[env-trinity] Jerry Brown to meet with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Thursday/Feds Adopt West Coast Salmon Seasons

[Dan Bacher]

Good Evening

Here are my latest two stories - the first a brief piece about  
Governor Jerry Brown's meeting with Secretary Ryan Zinke this Thursday  
and the second about the PFMC adoption of West Coast salmon seasons  
today.

Thanks
Dan

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/11/1652376/-Jerry-Brown-to-meet-with-Interior-Secretary-Ryan-Hinke-about-water-fire-public-lands



Photo of Secretary Zinke courtesy of Department of Interior website.

Jerry Brown to meet with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke about water,  
fire & public lands

by Dan Bacher

Governor Jerry Brown will meet with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in  
Sacramento this Thursday — and many opponents of the Delta Tunnels  
fear that that one of the major points of discussion will be the  
controversial California WaterFix project.
In an an email to me this afternoon, Heather Swift, Department of  
Interior spokesperson said, “The Secretary plans to discuss water,  
fire and public lands priorities” during his meeting with Brown.

The meeting will take place before Zinke travels to Yosemite, Sequoia  
and Kings Canyon national parks on Thursday and Friday.

I have not yet received a response to an email I sent to the  
Governor’s Office regarding whether the tunnels will be specifically  
one of the points of discussion. However, since the California  
WaterFix is a priority water project of Brown’s, it will likely be a  
key item discussed.

The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation has been the  
primary federal agency promoting the construction of the Delta Tunnels  
through a partnership with the State Department of Water Resources  
(DWR).

Brown’s Delta Tunnels project has come under increasing fire from  
scientists, economists and public trust advocates over the past few  
years. Brown and his administration  claim that the California  
WaterFix, a controversial plan to divert Sacramento River water  
through two 35-mile long tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin  
Delta, is based on “science.”

“The best scientific thinking says California needs the project,”  
Governor Brown told Dan Morain, Sacramento Bee editorial page editor  
in an interview in December of 2016. (www.sacbee.com/...)

However, federal scientists strongly disagree with Brown’s claim that  
“best scientific thinking" supports the construction of the tunnels.  
In fact, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has released a  
draft biological opinion documenting the harm the tunnels would cause  
to salmon, steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, other fish and wildlife  
species, and water quality.

An independent peer review panel found the NMFS findings are backed   
by “comprehensive analyses, new data, and modeling,” according to the  
Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA). The panel further found NMFS  
used the “best available science” and produced evidence of  
“significant adverse impacts” to species and critical habitat,  
including unacceptable harm to salmon.

The draft biological opinion is available at http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/central_valley/WaterFix/WaterFixPeerReview2BMaterials.html

Secretary Zinke heads a department that employs 70,000 people,  
including expert scientists and resource-management professionals, in  
nine technical bureaus and various offices. The U.S. Department of the  
Interior “protects America's natural resources and heritage, honors  
our cultures and tribal communities, and supplies the energy to power  
our future,” the DOI website states.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) “protects and manages the  
Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific  
and other information about those resources; and honors its trust  
responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska  
Natives, and affiliated island communities,” according to the agency’s  
website.

The DOI includes the following Bureaus: Bureau of Indian Affairs,  
Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau  
of Reclamation, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement,  
National Park Service, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and  
Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey.




2. http://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2017/04/11/breaking-feds-adopt-west-coast-salmon-seasons/

Breaking: Feds Adopt West Coast Salmon Seasons

by Dan Bacher

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) at its meeting in  
Sacramento today adopted ocean salmon season recommendations that  
offer some recreational and commercial opportunities for most of the  
West Coast.

Due to low ocean abundance forecasts, the Klamath Management Zone  
(KMZ) from Cape Falcon, Oregon, to Horse Mountain, California, will be  
completely closed to the take of Chinook salmon this season.

The recommendations will be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries  
Service (NMFS) for approval by May 1, 2017.

This year’s run of Klamath River fall Chinook salmon is projected to  
be the smallest in history- 11,000 fish, about 10% of average for the  
last 3 decades. "Before colonization, scientists estimated that over  
1.2 million salmon returned to the Klamath annually," according to  
Craig Tucker, Natural Resources Policy Advocate for the Karuk Tribe.

Other areas, including sections of the coast from Horse Mountain to  
the U.S./Mexico border, offer restricted recreational and commercial  
fishing seasons.

While allowing for some fishing opportunities, the PFMC pointed out  
that the adopted salmon fisheries off the coasts of California,  
Oregon, and Washington do achieve the conservation goals set for the  
numerous West Coast salmon stocks.

“The Council has recommended commercial and recreational ocean salmon  
seasons in Washington, Oregon, and California this year that provide  
important protections for stocks of concern including Klamath River  
fall Chinook, Washington coastal coho, and Puget Sound Chinook," said  
Council Executive Director Chuck Tracy.

Before the adoption of the measure, Brett Kormos, the CDFW's  
representative on the PFMC, told the Council, "This has been a  
challenging fishery planning process due to our continued concerns  
over winter run and the depressed status of the Klamath stock."

"We have all spent a great deal of time and effort attempting to  
develop appropriate regulations given these considerations and the  
added likelihood that the Klamath stock will face similar levels of  
risk under all of the scenarios we examined, including total closure  
of the fishery. These regulations are a reflection of the deliberative  
process we have undergone, including concern for the future of our  
salmon stocks and our stakeholders and the Tribes up and down our  
coast," Kormos explained.

