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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Big
rains stir up sturgeon bite; Delta smelt debate takes new tack<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Marin
Independent Journal-1/28/10<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>By
Alastair Bland<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Opinion<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Until
floodwaters deposit the Marin IJ offices high and dry atop Mount Tamalpais, I will
refrain from describing the recent rains as biblical. But they've been epic all
right, and they've stirred up the sturgeon bite. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Ricci
Garzoli, who owns DeMello Roofing in San Rafael, took a guest fishing on
Tuesday. The said angler, Larry Jenkins from Wyoming, landed a 56-inch sturgeon
and a surprise 25-pound striped bass on Tuesday. Sean Daugherty, salesman at
Western Sport Shop, took a friend of his own out the same day. The fisherman
was Alan Choy of San Francisco, and Choy wound up with a 57-inch sturgeon -
plus the $100-upon-return Fish and Game tag it was wearing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Now,
rarely does one catch a fish longer than the water is deep, but when Scott
Snyder of Tracy dropped his anchor in just 5 feet of water near Hamilton Field
last Sunday, he was bound to come close. In the end, he caught and released a
7-footer. What else is there to say? Grab some mud shrimp and go fishing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>I
recently reported that the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a biological
opinion just over a year ago calling for minimum freshwater flows to assure
survival of the Delta smelt. Now further threads unravel from this yarn. It
seems that Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, at the request of Stewart Resnick,
the wealthy owner of Paramount Farms, called for a review of the opinion, which
has mandated limitations on water exports from the Delta (though the drought,
not federal agencies, is the root of the problem).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>So
on Tuesday a panel of several experts assembled in Davis to discuss the 2008
biological opinion and debate whether the science on which it's based is sound.
Rick Deriso, a San Diego biologist and a member of the Inter-American Tropical
Tuna Commission, spoke on behalf of farming interests that have challenged the
biological opinion. These groups, naturally, want more water, and this tuna
expert claimed, through some reasoning, that Delta water pumps have negligible
detrimental effects on the Delta smelt. Seems to me unlikely, but what do I
know? I'm not the tuna expert.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But
Tina Swanson, executive director of the Bay Institute in Novato and an expert
on fish that actually live in the Delta, says the pumps are undoubtedly killing
fish. Swanson, who also attended the meetings in Davis, believes that the 2008
biological opinion is based upon "very high-quality science" and cites
a half dozen species, including striped bass, American shad and Delta smelt,
now traveling on trajectories toward extinction. The Delta smelt population,
for one, hit a record low in 2009, and juvenile stripers are currently scarce,
according to DFG trawl surveys.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"Clearly,
something in the Delta is very wrong," Swanson said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But
to those who simply don't care about fish, this is all meaningless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The
current review of the 2008 Fish and Wildlife Service's biological opinion is
the second such process. The Bay Institute itself challenged the previous
federal opinions on how to best protect Delta smelt and Chinook salmon, and the
2008 opinion is the result of that process. Now it's under review. The game
could go on for ages. Hang in there, smelt.#<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Alastair
Bland is a Bay Area fisherman. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land/fax (call first to fax)</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
mobile</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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