"Since 1776, the United States has accumulated a national debt of $9 trillion over half of which was incurred when a Bush was on watch! What a family legacy" .... Michael Doonesbury (fictional character) by Gary Trudeau

13:22/01. FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TO PROTECT DELTA FISH, SCHWARZENEGGER CALLS SPECIAL SESSION: Federal Judge Oliver Wanger’s 31 August decision in the Delta smelt case may reduce pumping possibly by up to one-third from the California State Water Project (SWP) and the California Valley Project’s (CVP) south delta pumping stations to protect the threatened Delta smelt. The decision is being heralded as an historic and long overdue victory for the ecological health of the Delta by commercial and recreational fishing and environmental groups. Water associations and farming groups see things a little differently, and have made foreboding predictions that the decision to reduce pumping will bring economic ruin to California’s agricultural economy, also claiming that 25 million people who rely on water from the delta risk being cut off in the event of a major drought or earthquake.

Trent Orr, attorney for Earthjustice, said of the ruling that "[it] is better than what we had before, but we didn't get some things we wanted," which would have included releases of fresh water from area reservoirs into the Delta during the fall, a critical period in the lifecycle of the Delta smelt.

"A sober assessment says it's a very large deal," said Tim Quinn, Executive Director of the Association of California Water Agencies, "water agencies have to prepare for the worst." Quinn indicated while water agencies look for other sources of water, southern California’s economy could be significantly impacted in the event that agencies begin rationing water. Agricultural water agencies are gearing up for lower deliveries of water and predict that many farmers will have to plant fewer crops in the coming year.

On 5 September, following Judge Wanger’s decision, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association called on the Governor and Legislature to begin developing alternatives to Delta water, citing studies showing that too much water has been taken out of the Delta for nearly two decades. The Governor is currently pushing for more conveyance and more storage in the form of a peripheral canal and two more reservoirs, which most water experts agree would do little to alleviate California’s water problems at a tremendous cost to taxpayers. PCFFA and many environmental and recreational fishing groups argue that in order to save the fish of the estuary and finally provide the state with a reliable water supply, the state should develop alternative measures such as water recycling, water conservation to make current water use more efficient, implementation of more efficient irrigation practices in residential and agricultural lands and development of desalination plants in southern California.

Judge Wanger’s decision will remain in effect for one year until the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) completes a Biological Opinion (BiOp) on the Delta smelt. On 25 May 2007, Judge Wanger ruled that USFWS’s BiOp was “arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law” in response to a 2005 lawsuit that contested the validity of the BiOp brought by Earthjustice and other groups against the agency (see Sublegals 13:16/03).

In the meantime the Governor has called the California Legislature back from its recess for a special session to deal with the water issues. While water agencies and agricultural users have tried to cast the decision as a catastrophe in for California’s booming economy, others are not so glum. Peter Gleick, Director of the Pacific Institute and a MacArthur Fellow, sees this as an historic opportunity to finally put California’s water system on a sustainable footing. In a recent op-ed piece in The Sacramento Bee, he noted that “[w]hile predictions of economic disaster arising from the Delta decision may come true, they don't have to. But it will take a re-evaluation of our ideas about water-use and political courage by the Governor, Legislature and water users to have open and honest discussions about how to redesign our water system so that it is smart, efficient and sustainable.”

For a 5 September press release from PCFFA go to www.enn.com/top_stories/article/22706. For a 31 August Juliana Barbassa article in The San Francisco Chronicle go to http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/31/state/n200019D23.DTL. For a 1 September Eric Bailey article in The Los Angeles Times go to www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-delta1sep01,1,1803921.story. For the 9 September Peter Gleick op-ed in The Sacramento Bee go to www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/366878.html.

