Newsletter of Water4Fish.org
February, 2012
Water4Fish Helps Defeat the Water Contractor Backed Striper Eradication Plan
A 2008 lawsuit by the San Joaquin water contractors forced the California Department of Fish and Game to propose a plan to eradicate striped bass from the San Francisco Bay and Delta. Had that plan gone into effect, hundreds of thousands of fishermen would have lost their ability to catch striped bass and the $1 billion dollar striped bass industry would have been devastated. There was one saving grace to avoid this catastrophe. If the California Fish and Game Commission voted to reject the proposed regulations, the whole proposal would be dead. In a move heralded by thousands of striper supporters on February 2nd at the Commission meeting in Sacramento, the best olution came about. The commissioners voted 4 to 0 to kill the proposal. This was a huge victory for fishermen and the fishing industry.
To defeat the proposal, thousands of fishermen and dozens of fishing organizations came together in a historic show of solidarity against the proposal. Water4Fish carried a big part of the load. In November, when the news of the disastrous proposal first broke, Water4Fish immediately modified its website so that fisherman had somewhere to go to learn about the threat and to take action. An automatic email letter was set up that fishermen could trigger to send an email to the commission. In addition, two sample letters were set up to help fishermen write personal letters to the commission. The program was a smashing success. With the support of key organizations including the California Striped Bass Association, The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Coastside Fishing Club, the Golden Gate Salmon Association and many more, 6,889 supporters clicked on the Water4Fish striper action page and took action. As a result, thousands of letters and emails were sent to the commission.
The day of the commission hearing was tense. Hundreds of striper supporters overflowed the Resource Building auditorium. They had to sit patiently as Fish and Game outlined the eradication plan. They then heard the National Marine Fisheries Service endorse the plan. They then had to listen to a distorted presentation by the hired guns of the water contractors blaming the striped bass for every problem in the book. Finally it came to the public's turn to speak. Thirty seven eloquent speakers stood up one by one and blasted the eradication plan from A to Z. Many told of the terrible impact the plan would have on fishermen, families, businesses and the Delta communities. Others presented excellent facts about the other factors that are devastating the salmon and other native species including over pumping by the exporters, failure to screen at the pumps and the lack of science behind the water contractors proposal.
The room went silent as the commissioners began to share their thoughts. Commissioners Dan Richards and Richard Rogers expressed concern that maybe too much blame was being put on the stripers when they were only one of the problems and maybe other more important stressors were not quantified. Finally Jim Kellogg, President of the commission, summed up his thoughts in a powerful presentation. He talked of the tremendous damage that would be done to one of the greatest fisheries in the state if the proposal was not the correct action. He talked about the lack of data on other stressors like water pumping that could be a much more serious problem than the stripers and he talked about how the eradication of stripers might result in more damage to native species because other predators would replace the stripers. Kellogg made the motion to kill the proposal and it passed 4 to 0.
We owe the commissioners a lot. 1)They did not yield to political pressure, 2) They did not accept a partial solution to a much bigger problem and 3) They voted for what was right under the circumstances that were presented to them. We thank them all.
The fishing interests won round one of the battle but it is far from over. The water contractors are already promising more lawsuits and the National Marine Fisheries Service indicates something must be done about striper predation under the Endangered Species Act. Water4Fish and the other stakeholder groups must now help the agencies find solutions that protect both stripers and salmon.
Thanks for your continuing support. Water4Fish now has almost 85,000 supporters who have sent letters and signed petitions.
Dick Pool - editor
Water4Fish.org P.O. Box 5788, Concord, CA 94524, email action@water4fish.org