Allied Fishing Groups Urgent Advisory
To all anglers, Your Engagement Is Critical
California's Striped Bass Fishery is under serious threat of destruction should the sport fishing regulations proposed by the Department of Fish and Game be adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission at the Commission’s meeting in early February. The DFG regulation proposal is due to a recent settlement agreement after the department prevailed in the litigation filed in 2007 by the ‘Coalition for a Sustainable Delta’ (CSD).
The litigation alleged that striped bass sport fishing regulations have a negative impact on fish listed under the federal Endanger Species Act (ESA) that utilize the Bay-Delta Estuary. CSD claimed the DFG was therefore in violation of this act. They argued the regulations protected striped bass from additional harvest and resulted in more bass eating the Listed Species. The CSD is composed of several water districts and funded by Agribusiness from the Southern San Joaquin Valley who resent the small cutbacks in Delta diversions they had to suffer to protect ESA listed fish species. They declared war on the striper fishery, the anglers who enjoy it, and the public that owns this natural resource as payback.
Following the filing of the litigation, CSD flexed their political muscle to destroy the fishery by attempting to pass state legislation in 2008 and 2009 to have striped bass made a non-sport fish which would have removed all regulations protecting the fishery, subjecting it to unlimited harvest. This effort was turned back by a coalition of fishing and environmental interests spearheaded by California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, StriperFest, the Allied Fishing Groups and the California Striped Bass Assoc.
In July of 2010, Federal District Court Justice Wanger ruled that the CSD failed to demonstrate striped bass predation of Listed Species had a population level effect on the salmon, steelhead and Delta smelt listed under the ESA. The court’s ruling was based on the testimony presented during the trial by expert scientific witnesses presented by the DFG. They testified that the peer reviewed science on predation studies demonstrated that even though striped bass did predate on a variety of species, the predation was not sufficient to have a population level effect on the Listed Species.
All though the court ruled in DFG’s favor on every predation issue and against CSD, the department maneuvered their way into the settlement agreement that was politically encouraged by the Schwarzenegger administration. Fishing groups that intervened as defendants in the litigation (CSPA, NCC/FFF, StriperFest, and CSBA) were absolutely clear with the department that they opposed the settlement. In a stunning sell out of their constituency, the DFG snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and signed the settlement agreement with CSD after having been vindicated by the State Legislature and by federal court!
You will find DFG proposed regulations below. We urge you to immediately contact the Commission and tell them you do not support the changes. It’s important to know that under current law, striped bass, like the estuary’s salmon and steelhead, are supposed to be managed at sustainable levels that support sport fishing. The striper fishery has collapsed from some 4 million adults in the early 1960’s to about 650,000 today.
These declines have paralleled those of the estuary’s salmon and steelhead. They are due primarily to the development and export of water from the estuary which has significantly altered the natural flow regimes fisheries require to be abundant. In addition, the losses of these fish along with salmon, steelhead and other species at the Delta export facilities are staggering, but the state-of-the-art fish screens promised by the government (see the CALFED Record of Decision) never arrived because the water contractors refused to pay for them!
Making striped bass a scapegoat for the declines of Listed Species is a bankrupt ploy. Anglers and fishing organizations must fight back if future generations are to know and enjoy the estuary’s once abundant fisheries. Should the Ag interests prevail on this issue, there is little doubt that they will go after any fishery they deem to be in their way.
Please advise your friends and everyone who cares about our fisheries that they need to send letters to the Commission opposing the regulation proposal now. The letter should be polite and brief.
We suggest you say that: (1) The proposed regulations are not based on the best science; (2) To manage fisheries based on settlement agreements instead of according to the policies of the Commission and laws of state would set a disastrous fishery management precedent; (3) This would cause the fishery to experience another drastic decline that would destroy its value as a publicly owned sport fishery and cause terrible economic damage to sport fishing businesses; (4) It is absurd for the DGF to win the litigation affirming their right to manage the fishery and then throw it away in a settlement agreement that does not comport with the federal court decision.
Please send your letters to:
California Fish and Game Commission
President Jim Kellogg
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, CA 94244-2090
Via fax to (916) 653-5040 / via e-mail to: fgc@fgc.ca.gov
Please include “Proposed Striped Bass Sport Fishing Regulations” in the fax / e-mail or mail subject line.
Here are the DFG's Proposed Striped Bass Regulation Changes:
· Raising the daily bag limit for striped bass from two to six fish.
· Raising the possession limit for striped bass from two to 12 fish.
· Lowering the minimum size for striped bass from 18 to 12 inches.
· Establishing a “hot spot” for striped bass fishing at Clifton Court Forebay and specified adjacent waterways at which the daily bag limit will be 20 fish, the possession limit will be 40 fish and there will be no size limit. Anglers fishing at the hot spot would be required to fill out a report card and deposit it in an iron ranger or similar receptacle.
· Changes to the sport fishing regulations for the Carmel, Pajaro and Salinas Rivers to allow harvest of striped bass when the fishery would otherwise be closed.
Sincerely,
For the Allied Fishing Groups,
John Beuttler, Mike McKenzie, & John Ryzanych
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