Commercial and recreational fishing families in the Klamath Management  
Zone on the ocean and tribal and recreational fishermen on the Klamath  
and Trinity rivers will be hurt particularly hard by the closures this  
season.

“This announcement means we’re going to have to fish for other species  
in order to make a living; that’s a fact,” said Tim Klassen, captain  
of the charter fishing vessel Reel Steel, fishing out of Eureka. “The  
long term health of salmon is more important than just one season.  
We’ve been through this before and it hurts, but if we don’t do  
something soon to improve our salmon runs, we will be the last  
generation of salmon fishermen in California.”

Recreational salmon fishing further south below Horse Mountain opened  
on April 1, with surprisingly good fishing at times in the Half Moon  
Bay and Monterey Bay areas.

The fisheries south of Point Arena are also affected by the need to  
protect Sacramento River winter Chinook, a listed species under the  
federal and state Endangered Species that has been hammered by decades  
of water diversions throughout the river system and in particular by  
massive water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

In the Fort Bragg area from Horse Mountain to Point Arena, the season  
will close during June, July, and half of August, then reopen through  
November 12.

In the San Francisco area from Point Arena to Pigeon Point, the season  
will close during the first half of May and reopen through October 31.

Salmon fishing will remain open through July 15 in the Monterey Bay  
area and through May 31 for areas south of Monterey Bay.

After hearing the announcement, Noah Oppenheim, Executive Director of  
the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA), said  
thousands of West Coast commercial salmon fishing families are going  
to be impacted by "another significantly curtailed salmon season" this  
year.

"For California fishermen the drought is far from over, and its  
lasting effects are sending a shudder through coastal communities  
today," he emphasized. "The effects of climate change and a five year  
drought, exacerbated by unnecessary dams and unsustainable water  
diversions, have resulted in this disastrous situation. Preventable  
declines in salmon populations will cost commercial fishermen millions  
of dollars this year and have already severely reduced the public's  
access to the natural resources that they rightfully own."

"We know that these closures are caused by the same flawed projects  
and policies that closed the fishery nine years ago. Salmon need cold  
water, good habitat, and adequate flows now and into the future, and  
salmon fishing families and seafood consumers need sustainable,  
locally caught salmon. If deadbeat dams remain standing and exorbitant  
water exports continue apace, threatened and endangered salmon runs  
won't have much of a future in California," he concluded.

Oppenheim noted that the commercial non-tribal salmon fishery in the  
Klamath Management Zone, a 200 mile stretch of coast from Humbug  
Mountain in Oregon to Horse Mountain in California, will be closed  
this year.

There will be a limited fishery (up to 3,000 fish) with a limit of 60  
fish per week per boat) in the Fort Bragg area in September.

The area surrounding San Francisco will open for a limited time in  
August, September, and parts of October, according to Oppenheim. The  
commercial salmon fishery will be open in May and June solely in areas  
south of Pigeon Point.

Tribal fisheries are also greatly impacted by the Klamath River salmon  
collapse. The Yurok Tribe will have no commercial salmon fishing  
season this year. The subsistence allocation is 650 fish, the lowest  
allocation ever.

"This is the worst year in history for Klamath salmon,” said Amy  
Cordalis, the Tribe’s General Counsel, a Yurok Tribe member and  
fisherwoman. "There is no mystery as to why. The effects of an  
unprecedented drought were exacerbated by dams and diversions."

"This year, Yurok, Karuk and Hupa people will have little to no salmon  
for the first time in history. Although the fish are important  
economically, they are more important as an irreplaceable part of our  
identity as people who care for the river," she stated.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe will be greatly impacted by the looming salmon  
season restrictions, particularly during their biannual white deer  
skin dance and world renewal ceremonies that will begin in August,  
according to Mike Orcutt, the Tribe’s Fisheries Director.

“Approximately 130 fish will available for the 3400 members of the  
Tribe,” said Orcutt. “Not to have salmon for people participating in  
our ceremonies will be unfathomable.”

On April 10, the Karuk Tribal Council took the "unprecedented step "of  
placing restrictions on subsistence fishing by Tribal Members for the  
first time in history.

“It’s my saddest day as Chairman,” said Karuk Tribal Chairman Russell  
‘Buster’ Attebery, “this is the first time in our history that we have  
imposed limits on traditional dip net fishermen working to feed their  
extended families and tribal elders.”

The Tribe will allow the harvest of 200 Chinook salmon for substance  
and ceremonial purposes, according to Attebery. Typically, Karuk  
fishing requires little in the way of regulation due to the fishing  
method. Karuk fishermen use a traditional dip net about 12 feet long  
to scoop out salmon from behind rocks in the rapids below Ishi Pishi  
Falls.

“You can only catch a very small percentage of the fish that are  
moving through the falls with dip-nets. Our fishing method limits our  
take so as to ensure plenty of fish make it up- stream to spawn,”  
explains Attebery.

For more information about the salmon seasons, go to: Pacific Fishery  
Management Council: http://www.pcouncil.org·

Description of 2017 salmon management process: http://www.pcouncil.org/salmon/current-season-management/


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