[env-trinity] Fw: California ocean salmon season looks promising/California family farmers band together to fight fracking

Thu Feb 27 15:51:24 PST 2014

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Dan Bacher <danielbacher at fishsniffer.com>
To: 
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2014 3:24 PM
Subject: California ocean salmon season looks promising/California family farmers band together to fight fracking

http://www.fishsniffer.com/blogs/details/california-ocean-salmon-season-looks-promising/

Marci Yaremko, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) representative on the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) answers a question about the upcoming salmon season as Dan Wolford, PFMC chair, listens at the CDFW meeting in Santa Rosa on February 26. Photo by Dan Bacher.

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California ocean salmon season looks promising 

Sacramento River fall Chinook abundance forecast is large 

by Dan Bacher 

In spite of the record drought, the forecast for recreational and commercial salmon fishing year on the California coast from Horse Mountain in Humboldt County to below Monterey looks relatively good, according to data released at a California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) meeting in Santa Rosa on Wednesday. 

The majority of the fish caught in this region are Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon stocks, the driver of West Coast salmon fisheries. The ocean abundance forecast is 634,650 Chinook salmon, less than last year’s forecast of 865,525, but still a promising number. 

“The abundance forecast is large,” said Michael O’Farrell of the National Marine Fisheries Service. “Our preliminary prediction is 328,567 spawners that would return to the Sacramento River and tributaries if the 2013 regulations were in place this year.” 

O’Farrell said that number is well over their target of at least 190,395 salmon returning to Central Valley rivers to spawn, so this target is “unlikely to constrain 2014 fisheries.” 

In 2013, a total of 424,914 combined hatchery and naturally spawinng fall run Chinooks, including 404,666 adults and 20,248 jacks (two-year-olds) returned to the Sacramento River. This total included 164,213 salmon from the Upper Sacramento River, 193,391 from the Feather River Basin and 64,310 from the American River Basin. 

The other factor constraining the recreational and commercial seasons is protections for Sacramento River winter-run Chinook. The maximum allowable age 3-impact rate is 15.4 percent. 

If the same regulations as 2013 were implemented, the preliminary prediction of age 3 salmon impact rate would be 13.2 percent. “This is likely to constrain fisheries south of Point of Arena,” he said. 

Last year angling impacts to the winter run Chinook, an endangered species that plummeted from 117,000 fish in 1969 to only hundreds in the early 1990s, were protected from potential impacts by anglers through a combination of days off the water during the summer and a size limit of 24 inches. This season is expected to see similar measures taken. 

In 2013, federal and state fisheries managers documented a total of 6,122 winter run Chinooks, including 5,653 adults and 469 jacks (two-year-olds), the best run since 2006, said Alex Letvin, CDFW environmental scientist. 

The recreational salmon season from Horse Mountain to the U.S./Mexico border is set to begin on April 5, while the commercial season is expected to start May 1. 

While the prospects for this season look good, this will be no means a record year for salmon – and low water conditions on the Central Valley rivers and poor management of rivers and rivers by the state and federal governments are expected to impact the salmon runs in upcoming years, particularly the winter run. 

“The problem isn’t in the ocean – it’s in the rivers,” said Dick Pool, administrator of Water for Fish and board member of the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA). "The problem is getting the young fish down to the ocean. Some of us have dedicated our lives to solving this problem.” 

Likewise, Bob Boucke, owner of Johnson’s Bait and Tackle in Yuba City and also a board member of the GGSA, commented, “There are no big changes expected to the ocean seasons that target the Sacramento River fall run Chinooks. A decent quantity of fish is expected this year.” 

He emphasized, “The problem is that water diversions from the Sacramento River into the Delta Cross Channel take a percentage of fish corresponding with the percentage of water diverted for export. If 75 percent of the water is diverted, you can expect 75 percent of the smolts (young salmon) to be diverted in the wrong direction rather than towards the ocean. Once in the channel, there’s no hope for the fish.” 

While relatively full salmon seasons are expected south of Horse Mountain, increased restrictions are expected in the Klamath Management Zone in California from Horse Mountain to the Oregon border. 

The 2014 Klamath River forecast is only 299,282, including 219,840 age 3 fish, 67,367 age 4 fish and 21,075 age 5 fish. The potential spawner abundance forecast is 76,952 fish and all of ocean and river fisheries must target an escapement of at least 40,700 fish. 

The forecast is a far cry from the ocean abundance estimate of 1,651,800 in 2012, a record year for Klamath River fall Chinook stocks. 

If the liberal regulations of 2013 for Tribal, recreational and commercial fisheries were in effect this year, only an estimated 19,218 fish would return to spawn, less than half of the 40,700 natural spawner target. So a reduction in the seasons, bag limits and catch quotas for Klamath Management Zone salmon is expected this year. 