13:22/02. ACTION AGENCIES RELEASE YET ANOTHER COLUMBIA RIVER SALMON RECOVERY PLAN: Federal action agencies (US Army Corp of Engineers, US Bureau of Reclamation, and the Bonneville Power Administration) that operate hydroelectric power stations along the Columbia River released an 1,800 page salmon recovery plan on 6 September. The plan was required after Judge James Redden rejected the 2004 Biological Opinion (BiOp) in September 2005, calling it “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to the provisions of the Endangered Species Act” (see Sublegals 13:11/01). The Ninth Circuit Court upheld Judge Redden’s decision on 9 April 2007, and the federal agencies were once again required to craft a BiOp that could pass muster. This is their fifth try at crafting a legal plan, all the others having been invalidated by federal courts.

At issue is whether or not the current hydropower system can be manipulated or if the system is fundamentally incompatible with salmon survival. The action agencies argue that the existing system is compatible with salmon survival and can be manipulated by regulating flows, eliminating predators, and improving fish passage using screens and other devices. Environmental, Tribal, and fishing groups have been pushing for the removal of the lower four Snake River dams and argue that only this measure can ensure that the many ESA-listed runs of salmon and steelhead in the Snake River system will rebound.

On 21 May 2007, the action agencies released an 865-page draft version of the salmon recovery plan which called for small changes to the current system (See Sublegals 13:16/04). Environmental and fishing groups immediately criticized it as a “do nothing” plan. During a status conference on 20 June 2007 to discuss the final submittal of the recovery plan, Judge Redden warned the agencies that "I expect to have a BiOp that's acceptable, or very close to it" and if not “the consequences will be very serious” (see Sublegals 13:18/03). Federal fish biologists from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have until 31 October to determine if the plan is compatible with salmon survival. Steve Wright, Bonneville Power Administration Administrator, said in discussing the recovery plan that "[w]e've included a robust set of actions that we think will make a substantial contribution to the recovery of these fish."

Environmental and fishing groups disagree. "Show me where the major changes are, because I don't think they can point to them," said Nicole Cordan of Save Our Wild Salmon. "It's a beautiful wrapping job, but there's nothing inside."

For a 7 September article in the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife News Bulletin go to www.cbbulletin.com/Free/236160.aspx. For a 7 September Michael Milstein article in The Oregonian go to www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1189135513132230.xml&coll=7. To view all of the documents of the recovery plan go to www.salmonrecovery.gov/biological_opinions/fcrps/ba-ca/index.cfm.

13:22/03. SALMON ESCAPES AT BC FISH FARM PROMPTS CALLS FOR CHANGE: On 6 September, workers at a Mainstream Canada salmon farm on Clayoquot Sound accidentally tore a hole in an open net pen while harvesting 20,000 Atlantic salmon from the pen. Officials from Mainstream Canada, a subsidiary of the Norwegian salmon farming giant Cermaq, acknowledged that thousands of salmon had breached the first containment net but said that most were being held back by the predator net. Alistair Haughton, Deputy Managing Director of Mainstream Canada, told The Globe and Mail in a telephone interview that while hundreds of salmon were being pulled from in between the containment and predator net, he would not rule out the possibility that many of the salmon may have escaped to sea.

The salmon farming industry in British Columbia has come under increased scrutiny in the past years as scientists and environmentalists have shown that salmon farming operations in areas near wild salmon migration routes have significantly reduced the numbers of wild salmon. In a recent article in The Financial Post, the business section of Canada’s conservative National Post newspaper, scientist and salmon farmer Andrew Forsythe complained about the hostile regulatory environment in British Columbia to salmon farming created by the “environmental lobby.” He said that he has moved his salmon farming operations to New Zealand where regulations are not as onerous. Forsythe told the Financial Post that “[w]hile there is enormous scope for development in Canada it has run out of steam. This is not a question of running out of space or transgressing environmental standards. It's politics.”

Opposition to salmon farming is not limited to British Columbia. Two Scottish wild fish organizations, the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards (ASFB) and the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS), are expected to lodge a formal complaint with the European Commission for the escape of 100,000 farmed salmon from farms operated by Pan Fish and Marine Harvest just this summer. Andrew Wallace, the Managing Director of ASFB and RAFTS, said, "[t]he escape of another 30,000 2.5kg maturing fish close to spawning time near the mouth of one of western Scotland's most iconic salmon rivers - the Grimersta - comes at the end of a long summer of discontent on the escapes front.”

