Salmon Speak to Governor Brown: The Full Series

Salmon Speak to Governor Brown: The Full Series

by Dan Bacher

Bruce Tokars of http://www.salmonwaternow.org has completed his top-notch series about salmon speaking to Governor Jerry Brown on how to save California's salmon populations.

"What if salmon could speak?" said Tokars. "We imagine that they would have a lot to say about how difficult their lives have been because of the way humans have treated their environment. The past decade has not been kind to salmon but it is not too late to fix the problems that have pushed wild California salmon to the edge of extinction."

"The person who can have the greatest impact on reversing salmon’s march to oblivion is California’s past and current governor, Jerry Brown. The people he hires or appoints to manage and repair California’s water system can make a difference. But they need to follow sound science and reject the hysterical political grandstanding of those who only care about their own greedy ambitions," he stated.

You can watch "If Salmon Could Speak to Governor Brown: The Full Series" (32:49) here:
Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/19212798
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4IqD3Pemvw&hd=1

The National Marine Fisheries Service forecasts an ocean abundance of 729,893 Sacramento fall run chinooks this year, based on modeling derived from a 2010 jack (two-year-old) salmon escapement to Central Valley rivers in 2010. The recreational salmon season from Horse Mountain in Humboldt County to the US/Mexico border will open on April 2, as approved in a unanimous vote of the California Fish and Game Commission on Monday, March 14.

The 125,300 Sacramento River adult fall chinooks that returned to spawn in 2010 included 43,360 fish that returned to the hatcheries and 89,654 salmon that spawned in Central Valley rivers. The 27,500 jacks included 15,482 hatchery fish and 14,699 river spawners.

This is an improvement over the 2009 and 2010 record low years, but still nowhere near normal for the river that has historically been the driver for West Coast salmon fisheries. The 10 year (1997-2006) pre-disaster return averaged roughly 475,000 fish. Only 39,530 fish returned to the Sacramento and its tributaries in 2009.

A total of 798,770 adult chinooks, including 94,223 hatchery fish and 704,547 natural spawners, returned to the Sacramento River and its tributaries to spawn in 2002.

At the same time, the Sacramento adult winter chinook population, an endangered species, plummeted to only 1,596 fish, including 1,555 adults and 41 jacks, in 2010.

The winter run population, through a number of measures including changing of the operation of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam and the maintenance of cold water curtains on Shasta and Whiskeytown dams, steadily rose from only 200 adult fish in 1991 to 16,764 fish in 2006. However, the population then declined to 2,403 in 2007, 2,521 in 2007, 4,363 in 2009 and then 1,555 fish in 2010.

The Central Valley spring chinook salmon population, after years of rising abundance due to the removal of dams and other habitat improvements on Butte Creek and other Sacramento River tributaries, has declined over the past few years also. A total of 4,612 fish, including 1,661 hatchery fish and 2,951 natural spawners, returned to the system in 2010. In contrast, an estimated 21,319 natural spawners and 4,052 adult hatchery fish came back in 2005.

The six videos include Fix the Delta, Habitat Restoration, Building Things, Water Conservation, The Best Science and the Human Costs:

Fix the Delta
This is the starting point. Getting the Delta back to health will require stronger flows and much less water diversions. But if sound, peer-reviewed science is followed, then we believe that salmon can come back to health, too.

Habitat Restoration
Restoring habitat is critical to returning salmon runs back to healthy numbers. There is much work to be done in rivers and streams and the Delta. But science knows what needs to happen and if there is a will to fix salmon’s trashed habitat, they will bounce back.

Building Things
Dams, tunnels, and canals are not the answer to salmon’s problems. There are other solutions that make much more sense. Besides, given California’s fiscal health, expensive construction projects should be out of the question. The aborted water bond that was removed from the 2010 ballot and moved to 2012 is still a disaster, calling for more dams and more construction. Building things is still a part of the conversation but it is time to reject that approach, once and for all.

Water Conservation
Agriculture uses 80% of the developed water in California. Urban users account for 11%. Both agriculture and urban water users need to conserve. Price elasticity is the key to encouraging changed behaviors from all users.

The Best Science
Of all the points made in this video series this is THE most important. The best science available must be followed if we are to reverse salmon’s decline and restore them back to health. For too long, sound science has been dismissed or ridiculed by politicians and water managers unwilling to accept any solution that would result in reduced water deliveries. But it is clear that if the Delta is to be restored and salmon habitats renewed, then strong, peer-reviewed science must lead the way.

Governor Brown, the once bountiful runs of wild California salmon are depending on you and those who work for you, to be heroes. To do the right things that will reverse salmon’s sad decline and begin a recovery program that will restore them back to health. After all, salmon are California’s most senior water rights holder and we have a responsibility to fix what has been so wrong, once and for all.

The Human Costs
When salmon are in trouble, people are hurt. Fishing families that have depended on healthy runs of salmon are themselves becoming extinct. Families are hurting. Coastal communities are in trouble. The infrastructure that supports both commercial and recreational fishing is under severe stress and close to collapsing. This video, the last of our six-part series speaks to these issues.

Bruce Tokars
http://www.salmonwaternow.org