Photo of giant post-spawned Chinook salmon on Battle Creek in fall 2008 by =
Doug Killam, DFG Associate Fisheries Biologist. While nearly 800,000
salmon returned to spawn in the Sacramento River and its tributaries in 2002, =
the fall 2009 run could be as low as 60,000 fish. State and federal
government biologists are currently compiling the data on the 2009 fall =
salmon
runs in preparation for determining the annual West Coast salmon seasons.

Salmon Water Now Exposes Big Ag’s Manipulation of Delta Water
Policy
by Dan Bacher
Salmon Water Now, a collaboration between fishermen and media =
professionals,
has released a new video, “The Water Pirates,” describing how =
agribusiness
maintains a dangerous stranglehold on water management policy in California,
according to Larry Collins, commercial salmon fisherman. Anybody who is
interested in seeing how Democratic and Republican Party politicians have =
both
manipulated California water politics to benefit big agriculture’s =
corporate
welfare recipients should watch this video, produced by Bruce Tokars, and =
urge
their friends and co-workers to do so also.
You can watch the Video at: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DjwqVc8Hbmqk&fmt=3D18 or
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/8521134.
“The video focuses on the controversial California water bond as =
well as U.S.
Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) continued efforts to benefit her =
friend,
campaign contributor, and agribusiness billionaire Stuart Resnick by =
attempting
to expand the practice of private interests selling subsidized public water =
for
huge profits to non-farm users – all while undermining efforts to =
restore vital
Sacramento River salmon runs,” said Collins, who skippered his =
commercial
fishing boat up to Sacramento as part of a “Million Boat Float” =
in August 2009
to protest the Governor’s plan to build the peripheral canal.
Collins said the video release comes at a time when two federal panels are =
looking at the science and policies at the heart of California’s =
fisheries
crisis. On Monday, the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee =
on Water
and Power, led by Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA), held a field hearing on
California’s water supply issues. The hearing was hosted by the =
Metropolitan
Water District, the most politically-powerful urban user of water exported =
from
the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Meanwhile, a National Academy of Science (NAS) panel in Davis, CA is today =
finishing up its five day meeting to review the current federal water =
management
plans (biological opinions) in the Delta designed to protect Delta smelt,
Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and =
the southern resident population of killer whales.
“The Water Pirates” video highlights one of the central policy =
issues facing
both federal panels and the state: the expanding practice of private =
individuals
selling subsidized federal water for huge profits to non-farm users such as =
real
estate developers. “Unfortunately, Sen. Feinstein and others appear =
eager to
expand this harmful practice,” said Collins.
“The NAS panel came about after Mr. Resnick asked Senator Feinstein =
to
request the review and earmark $750,000 in taxpayer funds to make it =
happen,”
according to Collins. “While the panel heard an earful from invited =
agribusiness
representatives and southern California water agency officials in support of
stripping protections for fish in order to increase water exports south of =
the
Delta, the NAS inexplicably failed to invite a single representative from
California’s quarter-billion dollar salmon fishing industry or from the =
Delta’s
many farming communities.”
Fishing communities along one thousand miles of U.S. coastline in =
California
and Oregon have lost hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs in =
the last two years due to salmon closures caused in large part by abysmal =
water
management in the Delta. The closure of the salmon season has caused the loss =
of
23,000 jobs in California, according to the American Sportfishing =
Association.
These communities have a significant economic and cultural stake in the
successful resolution of the current water debate. However, the NAS panel has =
thus far ignored them to instead focus on agribusiness interests.
The panel also failed to invite coastal and Delta Representatives and =
other
elected officials, leaders of California Indian Tribes and representatives of =
environmental justice communities impacted dramatically by massive water =
exports
to corporate agribusiness and southern California. Mark Franco, headman of =
the
Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe, said the exclusion of tribal
representation from the panel testimony is “a continuation of the past =
150 plus
years of denial that tribal people have a right to discuss the protection of
this state’s resources.”
“By not including a tribal perspective of the connectedness of all =
parts of
the environment, plans will be made and years of hard work by all of us will =
be
wasted while the delta and the rivers connected to it are destroyed,” =
Franco
stated. “When will the government leaders wake up and see that we who =
have lived
in these areas for centuries know what the past brought and the future holds? =
As
Florence Jones, our spiritual leader, said, ‘We all just can’t be =
dumb and
die.’”
Salmon Water Now works to raise awareness of the plight of wild salmon,
salmon fishermen, and coastal communities dependent upon healthy freshwater
flows in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta. The group believes that =
“water
management in the Delta is woefully inadequate to restore the strong salmon =
runs
that once formed the backbone of the fishing industry in California and
Oregon.”
“Great sacrifices have already been made in the form of two =
consecutive
closed salmon seasons, intense hatchery programs, large job losses in the
fisheries sector, and raised seafood prices for consumers,” said =
Collins. “All
of these sacrifices will be made in vain as long as water, our most precious
resource, continues to be mismanaged for the exclusive benefit of California
agribusiness. Now is the moment for California to adopt sustainable, =
equitable
water management that will restore the Bay-Delta’s salmon runs, bring =
back jobs,
save coastal and Delta communities, and foster a newfound value for precious
freshwater flows.”
While corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies are
manipulating federal water policy, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate =
Pro
Tem Darrell Steinberg in early November ramrodded a water policy/water bond
package through the Legislature that creates a clear path to the construction =
of
a peripheral canal and new dams. Voters must overwhelming defeat the $11.1 =
water
bond at the ballot box in November or we can expect to see Central Valley =
salmon
and Delta fish to become extinct.
The same Governor who is promoting the canal is also completely backing
corporate agribusiness in its campaign to gut Endangered Species Act (ESA)
protections for Central Valley salmon and Delta fish. To make matters even
worse, Schwarzenegger is fast tracking a widely-contested Marine Life =
Protection
Act (MLPA) Initiative that is infested with conflicts of interests, racism =
and
corruption of the democratic process.
The MLPA process has become a surrealistic parody of a law that was passed =
by
the State Legislature in 1999 to protect the marine environment. Rather than
protecting the ocean as it was intended to, the process under Schwarzenegger =
has
been taken over by oil industry, real estate, marina development and other
corporate interests and is now funded by a private corporation, the Resource
Legacy Fund Foundation. The apparent aim of of Schwarzenegger’s MLPA is =
to kick
Indian Tribes, fishermen and seaweed harvesters off the water to clear the =
way
for offshore oil drilling, wave energy projects and corporate
aquaculture.
Vote no on the $11.1 billion water bond this November!
For more information, please visit http://www.SalmonWaterNow.org, or call
Larry Collins at 415-279-1894.