The 2013 Klamath Basin fall chinook run estimate ranked 11th out of 36 years. A total of 18,806 fish, ages 2 to 5, returned to the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery on the Klamath River and the Trinity River Fish Hatchery combined. The total of natural spawners, ages 2 to 5, was 69,986 fish. 

Based on the preliminary data released on Wednesday and other scientific information, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) will craft three options for ocean salmon seasons in its upcoming meeting at the Double Tree Hotel in Sacramento March 7-13. The Council will then make a final decision on the seasons at its April meeting. 

For more information, go to: http://www.pcouncil.org/ 

The season crafting process takes place as Governor Jerry Brown continues to fast-track the construction of the peripheral tunnels under the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The construction of the tunnels would hasten the extinction of Central Valley Chinook salmon, steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, as well as imperil salmon and steelhead populations on the Klamath and Trinity rivers. 

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/02/27/18751649.php 

Photo courtesy of Food and Water Watch and Center for Biological Diversity. 

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California family farmers band together to fight fracking 

by Dan Bacher 

California family farmers, struggling with a record drought that’s parching their fields and livelihoods, are calling on Governor Jerry Brown to place a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a water-intensive extreme oil and gas extraction process. 

Governor Brown currently supports the expansion of environmentally destructive fracking operations in California, as well as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the fish-killing peripheral tunnels. 

On the afternoon of February 26, Shafter almond farmer Tom Frantz, California State Grange President Bob McFarland and Monterey County vintner Paula Getzelman of Tre Gatti Vineyards delivered a petition to Governor Brown’s office signed by 145 California farmers calling for a moratorium on fracking, according to a news release from Food and Water Watch and the Center for Biological Diversity, members of Californians Against Fracking. 

“Water is the lifeblood of a farm — without clean, affordable water we cannot grow food,” said the Shafter almond farmer Tom Frantz, who caught on video the illegal dumping of fracking wastewater in an unlined pit next to an almond orchard. “This drought has already put many of California’s small and midsized farms on the brink. To allow fracking on some of California’s most fertile agricultural land will further devastate California’s bucolic heritage. I don’t think this is the legacy that Governor Brown wants to leave behind.” 

The farmers were joined by Jerome Waag, head chef of the legendary Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, to deliver a fracking moratorium petition signed by 171 chefs, restaurateurs, brewers, purveyors, retailers and winemakers from across California, including some of the most celebrated chefs in the world such as Alice Waters, Stuart Brioza, Chris Cosentino, Dominique Crenn, Suzanne Goin, Joyce Goldstein, Daniel Patterson and Annie Somerville, according to the two groups. 

The groups said California’s drought is particularly devastating to the state’s farmers who grow the bulk of America’s fruits, vegetables and nuts, especially those in the primarily agricultural Central Valley. The State Water Project recently announced that it would be cutting off water deliveries for the first time in its 54-year history, and the federal government announced last week that farmers should expect to receive no water from the Central Valley Project. Additionally, the price for water has increased tenfold, from $135 an acre-foot last year to $1,350 an acre-foot in the second week of February. 

“When farmers cannot irrigate their land, their workers lose their jobs and local economies suffer. Some never recover,” said California State Grange President Bob McFarland. “Much of the world relies on the excellent produce and nuts grown in California, and our water should be used to grow this food and feed people, not wasted in a toxic extraction process to produce oil to be shipped overseas.” 

Two weeks ago, President Obama, with Governor Brown by his side, visited the Central Valley to pledge $183 million in existing federal funds and to ask Congress for $1 billion in additional funds, linking the drought to climate change. 

Meanwhile, Governor Brown continues to stand behind Senator Fran Pavley's SB 4, the legislation he signed into law last fall that paves the way for expanded fracking and other forms of extreme oil extraction from the Monterey Shale, believed to hold as much as 13 billion barrels of crude oil. 

The Monterey Shale sits beneath some of California’s most prized farmland. Extracting the estimated 13 billion barrels of oil would release about 7.7 billion more metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, further destabilizing our climate and exacerbating droughts, according to the release. 

“In the short term, fracking makes competition for California’s water even more fierce, which could have a significant negative effect on farmers, ranchers and vintners,” said Paula Getzelman, owner of Tre Gatti Vineyards in Monterey County. “But the long-term consequences of fracking are even more devastating. California needs to be investing in the people who cultivate the land and feed people, not the oil companies that threaten to pollute our land, water and communities.” 

In addition to making the threat of climate change worse, fracking, along with related drilling, wastewater disposal and other extreme extraction methods like acidizing, has raised serious environmental and public health concerns across the country. 

