled out and the resulting stranded fish are simple being left to die.

I'll keep in touch once I get contact with names of who said what about this.
TONY

[HC]

How can people help? Is it boat accessible or wading? Tell us how. Harley

[Mike McKenzie]

Prospect Island is only accessible by boat...What the conditions are on Prospect Island I can only guess..really wet and muddy...Boat access from Hog Back on Grand Island, Snug Harbor on Ryer Island or Arrowhead Marina on the North side of Miner slough off of State 84 (Jefferson Blvd. South from Sac. or Ryer Island ferry from Rio Vista)
and Vieira's on the Sac. are all the closest launch spots...
I don't know why they picked Cliff's Marina as it's a pretty good ways from Prospect Is.

Mike

[Tony Buzolich]

Mike,

Arrowhead Marina is only a mile or two north of the repair and the pumps and is easily acceessed by boat.

The construction company that is doing the repair drives their vehicles around the top of the Arrowhead lagoon and onto the island and is also easily acceesible by land.

There is lots of heavy equipment and large trucks bringing in fill as well as moving and operating the pumps that are being refered too.

Getting on to the island and getting some pictures of the dying fish for all to see shouldn't be a problem.

This is what it looked like about a week ago.
TONY

[Mike McKenzie]

I sure hate to see this happening for a lot of reasons....ever since the mid 90's I've had some of the best striped bass, steelhead and salmon fishing there was to be had anywhere, fishin' the levee breaks on Prospect Island. Whenever the levees broke and they did on numerous occasions, it was wondrous fishing.. non stop through the whole incoming tide on the inside of the Island. Then there was the out go on the outside.. Jeeez! I get wore out just thinking about it....Now this! Sad Sad Sad!


Here's a copy of a report by the Fish Sniffer's Dan Bacher who was out there today on a "recon" run...

Re: Thousands of stranded stripers dyin'

Bureau of Reclamation Strands Thousands of Fish on Prospect Island

by Dan Bacher

I just got back from examining what appears to be an impending, massive fish kill at Prospect Island. Bob McDaris, owner of Cliff's Marina in Freeport, Bob Boffitt, KFBK Radio reporter, and another KFBK reporter and I went by boat to the area where the levee is being repaired by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamatation.

We slogged through the mud in waders and saw large schools of stripers with their dorsal fins, backs and tails out of the water as they struggled to survive. I saw a dozen dead stripers, along with one dead bluegill and a couple of dead pike minnows. Of course, we walked through just a tiny fraction of Prospect Island - McDaris on Tuesday estimated that there were thousands of fish stranded in a larger area that he pointed to after we took photos and videos.

The massive stranding of fish came to McDaris' attention when he and a local hay farmer, John Soto, went out prospecting for ducks on the island on Tuesday. Instead of finding ducks they found a fish kill in progress.

"We saw thousands of striped bass, two sturgeon, hundreds of bluegill and two 15 to 18 pound salmon stranded in the remaining water," said McDaris. "We also saw two steelhead and lots of carp. I was amazed by the number of fish that were stranded on the island and I figured that somebody should do something about it."

McDaris contacted Bob Simms, host of the KFBK Outdoor Show, Mark Wilson, striper angler, Matt Weiser of the Sacramento Bee members of the California Striped Bass Association (CSBA) and this reporter to see what we could do about rescuing the fish. Over 35 people, including CSBA members, met McDaris at Cliff's Marina this morning to investigate this latest fishery disaster and see if they can do anything about it.

Unfortunately, the brush, tules and terrain make it very difficult for anglers to carry fish out in buckets or ice chests to be released into Miner Slough, as CSBA members and DFG staff did several years ago when the water out of flooded Jones Tract was being pumped out. I assisted in that rescue.

While I was there today, I spoke to a DFG warden, Carolyn Djody, who was there to assess the extent of the fish stranded on the island. At that time, she hadn't examined the area where the fish were located.

