<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "> <div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Verdana; color: rgb(0, 19, 153); min-height: 13px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#0014ee" style="font: 11.0px Verdana; color: #0014ee"><a href="http://www.fishsniffer.com/blogs/details/sacramento-river-salmon-trucking-program-begins/"><u>http://www.fishsniffer.com/blogs/details/sacramento-river-salmon-trucking-program-begins/</u><u></u></a></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(0, 19, 153); min-height: 14px; "><b></b><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Arial" size="6" color="#001399" style="font: 22.0px Arial; color: #001399"><b>SACRAMENTO RIVER SALMON TRUCKING PROGRAM BEGINS</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Written By: <b>Dan Bacher, March 26, 2014</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> <br><img src="cid:483B842D-7066-47D3-BCBF-57E3DD295163@local"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Federal and state officials and fishing group representatives yesterday greeted the beginning of a trucking program designed to transport juvenile salmon from a federal fish hatchery in Anderson, California to the Delta in order to improve their chances of survival in drought conditions. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Coleman National Fish Hatchery began transporting fall Chinook salmon smolts (juveniles) from the hatchery to a release site near Rio Vista on the morning of Tuesday, March 25, carrying out details of a special drought contingency plan announced by federal and state agencies earlier this month. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The event marked the start of a more than two-month drought-response effort by federal and state hatcheries to transport roughly 30.4 million Chinook salmon to downriver locations to improve the fish’s chances for survival during their migration to the ocean. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The Chinook smolts, 3 inches in length, have been raised at the Coleman hatchery as part of the federal hatchery’s role in partially mitigating for Shasta and Keswick dams on the upper Sacramento River, according to a news release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Coleman NFH transported the Chinook salmon smolts from the hatchery over approximately 180 miles to a site on the lower Sacramento River near Rio Vista, the first time that site has been used. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“This is the first time USFWS has trucked smolts from Coleman since 2011. While it's a 180-mile trip for the trucks, the salmon will have their typical migration from the hatchery to the ocean shortened by 260 to 300 river miles,” according to Steve Martarano, Public Affairs Specialist, Bay-Delta Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The smolts were placed in net pens operated by the Fishery Foundation of California, a non-profit organization, for acclimatization and then released. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Martarano said Coleman NFH smolts are typically released on-site into Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River, so that they complete the imprinting cycle during their outmigration to the ocean. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">"A continuing severe drought in the Central Valley of California, however, has produced conditions in the Sacramento River and Delta detrimental to the survival of juvenile salmon," said Martarano. "To avoid unacceptably high levels of juvenile fish mortality that may result in 2014, this one-time release strategy should produce substantial increases in ocean harvest opportunity." </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The operation will be one of coordination and collaboration between the USFWS, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Fishery Foundation of California. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">If triggers are met in the coming months and all 12 million salmon are trucked from Coleman, the effort will take 22 non-consecutive days, using between four and seven USFWS and CDFW trucks each day, noted Martarano. Each truck holds up to 2,800 gallons of water and each can carry up to 130,000 smolts at water temperatures between 55-60 degrees. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">In addition to Coleman NFH, an estimated 18.4 million salmon smolts are scheduled to be transported until early June to San Pablo Bay from four state hatcheries operated by the CDFW: Feather River Hatchery in Oroville, Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery in Clements, Nimbus Hatchery in Gold River, and Merced River Fish Hatchery in Snelling. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">If USFWS continues trucking into April and May, the San Pablo Bay site will also be used for Coleman hatchery releases. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">However, Martarano also said this release strategy "increases the levels of straying." </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“Salmon tend to return to the point of release when planted from the hatchery to a river, and this release strategy is likely to compromise some of the hatchery objectives, including contributions to harvest in the upper Sacramento River and the ability to collect adequate broodstock at the Coleman NFH in future years – particularly 2016," Martarano explained. "This one-time strategy, however, represents the best possible option when faced with the possibility of losing the entire 2013 production year.” </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“In future years, under less extreme conditions, the standard protocol for releasing Chinook from the Coleman NFH will continue to be on-site releases into Battle Creek,” he concluded. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) representatives were on hand to greet the arrival of tanker trucks bringing millions of juvenile salmon to the Delta. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“The fish are being trucked from the Coleman National Fish Hatchery, located hundreds of miles up the Sacramento River, because drought conditions have made the river virtually impassable to baby salmon,” according to a GGSA news release. “The trucks are carrying them around the deadly drought zone to safe release sites in the Delta and bay. After a short acclimation period, the fish are being released to migrate to the ocean. In 2016 they’ll be adults contributing to the ocean and inland fisheries.” </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">GGSA chairman Roger Thomas emphasized, “Our 2016 fishing season may be riding on the survival of the fish in these trucks. We know that fish trucked around dangers lurking in the rivers and Delta survive at much higher rates than those released at the hatcheries. They are being trucked this year because they’d likely die in the low, clear, hot river conditions created by drought.” </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Coleman hatchery raises approximately 12 million baby fall run salmon annually to help mitigate for the destruction of habitat by Shasta Dam and federal water operations in the Upper Sacramento River. Before the construction of Shasta and other dams, millions of salmon once migrated into the Sacramento, McCloud and Pit rivers and their tributaries to spawn. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“GGSA worked with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to move and save these salmon,” said GGSA executive director John McManus. “What this means is we’ll likely have a much better salmon fishing season in 2016, when these fish reach adulthood, than we would have otherwise gotten. This could mean the difference between a shutdown of the fishery in 2016 and a decent year.” </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">McManus said California’s state-operated hatcheries truck much of their production annually for release in the Delta or Bay and this year the state took a leading role to truck even more due to the drought. State and federally raised hatchery fish could make up much of 2016’s adult salmon harvest and spawning adults. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">With no significant rain in sight, trucking the rest of the Coleman baby salmon is expected to continue through June, according to McManus. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“Although transporting the baby salmon in tanker trucks and releasing them into the bay or western Delta will greatly increase their chances of survival, it’s not our preferred option,” said GGSA treasurer Victor Gonella. “We’d all rather see a functioning, healthy river and Delta that support natural and hatchery salmon.” </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Baby salmon this year face the added risk of being pulled to their deaths through the Delta Cross Channel, a manmade canal built to divert water to huge pumps that send it to corporate agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Normally the Cross Channel Gates would be closed at this time of year to allow salmon passage. However, they are now being opened to dilute salt water accumulation in the interior Delta caused by the drought. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“In addition, pumping of Delta water south in recent weeks was increased even as wildlife managers warned water agencies that many wild federally protected winter and spring run baby salmon were threatened by the pumping. Low numbers of winter run Chinooks could adversely affect the 2016 fishing season,” said Gonella. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The winter-run Chinook salmon, a robust fish that formerly migrated into the McCloud River before Shasta Dam was built, is listed as "endangered" under both state and federal law. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">GGSA secretary Dick Pool, said, "The Fish and Wildlife Service developed criteria for this year dictating when it should transport salmon rather than release them into hostile drought conditions. We think hatchery fish should be trucked in the future whenever these criteria are triggered by low water conditions. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“As more and more fresh water is extracted from the Sacramento River and Delta for delivery to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness, the salmon’s migration corridor downstream and through the Bay-Delta estuary has become a deadly gauntlet,” said GGSA vice chairman Zeke Grader who is also the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “Add drought, and the Central Valley rivers and Delta become virtually impassable for salmon.” </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">GGSA was joined by member fishing groups in working to get the Coleman fish trucked. Members of Congress, including Representatives Mike Thompson, John Garamendi, Jared Huffman, Anna Eshoo, Jackie Speier, George Miller and Mike Honda, also supported the efforts. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The Sacramento River is the driver of West Coast salmon fisheries. California’s salmon industry is currently valued at $1.4 billion in economic activity annually about half that much in economic activity again in Oregon. The industry employs tens of thousands of people from Santa Barbara to northern Oregon. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">This is a huge economic bloc made up of commercial fishing men and women, ocean and river recreational anglers, fish processors, marinas, coastal communities, fishing guides, equipment manufacturers, the hotel and food industry, Indian Tribes, and the salmon fishing industry at large. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">It must be noted that the drought conditions were greatly exacerbated by poor management of northern California reservoirs and rivers by the state and federal water agencies throughout 2013, a record drought year. The water managers systematically drained Shasta, Oroville, Folsom and other reservoirs in 2013 to ship water to corporate agribusiness interests, oil companies and Southern California water agencies. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The draining of the reservoirs last year spurred Restore the Delta, at a Congressional field hearing in Fresno last week, to call for drought relief for Delta farming and fishing communities and for a Congressional investigation of the mismanagement of water resources in California. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“Unfortunately, at the Hearing on Immediate and Long-Term Relief for Drought-Impacted San Joaquin Valley, no discussion is focused on the needs of Delta farming and fishing communities, coastal fishing communities, or the health of the SF Bay-Delta estuary," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. "No discussion is intended to focus on gross mismanagement by the Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation that has helped bring us to the precipice during this water crisis." </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">“There is no focus on how upstream reservoirs at the beginning of 2013 were over 100% of historical average storage, and how by the beginning of 2014 they were at dangerously low levels," she stated. "This Committee should investigate how the State has promised 5 times more in water rights than there is water available in the system during years of average rainfall. This Committee should investigate how water officials have failed to plan for drought management, even though droughts occur 40% of the time in California.” </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Barrigan-Parrilla also urged the Committee to examine how, even in 2013, the Westlands Water District continued to plant almond trees, bringing their total almond acreage to 79,000 acres, despite knowing they are only guaranteed surplus water in the system. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">You can read my investigative piece on the mismanagement of Central Valley reservoirs and rivers in 2013 here:<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/07/1275862/-The-Emptying-of-Northern-California-Reservoirs"><font color="#175e85" style="color: #175e85">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/07/1275862/-The-Emptying-of-Northern-California-Reservoirs</font></a> </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">Meanwhile, the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking a twin tunnel plan that will make prospects for salmon survival even worse than they are now. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral tunnels will hasten the extinction of Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, as well as imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">The so-called "habitat restoration" proposed under the widely-opposed plan will take vast tracts of Delta farmland, some of the most fertile soil on the planet, out of agricultural production in order to continue irrigating mega-farms located on toxic, drainage-impaired land on the west side of the Joaquin Valley. The water destined for the proposed tunnels will also be used by the oil industry for steam injection and fracking operations to extract oil from Monterey Shale deposits in Kern County. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; color: rgb(71, 71, 71); background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">For more information, check out the following: </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">• Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA): <a href="http://goldengatesalmonassociation.com/"><font color="#175e85" style="color: #175e85">http://goldengatesalmonassociation.com</font></a> </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">• Restore the Delta: <a href="http://www.restorethedelta.org/"><font color="#175e85" style="color: #175e85">http://www.restorethedelta.org</font></a> </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">• Media Advisory regarding March 25 media events: </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#175e85" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #175e85"><a href="http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/documents/media_advisory_contingency_strategy_release_3-21-2014.pdf">http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/documents/media_advisory_contingency_strategy_release_3-21-2014.pdf</a></font><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747"> </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">• Map of State/Federal Hatcheries and release sites: </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#175e85" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #175e85"><a href="http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/maps/chinook_salmon_relocation_20140321_Final.pdf">http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/maps/chinook_salmon_relocation_20140321_Final.pdf</a></font><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747"> </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">• The USFWS Contingency Plan released March 10: </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#175e85" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #175e85"><a href="http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/documents/contingency_release_strategies_for_coleman_national">http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/documents/contingency_release_strategies_for_coleman_national</a></font><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747"> </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">_fish_hatchery_3_7_14_draft.pdf </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747">• The CDFW Contingency Plan released March 10: </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); "><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#175e85" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #175e85"><a href="http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/documents/CDFW-Spring-Run-Drought-Contingency-Plan.pdf">http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/documents/CDFW-Spring-Run-Drought-Contingency-Plan.pdf</a></font><font face="Arial" size="3" color="#474747" style="font: 12.0px Arial; color: #474747"> Federal Hatchery Salmon Avoid Drought, Get Ride to Delta </font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#474747" face="Arial"><br></font></div></body></html>