Striped Bass Regulatory Proposal: The Staff Report

[Darian]

Bart,.... Could you clarify the following partial quote:

"....use a vibration type water...."

I'm not clear on what that is. In the context used, do you mean that the moving water is difficult for smaller fish like Smelt to maintain position in or something else

[bart]

Darian.The angle of the louvers creates big vibrations that cause the fish to be channeld into the pipe that goes to the recovery area.Maybe next spring we can set up a tour of skinner.I have lead 3 tours over the years.

[Darian]

Bart,.... A tour is a great idea. Let me know when you can set it up.

[bart]

May is a good time for a tour.Thats the hight of the spawning time.I'll look into it.

[Justin]

Marty,

A Northern California Newspaper recently(I believe Friday?) ran an article on the recent up spike in Delta Smelt populations. It quoted you as citing the increase of water from last years rain fall as the contributing factor. With that in mind, has the DFG pursued stopping or lessening the export of water(again) in a law suit? If they have not, why? And what is the DFG plan for stopping water loss. You yourself understand the impact of water to our fisheries. My apologies if you have answered this somewhere else.

Thanks,

Justin

[Marty Gingras]

Marty,

A Northern California Newspaper recently(I believe Friday?) ran an article on the recent up spike in Delta Smelt populations. It quoted you as citing the increase of water from last years rain fall as the contributing factor. With that in mind, has the DFG pursued stopping or lessening the export of water(again) in a law suit? If they have not, why? And what is the DFG plan for stopping water loss. You yourself understand the impact of water to our fisheries. My apologies if you have answered this somewhere else.

Thanks,

Justin

Potential litigation, litigation tactics, and litigation strategy are things that staff like me don't comment on because those are policy matters and because we aren't attorneys.

When managing listed fish being taken by water diversions, DFG operates under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

If the fish is listed under both CESA and the federal ESA (FESA) --- like Delta smelt --- then under certain circumstances DFG can address water through what's called a Consistency Determination (CD). Here is a link explaining CDs:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/habcon/cesa/in...determine.html

DFG has issued a CD regarding Delta smelt and operation of the State Water Project.

If the fish is listed only under CESA --- like longfin smelt --- then under certain circumstances DFG can address water through an Incidental Take Permit (ITP). Here is a link explaining ITPs:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/habcon/cesa/in...rm_proced.html

Here is a link to an ITP for longfin smelt:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/delta/data/lon...009-001-03.asp

Managing non-listed fish being taken by water diversions is relatively complicated and I'd have to do some research to give a reasonably comprehensive explanation. I've seen (and done) it by way of Section 1600 of the Fish and Game Code. See here for that law:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/wa...ction=retrieve

I think the upshot of the above is this: The legislature has given DFG only certain authority to restrict the export of water, using that authority is not a trivial exercise, and DFG commonly uses that authority.