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Legislature Will Hear Bill Attacking Bay-Delta Fisheries (AB 1253) on April 28

 

by Dan Bacher, editor of the Fish Sniffer
April 24, 2009 -- (Sacramento) Assemblywoman Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) has introduced dangerous legislation, AB 1253, to remove gamefish status for striped bass in California. The bill will be heard in the Water, Parks & Recreation Committee of the California State Assembly in Meeting Room 437, on Tuesday, April 28, at 9 a.m.
 
The bill is opposed by an unprecedented coalition of recreational fishing, commercial fishing and environmental restoration groups and businesses. Representatives of these groups will be attending the hearing on Tuesday to testify against the bill and will be available for comments to the media.
 
The proposed legislation would prohibit regulation of striped bass by the California Department of Fish and Game. Passage would allow unlimited, indiscriminate harvest of striped bass. Assemblywoman Fullers stated intent is to increase water exports from the Delta by an indirect and scientifically ill-advised approach.
 
Ms. Fuller claims that removing striped bass from gamefish protection would decrease the population of striped bass and consequently reduce the predation of the fish on threatened and endangered smelt and salmon. In reality, AB1253 would only decimate the striped bass recreational fishery throughout the State, and particularly in the Bay and Delta region, along with the economy that depends on the striped bass fishery.
 
Assemblywoman Fullers legislation fails to recognize that historically, striped bass have coexisted in abundance with Delta Smelt and all the salmon species, states John Beuttler, conservation director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. The States foremost experts on Deltas fisheries, including respected scientists Peter Moyle, Matt Nobriga, and David Ostrach, agree that striped bass predation does not impact smelt and salmon populations.
 
The rapid decline in native species (Smelt and Salmon) and desirable species (Striped Bass) across the board can be attributed to poor water quality, insufficient fresh water flows into the Delta, excessive pumping, and fish entrainment at the Federal and State water pumps, says Barbara-Barrigan Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta.
 
If you were to amend your bill to identify the true cause of our fish declines diversions upstream and within the Delta that are far in excess of whatever water may be surplus to the needs of the fish and the ecosystem then we could support it, says Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermans Associations. But blaming Striped bass for the salmon decline is at best a red herring.
 
A previous press release and list of organizations opposing AB 1253 are attached. For more information, go to: http://www.calsport.org, http://www.saveourstripers.org/ or http://savedeltafish.wordpress.com.

 

Contact
Doug Lovell, Federation of Fly Fishers, 510-520-3146, doufishfirst@gmail.com
John Beuttler, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, 510-526-4049, jbeuttler@aol.com
Gary Adams, California Striped Bass Association, 925-918-0114, gary@garlaine.com
Robert Johnson, SaveDeltaFish, 925-580-4480, rjohnsonjr1@comcast.net
Roger Thomas, Golden Gate Fisherman's Association, 415-760-9362, suedupuis@aol.com
Zeke Grader, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens Associations, 415-561-5080, zgrader@ifrfish.org
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, barbara@restorethedelta.org