Wastewater from fracking and drilling operations is regularly dumped or leaked into waterways, putting Central Valley salmon, Delta fish populations and ocean fisheries in danger. And a recent study in the United Kingdom found that pollution, such as diesel exhaust common in fracking operations, can harm bees. Tom Frantz recently captured video of bees pollinating almond trees adjacent to drilling operations, the groups stated. 

"With more than 80,000 farms producing about $45 billion in annual profits, California is the nation’s largest farm state, and agriculture is California’s leading industry. In states like Pennsylvania, Colorado and Ohio, grazing animals have gotten sick and died after drinking fracking runoff and water from farm wells near fracking operations. In Kern County, one farmer lost millions of dollars worth of almond and pistachio crops from groundwater contamination from a nearby oil and gas operation," the groups said. 

“Farmers are vital to a healthy food system and a healthy economy and they must be protected,” said Adam Scow, California campaigns director for Food & Water Watch. “We call on Governor Brown to place a moratorium on fracking to protect California farmers from the severe threat of fracking.” 

“California needs an immediate halt to fracking to protect our state’s precious water from this toxic technique,” said Brian Nowicki of the Center for Biological Diversity. “To safeguard our farmers and others affected by our state’s crippling drought, Governor Brown should halt fracking in our state to protect the air we breathe and the water we so desperately need.” 

The petition was organized in conjunction with Food & Water Watch, the Center for Biological Diversity and other members of the statewide coalition Californians Against Fracking. Californians Against Fracking and other organizations will hold a massive rally in Sacramento on March 15 to press for a halt to fracking in the state. 

Polls show that the majority of Californians are opposed to fracking. Since the launch of Californians Against Fracking in May 2013, more than 200,000 petitions have been signed urging Governor Brown to ban fracking in California. Farmers, environmental justice groups, public health advocates, local elected officials, students, celebrities and many others are calling on Governor Brown to halt fracking in California. More information can be found at californiansagainstfracking.org. 

Californians Against Fracking is a coalition of environmental, business, health, agriculture, labor, political and environmental justice organizations working to win a statewide ban on fracking in California. 

The farmer petition and list of farmers who have signed can be found at http://fwwat.ch/CAfarmersagainstfrack. 

The chef petition and list of chefs who have signed can be found at http://fwwat.ch/CAChefsFightingFracking. 

Photos from yesterday’s meeting and letter delivery to Governor Brown can be found at http://fwwat.ch/1eqgOIO. 

Background on fracking 

For those not familiar with the practice, fracking blasts massive amounts of chemical-laced water into the ground to crack rock formations in order to extract oil and natural gas. according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The process routinely employs numerous toxic chemicals, including methanol, benzene and trimethylbenzene. Fracking has been documented in 10 California counties. 

Oil companies have also fracked offshore wells over 200 times in the ocean near California’s coast, from Seal Beach to the Santa Barbara Channel, according to a Freedom of Information Act Request and media investigation by the Associated Press and truthout.org last year. WSPA President Catherine Reheis-Boyd served on the MLPA Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Forces during much of the time that this fracking of our marine waters was taking place. 

The Center cited two studies documenting the harm fracking poses to human health. Birth defects are more common in babies born to mothers living near fracked wells, according to a new study by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health. In California, a recent Center report found that oil companies used 12 dangerous “air toxic” chemicals more than 300 times in the Los Angeles Basin over a period of a few months. 

Besides posing a big threat to human health, the pollution to California groundwater supplies, rivers and the Delta that will result from fracking and acidization will devastate already imperiled populations of Central Valley Chinook salmon, steelhead, Delta smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species. 

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the most powerful corporate lobbying organization in Sacramento, spent over $4.67 million, more than any other interest group, while lobbying state government in 2013, according to data released by the Secretary State's Office and compiled by the Capitol Morning Report. 

Another oil company giant, Chevron Corporation and its subsidiaries, spent $3.95 million, the third most spent by any group on lobbying state government in 2013. Chevron also spent much of its money on lobbying against bills that would ban or regulate fracking in California. 

Since it is the most powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento, the oil industry is able to wield enormous influence over state and federal regulators and environmental processes. The result of this inordinate money and influence is the effective evisceration of the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999 during the MLPA Initiative process and the signing of Senator Fran Pavley's Senate Bill 4. 

A report recently released by the American Lung Association revealed that the oil industry lobby spent $45.4 million in the state between January 1 2009 and June 30, 2013. The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) alone has spent over $20 million since 2009 to lobby legislators. (http://blog.center4tobaccopolicy.org/oil-lobbying-in-california) 

For more information on oil industry power and money, go to: http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/11/08/sacramento-a-capital-awash-in-oil-money/ 

Background on fracking 