<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><SPAN class=156424002-25022004>I would add that this is but a
small part of the fallout - not only from Napa, but also from OCAP, SDIP and
possible UOP negotiations as well. It gets down to a question of
destruction of the San Francisco Bay Delta, among other things, to
benefit San Joaquin Valley irrigators applying water to poisoned land and some
Southern California municipalities. In other words, Peripheral Canal,
Version II (up to one million more acre feet of Northern California water
PUMPED out of the Bay, just not a CANAL)</SPAN></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=1></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=1>A WEEKLY QUOTA OF FISHERY SHORTS CAUGHT AND LANDED BY
THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF
FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS</FONT></STRONG><FONT lang=0
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face=Arial size=2 BACK="#ffffff" PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=6>SUBLEGALS<BR></FONT></STRONG><FONT lang=0
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face="Times New Roman" size=1 BACK="#ffffff"
PTSIZE="8" FAMILY="SERIF"><I>~WE HOOK THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO NET~</FONT><FONT
lang=0 style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face=Arial size=2 BACK="#ffffff"
PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF"></I><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face="Times New Roman" size=3 BACK="#ffffff"
PTSIZE="12" FAMILY="SERIF"><B>Vol. 09, No. 05</B><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face=Arial size=2 BACK="#ffffff" PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><B>30 January
2004</B><BR>__________________________________________________________________________________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> <B>9:05/08. FALL-OUT FROM NAPA AGREEMENT - WINTER-RUN
CHINOOK THREATENED:</B> Part of the fall-out from the Napa Agreement (see
<I>Sublegals,</I> 9:03/05; 8:06/02) to increase diversions from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, sending additional water to Central Valley Project
(CVP) contractors and municipal users in Southern California, is the loss of
cold water flows in the Sacramento River -- critical to the survival of
winter-run chinook salmon. The Sacramento winter-run chinook were the first
Pacific salmon to be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and were on
the brink of extinction in 1991, until strong actions were taken under the ESA
(i.e., cold water releases from Shasta Dam, control of heavy metal pollution
from Iron Mountain Mine, implementing effective screening programs at major
agricultural diversions, raising the gates at Red Bluff Diversion Dam,
curtailing Delta pumping and a captive broodstock program was
established). Of all the listed Pacific salmon runs, winter-run have shown
the most improvement to date (from 191 spawners in 1991 to an estimated
7,000-12,000 in 2003), although the fish are still a long way from being
recovered. That progress could now be reversed and the fish again put in
peril if the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) gets its way under the backroom
Napa deal (now also wryly described as N.A.P.A. or "Not All Parties
Asked"). <BR><BR> In a presentation made to the
California Department of Fish & Game (DCFG) and the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS), BOR proposed to significantly reduce critical habitat
for winter-run chinook in the Sacramento River through the New CVP Operations
Criteria & Plan (CVP OCAP).<BR><BR> The plan stems
from the Napa Agreement to increase Delta exports and CVP yield by drawing down
the reservoirs further to capture more flood control "spills." Under this
plan, the temperature compliance point from Bend Bridge and Jellys Ferry to
Balls Ferry would be moved upstream, resulting in a 40 percent reduction in
critical cold water spawning habitat. The current standard is dependent on
water year type and Shasta carryover storage, but BOR is proposing the
compliance point be moved upstream during wet years to essentially the current
critically dry year standard, or worse - it's a long way from Bend Bridge to
Balls Ferry. The bad part is that drawing down the reservoirs decreases
cold water reserves necessary to keep all runs of Sacramento River chinook, not
just winter-run, in good shape during spawning and incubation. BOR's answer to
ever-increasing violations of Sacramento River temperature standards, embodied
in the 1993 Winter Run Biological Opinion, as well as Water Right Order 90-05,
is to simply move the goal post upstream. The issues raised by BOR's plan,
include: <BR> 1. Frequency of
inability to comply with current
standard;<BR> 2. Loss in winter-run
rearing habitat;<BR> 3. Loss in
winter-run spawning habitat;<BR> 4.
Loss in spring-run spawning and
incubation;<BR> 5. Habitat
availability to reach winter-run recovery goal (i.e., 20,000 adults);
<BR> 6. Existing spawning density;
and<BR> 7. Redd
super-imposition.<BR><BR> BOR essentially has told CDFG
and NMFS that this is the way its going to be unless the fishery agencies can
explain to the Bureau in the Biological Opinion (BiOp) why it won't work. There
is to be a meeting on 3 March of the Sacramento River Temperature Task Group to
discuss the matter. The latest version of the Long-Term OCAP is available
on BOR's website at: <A
href="http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvo">http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvo</A>.
<BR></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Byron Leydecker</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Chairman, Friends of Trinity
River</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Consultant, California Trout,
Inc,</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>PO Box 2327</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 383 4810 ph</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 519 4810 cell</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 383 9562 fx</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><FONT
color=#0000ff>bwl3@comcast.net</FONT></A></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><FONT
color=#0000ff>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</FONT></A><FONT color=#0000ff>
(secondary)</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="http://www.fotr.org/"><FONT
color=#0000ff>http://www.fotr.org</FONT></A></EM></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.caltrout.org/"><EM>http://www.caltrout.org</EM></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>