Fishery Disasters Generate Response by Anglers

P R E S S R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release: February 5, 2008

Contact:
Dick Pool (925) 825-8560
John Beuttler (510) 526-4049

Fish Disasters Generate Response by Anglers

California fishermen received a lot of bad news in January. 2007 was one of the worst fishing seasons in decades for many popular species including salmon. Anglers have now learned 2008 will be even worse.

Angler outrage is growing and so is the response. The Water4Fish.org website, where fishermen send letters to state and federal policy makers asking for fishery improvements, registered over 8,000 letters sent and petitions signed in January. This website was set up in early 2007 as a grassroots advocacy site where fishermen collectively demand better policies. The site allows anglers to send letters to the governor and state and federal legislators.

In January, The International Sportsmen’s Exposition hosted panels on “The Plight of our Fisheries” at its San Mateo and Sacramento shows. Experts presented details on the problems of Delta water exports and fisheries mismanagement that led to the collapse of many species including striped bass, salmon and steelhead.

Jim Martin, a biologist and former Chief of Fisheries for Oregon summed up the needed action. He said, “Unless fishermen join together and demand action, these fisheries will be gone forever.”

The same message was echoed by Assembly Member Lois Wolk who chairs the California Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife Committee. She said, “Fishermen need to get organized, get politically involved and demand action.”

Every panelist endorsed the Water4Fish.org program as the best way this can be accomplished. A short video summary of the panel presentation can be seen at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNOWR5jZMns

Dick Pool, President of Pro-Troll Fishing Products, coordinates the Water4Fish.org campaign. He says, “Grassroots political action is our only recourse. Fishermen must rally the way duck hunters and others have done or we will lose our resources. We are encouraged by the angler response to the campaign so far. Since it started early in 2007, over 30,000 supporters have sent letters online or signed the hardcopy petitions. This is a good start but we need 50,000 or 100,000 more to have enough political impact for the changes we need.”

The economic contribution of Sportfishing to California is very large. There are 2.4 million sport fishermen in the state. The activity generates $2.4 billion in retail sales with an economic impact of $4.9 billion. It also generates $1.3 billion in wages and salaries and supports 43,000 jobs in the state. All of these are threatened if the fishery declines are not reversed.

The most recent bad news came in a government letter from Donald Mc Isaac, Executive Director of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. He reported the salmon stocks of the Sacramento-San Joaquin river system have undergone an “unprecedented collapse."

In 2002, over 800,000 salmon returned to this system to spawn. Since that time the runs have steadily dropped and in 2007 only 90,000 fish returned, a 90% drop. For the second time ever, the escapement dropped below the minimum required for the long term sustainability of the species. The result of this could mean no salmon fishing season in 2008 or at the minimum drastic cutbacks.

Salmon aren’t the only fish species suffering from over withdrawal of water at the Delta pumps. In a survey of Delta fish species conducted last fall, five out or six native fish species surveyed were recorded at all time low numbers.

John Beuttler is Director of Conservation for the Calif. Sportfishing Protection Alliance. He is also an advisor to the governor’s Blue Ribbon Delta Vision Task Force. Beuttler lays the salmon decline squarely on the dramatic increase of water exports from the Delta.

He says, “The salmon decline exactly parallels the decline of every other species in the Delta impacted by the increased pumping. From 2001 to 2007 delta exports increased from 5 million acre feet to peaks over 6.3 million acre feet. The Delta’s food web has collapsed as has salmon survival.”

Fishermen have been given a temporary pumping reprieve by the federal courts. Pumping in the San Francisco Bay Delta will be reduced in 2008 as a result of the court decision that the Endangered Species Act has been repeatedly violated for delta smelt. A parallel lawsuit challenging the harm to salmon is awaiting a verdict.

The state and federal fishery agencies must now respond to the court action with new biological opinions that include the flows necessary to sustain listed species while providing better management of the Delta and its tributaries. For more information, see http://www.water4fish.org/