"We had a call that there were fish dying on the island," she said. "This is a federal project, so the proposal to pump water out was reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It's not our project."

McDaris and other anglers are very concerned about the Delta smelt and other endangered and threatened species that may be impacted by further pumping of water off the island without the initiation of some sort of fish rescue.

Jeff McCracken, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said the agency, after being alerted by anglers and other about stranded fish, ordered the pumping suspended. "The Bureau and the U.S. Fish and Wildife Service will reevaluate this situation to see if we can salvage the fish," he said. "At issue is whether there are Delta smelt stranded on the island."

However, he noted that probably no decision about this would be made until Monday because of the absence of many personnel over the Thanksiving weekend.

The levee broke in 1998, flooding the island, and then was repaired. The levee broke again in January 2006 and the Bureau of Reclamation authorized the current repair operation this year.

"After the levee break in 2006, CalFed said to leave the levee like it was and nothing happened," said McCracken. "However, then five boats capsized when entering the levee break. Two of them required Coast Guard assistance. Also, there is a lot of vegetation and trees that created hazards to boats."

Because of the public safety and liaibility issue, the Bureau decided to go ahead with hiring a contractor to repair the levee break and pump the water off the island back into Miner Slough.

"We consulted with the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about what to do," he said. "They said that because of all of the trees and brush found on the island there was no effective way to do fish salvage."

The two fishery agencies gave the Bureau the go ahead to repair the levee, with the stipulation that the contractor pump at the lowest tide possible so as many fish would be able to move off the island as possible as it drained.

Meanwhile, as we wait for a decision by federal officials about how, when and if the fish will be salvaged, thousands of fish, including an unknown number of endangered delta smelt and other endangered and threatened species, are expected to perish.

I was appalled by the spectacle of hundreds of striped bass in their final throes on the surface of the water at Prospect Island. The stripers, because of their size and schooling nature, were the easiest to see in the muddy water.

I wonder how many stranded delta smelt, sturgeon, king salmon, steelhead and other species will also die and go belly up as the remaining oxygen in the water is used up. After we witnessed a disaster two weeks ago when the Cosco Busan dumped 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay, it's horrible to see yet another man-made environmental catastrophe take place, courtesy of the federal government.


« Last Edit: Today at 6:15pm by Daniel Bacher »

You can read the whole thread here:
http://www.fishsniffer.com/cgi-bin/f...num=1195662549

[Ed Wahl]

Mike, this looks incredibly ugly. I'll tell ya what, if you think a modified "bucket brigade" will work, I'll do what I can to put the word out for volunteers. I looks like big numbers are needed though as well as a lot of boats. We'd need people in the muck netting fish, a bunch of shallow water craft like jon boats and prams to transport the fish to the levies, and then a bunch more people to hump the buckets up over the levy. With the time constraints I don't know if it will even work, the fish are using up a limited amount of oxygen fast. It's getting kind of late, I'll shoot you a pm, just in case. Ed Wahl

[Mike McKenzie]

Hey Ed,

Thanks for takin' the time to run out there and get a "looksee" I was afraid of what you found which is why I was doubtful that we could pull off a "rescue". Too bad, The bad guys win again..If you look at it from their selfish standpoint...boat loads of anglers rescuing fish that they have deliberately stranded would not "look good" on their already piss poor resumé, hence their goons runnin' around puttin' up the no trespassing signs...

Mike

[Ed Wahl]

Let me outrage you just a little bit more. I talked the owner or manager of Arrowhead Marina for a little while this morning. Got no sympathy at all from him. Seems some anglers had known for months what was happening but the fishing was so good there they kept their mouths shut. He says no one said a thing about it until the other day when he gets a visit from some people wanting to use his ramp for free and they showed up with a camera crew. Not knockin him, he's in a tough spot, the feds have shown themselves to ber rather vindictive and he's gotta watch his assets. Ok, enough heartbreak and outrage for one day. I'll try calling some lawmakers tomorrow. Since we can't save those fish maybe we can make someone pay.