Opponents of salmon farming in British Columbia argue that salmon farming should switch from open net pens to closed containment facilities because of the danger posed by escapes, in addition to the danger posed from sea lice infections on juvenile wild salmon and the potential for disease to spread to wild salmon. Maryjka Mychajlowycz, a spokeswoman for the environmental group Friends of Clayoquot Sound, said "[a]n unknown number of salmon have escaped this time. We don't know yet if it's just a few, or a few thousand or what, but it's definitely a concern to us, especially at this time of year. Right now the bay is full of wild salmon that are congregating to go up spawning rivers and now they will be swimming through these Atlantics."

For an 18 September John Ross article in The Scotsman go to http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1492522007. For a 31 August Nathan VanderKlippe article to in The National Post go to www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=1a8c98e8-3250-4d46-9e42-b70a44ea73f0&k=26032. For a 7 September Mark Hume article in The Globe and Mail go to www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070907.BCSALMON07/TPStory/National.

13:22/04. JUDGE ALLOWS KLAMATH TOXIC ALGAE NUISANCE SUIT TO BE HEARD: On 17 August, a federal judge denied PacifiCorp’s request to have a Klamath River lawsuit from Tribal members, fishermen, business owners, and environmentalists dismissed. The lawsuit alleges that toxic blue-green algae thrives and settles in the reservoirs above PacifiCorp’s Klamath dams, creating a toxic environment for salmon and endangering human health. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ruled Friday that the suit can go forward, though he also wrote that he did not have the authority to require PacifiCorp to immediately alter its dam operations while the case is heard. PacifiCorp argued that the algae are common in the basin and that their dams are not the cause of the algal blooms.

Renowned environmental attorneys Joseph Cotchett and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will continue to argue the case for the plaintiffs. Attorney Niall McCarthy, a partner of the law firm of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy who argued for the plaintiffs, haled the order as “sending a clear message that PacifiCorp cannot willfully and knowingly risk its downstream neighbors’ health, livelihoods and way of life and hide behind FERC when the time comes to compensate its victims.” For a 22 August article in The San Jose Mercury News go to www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6684122?nclick_check=1. For a 23 August press release from the Karuk Tribe go to http://karuk.us/press/07-08-23%20WDR%20suit%20final.pdf.

13:22/05. PACIFIC SALMON RETURNS UNEVEN THROUGHOUT NORTHWEST: As the commercial salmon season on the West Coast draws to a close, a familiar story in recent years is being told and the usual suspects for poor returns are being lined up. Fishing in California, Oregon, and Washington was poor, the catch was spotty in British Columbia, and the catch in Alaska was the fifth highest ever. Dams, salmon farms, climate change, aberrant ocean conditions, government mismanagement, over-fishing, poor hatchery practices, and degraded in-river habitat have all been blamed at various times for the poor returns. To make matters worse, for both the Sacramento and Columbia River systems, the two engines of the West Coast (lower 48) commercial salmon industry, returns of chinook have been much lower than expected. For California and Oregon fishermen, who faced a near shutdown during the 2006 season, the 2007 season has been especially disappointing.

The Canadian salmon fishery also suffered its share of disappointments and scandals (see the Sublegals 13:18/05 article on the Skeena River), including a bitter conflict between First Nations subsistence fishermen and recreational anglers on the Fraser River. While most sockeye returns along the British Columbian coast were strong, the four runs of sockeye on the Fraser River were so much lower than expected that commercial fishing had to be shut down near the river with around 600 fishermen affected by the closure. The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation voluntarily relinquished its in-river fishing rights (for the first time in history) in order to preserve the sockeye for the future. According to Mel Kotyk, a spokesman for the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), as of 15 August only 1.6 million sockeye had returned out of an expected 6.1 million fish in all four runs combined. The low returns are currently thought to be the result of climate change, habitat loss, and past over-fishing. Irvin Figg, President of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, questioned this theory. He said that "Alaskan sockeye is coming back like gangbusters. Our sockeye and their sockeye all go out into the Pacific and feed in the same spot."

