[env-trinity] Guest Comment: Salmon Memorial, Sacramento News & Review

[Daniel Bacher]

Here's my "Guest Comment," titled "Salmon memorial," in today's issue of 
Sacramento News & Review (10/7). It's archived online at 
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/Sacto/2004-10-07/guest.asp



Guest Comment

Salmon memorial
By Dan Bacher

The American River is a treasure that winds its way through the heart of the 
Sacramento metropolitan area. It plays host to large annual migrations of 
king salmon, steelhead, shad and striped bass every year, making it one of 
the most popular recreational fisheries in the country.

Unfortunately, biologists from the California Department of Fish and Game 
are expecting a massive fish kill of fall-run chinook salmon on the American 
River this year because of lethally warm water conditions. There is little 
cold water left in Folsom Reservoir because the Bureau of Reclamation 
continues to follow a management plan for Folsom that favors agribusiness 
and other water users over fish.

In the past three years, a total of 181,709 adult salmon died before 
spawning, surpassing even the Klamath River fish kill of 2002, where as many 
as 68,000 salmon perished. The American’s fish died because of lethally warm 
water conditions.

Thirty-seven percent of the run of 2003--58,651 out of 158,516 returning 
adult chinooks--died before spawning, according to Mike Healey, Department 
of Fish and Game associate fishery biologist. The vast majority of these 
fish were natural spawners. In the fall of 2001, 87,626 fish (67 percent of 
the run) died before spawning.

The annual fish kills are expected to continue until adequate water flow and 
temperature standards are adopted on the American. The Save the American 
River Association (SARA), United Anglers, the California Sportfishing 
Protection Alliance, the Sacramento Valley Water Forum and other groups are 
supporting the adoption of water standards to protect fisheries and restore 
the river.

The water forum produced a draft document in January 2004 that it would like 
the State Water Resources Control Board to consider in 2005. The problem is 
that the bureau wants a permanent dedication of “b2 flows”--water dedicated 
to fish and wildlife under federal water reform legislation--if it is to 
support the standards. Conservation groups contend that the use of this 
water is supposed to be determined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
annually, based on changing needs and conditions.

The time for adoption of flow and temperature standards is long overdue. As 
Allen Wade, SARA president, said, “We don’t want to turn the annual Salmon 
Festival into a memorial every year.” For more information, contact SARA at 
(916) 387-1763.


Dan Bacher is managing editor of Elk Grove's The Fish Sniffer magazine and 
board member of United Anglers of California