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<P
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class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 24pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"><A
href="http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_14395979">http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_14395979</A></SPAN></B></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1"
class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 24pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">Circling
the drain? <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> salmon numbers down as delta pumping
fight heats up<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">John Driscoll/The
Times-Standard<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Posted: <st1:date w:st="on"
Year="2010" Day="13" Month="2">02/13/2010</st1:date> 01:27:21 AM
PST<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><BR>Federal fisheries managers
are reporting that 2009 salmon returns to the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">River basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> were the worst on record, just
as a new plan is being proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein to boost water
diversions from the river delta to <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> farms. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Commercial
and sport fishermen may be facing another year in which fishing will be
restricted or closed along the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> and southern <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State> coast. Outrage is
building over an amendment being pitched by Feinstein that some fellow Democrats
say would do an end-run around the federal Endangered Species Act and imperil
salmon in order to provide more water to valley farms. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The
amendment would be rolled into a federal jobs bill, and came as a surprise to
Rep. Mike Thompson, who said Feinstein assured him and other Democrats that a
delta plan would be based on a framework being developed by the National Academy
of Sciences. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">”She's
decided to chart her own course and do this amendment,” the St. Helena Democrat
said. “It's disappointing at best.” <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The
peer-reviewed study aims to explore a sustainable approach to water and
fisheries management, and is expected to be released in mid-March, according to
the NAS. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Feinstein's
press office did not return the Times-Standard's phone calls Friday.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">River basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> normally produces the salmon
that are the backbone of the West Coast salmon industry. But for the past three
years, returning chinook salmon have been so few that fishing has been shut down
or seriously curtailed. Fishing and conservation interests say the downturn
corresponds with increased diversions by <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento
River</st1:place> delta pumps that kill salmon that pass nearby.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Feinstein's
amendment would reportedly increase pumping from 10 percent in last year's
drought to 40 percent for the next two years. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The U.S.
Department of the Interior said that the Bureau of Reclamation is currently
complying with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's biological opinion that
governs the pumping restrictions to protect the delta smelt.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">”We are in
the process of reviewing Senator Feinstein's proposal,” said Interior press
secretary Kendra Barkoff. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The number of chinook salmon returning to the
Sacramento River basin in 2009 was estimated at only 39,500. Most of those fish
left the river in 2006, coming back three years later to spawn. The Pacific
Fishery Management Council is reporting that the paltry returns are part of a
continuing decline -- despite the closure of nearly all ocean fisheries and
fishing in the river. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">In comparison, 66,264 salmon were counted in
2008, down from 90,000 counted in 2007. In 2002, more than 750,000 adult salmon
were counted in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River
basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Only 9,000 jacks -- two-year-old salmon --
returned to the basin in 2009, which indicates low numbers of salmon in the
ocean for this year's fishery. Fishermen say about 20,000 jacks is a target that
would allow a decent fishing season. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman"><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Eureka</st1:place></st1:City> fisherman Dave Bitts, also president of
the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said that the forecast
for the salmon industry is bleak. Bitts said that Feinstein's amendment seems to
suggest that <st1:place w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:place> farmers can't survive
unless salmon are driven to extinction. He said that Feinstein has apparently
forsaken her reputation as a skilled deal-maker with a special ability to
resolve disputes. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">”In this case, she's going totally to one side
and ignoring the other,” Bitts said. “It's totally unlike her. It's not how she
got where she is.” </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">At the same time, farm jobs in the San Joaquin
Valley have also taken a hit, though recent studies by the University of the
Pacific and the University of California at Davis concluded that most of the
jobs lost were due to the three-year drought, with far fewer caused by
Endangered Species Act restrictions meant to protect endangered delta smelt and
salmon. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Tom Stokely with the California Water Impact
Network said that those restrictions also prevent the Central Valley Project
from tapping too much water from the <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Trinity</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, which is connected to the project.
Without the limits, Stokely said, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Trinity</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> could be drawn down too low to be
able to provide cold water for salmon and steelhead in the <st1:place
w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place> during late summer. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Even with several big winter storms, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Trinity</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> is only about half full. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">”The Trinity is already in great jeopardy,”
Stokely said. “This will only exacerbate the
situation.”</FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>