DFO closed the lower Fraser River to all sockeye take but allowed the take of sockeye on the upper part of the Fraser River at a reduced level and the recreational take of other salmon species. The decision angered the Sto:lo First Nation who claimed that recreational anglers illegally keep sockeye and responded by fishing the mouth of the Fraser River in defiance of the DFO closure. DFO then closed all fishing, recreational included, on the lower Fraser River, which infuriated local recreational fishing guides and pitted them against First Nations Tribes. 35 First Nations Tribe members were ticketed for fishing during the closure and recreational fishing guides staged a protest of DFO’s closure.

A return of 1.6 million sockeye (around 25% of the expected return) on the Fraser River sounds good compared to the four sockeye that returned to the captive broodstock program on Redfish Lake in Idaho this August. The Redfish Lake sockeye salmon was listed as endangered in 1991, and restoration efforts have continued since then with some notable successes. However, the system of dams on the Columbia, Snake, and Salmon Rivers has hampered the recovery of the Redfish Lake sockeye as it must navigate the series of dams during its 900 mile journey from the Pacific Ocean to the lake – the longest journey of any Pacific salmon stock.

There have been exceptions to the rule of poor returns on the West Coast (excluding Alaska and parts of British Columbia). On the Puyallup River, which flows into the southern part of Puget Sound, an astonishing 780,000 pink salmon have returned to spawn, breaking the previous 2005 record of 500,000. Scientists studying the river suspect the pink salmon’s short two-year life cycle and its relatively short time spent in-river before heading out to the ocean makes it less susceptible to adverse in-river habitat conditions. Poor in-river habitat conditions can decimate other runs of Pacific salmon, most notably the coho salmon, which spend one or two years in-river before heading out to the ocean.

2007 was the fifth largest salmon catch in Alaskan commercial fishing history, totaling more than 200 million fish with 135 million pink salmon and 47 million sockeye salmon leading the catch. While it was a record-breaking year for some of the species, the forecasted catch of chinook at 789,000 came in at only 498,000 fish. In recent years, with stocks from California to Washington depressed because of ongoing habitat problems, Alaska’s salmon fishery has been the one bright spot because of its relatively unperturbed spawning habitat. That, however, could change, according to Margot Roosevelt of The Los Angeles Times, if plans to build one of the world’s largest gold mines at the headwaters of rivers that flow into Bristol Bay go through. Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. of Vancouver, Canada is proposing (and lobbying intensely) to build five giant mines which would be in operation for 50 to 80 years at the headwaters of the eight rivers that flow into Bristol Bay to extract an estimated $300 billion worth of gold. Environmentalists and scientists warn that the mining operation would destroy the most prolific salmon producing region in the world (30 million of the 47 million sockeye caught this season in Alaska originated from a river in the Bristol Bay region) and would wreak havoc on Bristol Bay’s other wildlife including a 45,000-head Mulchatna caribou herd.

For an article on the low returns to the Columbia-Snake River systems and the impact on commercial fishing and tourism go to www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,162699.shtml. For an article on the four sockeye salmon to return to Redfish Lake go to www.cbbulletin.com/Archive/08302007/235363.aspx. For an article on the record return of pink salmon on the Puyallup River go to www.theolympian.com/570/story/210351.html. For an article on the low returns of sockeye on the Fraser River go to http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/08/17/4426872-cp.html. For an article on the record salmon catch in Alaska go to www.adn.com/outdoors/fishing/fishing_report/story/9286025p-9200501c.html. For a 1 September Margot Roosevelt article in The Los Angeles Times go to www.latimes.com/news/la-na-mine1sep01,1,4199799.story?ctrack=4&cset=true.

