[env-trinity] Fishermen and Delta leaders say water exporters are destroying Delta smelt!

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/17/1371584/-Fishermen-and-Delta-leaders-say-exporters-are-destroying-Delta-smelt

Fishermen and Delta leaders say water exporters are destroying Delta  
smelt!

by Dan Bacher

The Delta smelt, once the most abundant fish in the entire Bay Delta  
Estuary, may already be extinct, according to UC Davis fish biologist  
and author Peter Moyle, as quoted on Capital Public Radio.

"Prepare for the extinction of the Delta Smelt in the wild," Moyle  
told a group of scientists with the Delta Stewardship Council. (http://www.capradio.org/articles/2015/03/16/endangered-delta-smelt-may-be-extinct 
)

The latest trawl survey by the California Department of Fish and  
Wildlife (CDFW) found just six smelt to date. That survey follows the  
fall midwater trawl survey, when biologists recorded the lowest number  
of smelt ever documented, 8, at a total of 100 sites sampled from  
September through December.

"That trawl survey came up with just six smelt, four females and two  
males," Moyle told Capital Public Radio. "Normally because they can  
target smelt, they would have gotten several hundred.”

“Moyle says the population of Delta smelt has been declining for the  
last 30 years but the drought may have pushed the species to the point  
of no return. If the smelt is officially declared extinct, which could  
take several years, the declaration could change how water is managed  
in California,” according to the report.

“All these biological opinions on Delta smelt that have restricted  
some of the pumping will have to be changed,” said  Moyle.

The Delta smelt is an indicator species that demonstrates the health  
of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The 2.0 to 2.8 inch long  
fish is endemic to the estuary and spends all of its life in the Delta.

Restore the Delta and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance  
(CSPA), opponents of the Governor’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP)  
to build the peripheral tunnels, responded to the alarming news that  
the Delta smelt may be extinct by blasting a move by the State Water  
Resources Control Board to further weaken Delta outflow and water  
quality standards.

In a press release, they said the smelt may be reaching the “point of  
no return” if swift action is not taken – and indicated that the  
Board’s action makes even more likely the decimation of this one-time  
most abundant Delta species, and winter-run Chinook salmon this year.

The State Water Board's action lowered Delta outflow for purpose of  
managing the ecosystems and salinity control, a move that they said is  
“bad for fish, good for invasive species and helps storage” by  
reducing how much water the projects send  from upstream reservoirs to  
keep salt out of the Delta.

“The State Water Board, even in the face of near-extinction of Delta  
smelt and salmon, is proposing to drastically relax minimal water  
quality and flow standards enacted to protect the Bay-Delta and  
tributary streams, for the third year in a row,” said Bill Jennings,  
Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.  
“Delta and longfin smelt and  Winter-run Chinook salmon have collapsed  
to less than one percent of historic numbers, and are facing  
extinction.”

“Yet the Water Board and the Governor expect our rivers and fisheries  
to bear the burden and suffer the consequences of mismanagement, even  
as additional acres of almonds are planted in the Valley. The Delta is  
a national treasure belonging to all of the people in the state and  
nation. It must not be sacrificed to the insatiable greed of special  
interests,” he stated.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta,  
said, “Restore the Delta and its partners have worked for 8 years for  
the protection of Delta smelt. Excessive water pumping by the State  
and Federal water exporters, especially on behalf of those growing  
almonds in the  Westlands Water District and Kern County, has led to  
the collapse of the estuary.”

“And here in the fifth year of drought, the State Water Resources  
Control Board has left open a loophole that one could drive a Mack  
truck through, by allowing water exporters to tell the board how much   
water they need, and allowing for emergency water for these same  
growers. State and Federal fish agencies are failing to enforce laws  
to protect fisheries,” she emphasized.

“The estuary is unraveling; California is running out of water; and  
all the Brown Administration can talk about is dry tunnels that will  
save neither the fish, nor the people of California,” she explained.

Barrigan-Parrilla asked, “How much longer will the Brown  
Administration fiddle, and ignore that California must adjudicate  
water rights. Huge industrial farms on the west side of the San  
Joaquin Valley cannot be  sustained while the estuary collapses.

She also noted that droughts are recurrent and predictable weather  
patterns in California – and “droughts are not emergencies, except  
when our water agencies fail to manage for their recurrence.”

Barrigan-Parrilla and Jennings said the current water quality  
objectives give a "green light" to the California Department of Water  
Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to gamble that each water  
year will be normal to wet: they prioritize upstream storage for  
exports to south of Delta storage, resulting in a “beggar-thy- 
neighbor” competition  pitting against each other exports, salinity  
control, fish protection, and ecosystem-protective outflows.

“This situation is preventable and state and federal agencies failed  
to prevent it,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “Mismanagement of our water  
resources by the State of California and federal government are  
sending both the endangered salmon and Delta smelt to extinction.  
Their political favoring of  billionaire growers over the rest of us  
is finishing off the fish.”

“Gov. Brown favors big agribusinesses on the west side of the San  
Joaquin Valley over the economic  and environmental over the economic  
and environmental needs of the people who live in the Bay-Delta  
Estuary. Our salmon fisheries  support a $1.5 billion economy that  
supports a $1.5 billion economy, Delta farming a $5.2 billion  
economy,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.

For more information about the collapse of Delta smelt, longfin smelt,  
striped bass, threadfin shad, Sacramento River splittail, Central  
Valley salmon and steelhead and other fish species,, go to: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/01/09/18766643.php

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