13:22/06. DR. JOHN GOFMAN, SCIENTIST, SALMON FISHERMEN PASSES AWAY: John Gofman will be remembered as an eminent scientist, doctor, and an outspoken and inadvertent critic of nuclear energy programs. To those involved with the fishing industry in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1960’s Dr. Gofman will also be remembered as “John,” a commercial fishermen who fished salmon in the summers with his son, a medical student at the time. While Dr. Gofman was fishing for salmon he was also the Director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a tenured professor at UC Berkeley. To read his obituary in The New York Times go to www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/us/26gofman.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin.

13:22/07. PACIFIC COUNCIL’S GROUNDFISH ALLOCATION COMMITTEE TO MEET: The Pacific Fishery Management Council's Groundfish Allocation Committee will meet on September 25-27, 2007, at the Council’s offices in Portland, OR. The Committee will consider draft alternatives, preliminary analyses, and other material for rationalizing the Pacific Coast’s limited entry groundfish trawl industry, and for allocating Pacific Coast groundfish stocks and stock complexes to the various Pacific Coast fishery sectors. The Committee will develop recommendations for consideration by the Council at its November 2007 meeting in San Diego, CA. For more information, contact John.DeVore@noaa.gov.

13:22/08. OREGON SEA GRANT DIRECTOR OPENING: Oregon State University is seeking qualified applicants to succeed Dr. Robert Malouf, who is retiring after 17 years as Director of the Oregon Sea Grant Program. The Director provides overall leadership for Oregon Sea Grant, and oversees a total annual budget of approximately $5 million, and approximately 60 staff and faculty who carry out research, administrative, communication and outreach services. He/she reports to the OSU Vice President for Research. A terminal degree with professional experience and a record of excellence in research/ scholarship, policy, and/or management in marine, coastal, natural resources or a related field are required. Candidates should have significant experience with natural resource issues. Preference will be given to candidates with a demonstrated commitment to the Land Grant/Sea Grant concept of research, education, and outreach. Interested applicants can visit https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51786 for more information.

13:22/09. NMFS SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON MAGNUSON-STEVENS AMENDMENT: The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is seeking public input on what guidance is needed to implement the limited access privilege program provisions found in section 303(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation & Management Act, as amended in 2006. The regional fishery management councils hold much of the responsibility for developing limited access privilege programs that best meet the needs of specific fisheries. NMFS’s goal is to guide the consistent application of requirements for limited access privilege programs across different regions, without compromising the Councils’ flexibility or innovation. Therefore, NMFS is inviting the public to help identify topics that should be included in a proposed rule to clarify these legal provisions and requirements. Questions to be considered include the following: What should be the requirements or limits on holding privileges? What criteria should be used to determine whether businesses are substantially dependent on a fishery? What factors should the agency use to determine if a Regional Fishery Association’s sustainability plan is acceptable? How should the Councils and agency determine when it is necessary to assist entry level and small vessel owner-operators, captains, crew and fishing communities? Comments may be sent to LAP.Guidance@noaa.gov through 30 September 2007. NMFS will review these comments, evaluate the legal, technical and policy implications, frame options and recommendations, and issue guidance, as appropriate, through a public process. More information is available at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/limitedaccess.html, or contact Jason.Blackburn@noaa.gov.

CORRECTIONS: In the 27 July 2007 issue of Sublegals (Vol. 13, No. 20), at 13:20/03, a quote was attributed to “Pat Higgins, fisheries biologist for the Klamath Tribes.” This was our error. While Mr. Higgins is a valued contractor for many of the Tribes in the Klamath Basin, he is not on staff with any Tribe and has no authorization to speak on behalf of any Tribe. This attribution error is entirely ours, and does not come from Mr. Higgins in any way. Our apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit your news items, comments or any corrections to Editor at: sublegals@ifrfish.org, or call the IFR/PCFFA office with the news and a source at either: (415) 561-FISH (Southwest Office) or (541) 689-2000 (Northwest Office).

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