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Delta Water Bills Threaten our Fisheries: Another call for support at the Capital

by John Beuttler, Conservation Director

June 26, 2009 -- Some key Sacramento politicians are now staging efforts to merge various water bills to pave the way for a Peripheral Canal  (they call it “conveyance”) and more dams. But by either name it will mean the end of being able to rebuild and obtain sustainable sportfisheries dependent on the Delta and its tributaries.

The focus of the efforts on the Delta has shifted to a significant extent away from trying to fix the ecosystems collapsing foodweb and fisheries to finding a way to delivery all the water demanded by the state’s corporate agriculture industry that their well financed political machine dictates.

Some half dozen water bond bills to pay for this “water fix” are also morphing through the legislature hidden under various shells to fund a water bond package. Politically astute, they are sitting on the details of this financing until after they have established their “water bill package”. Given the state’s immense budget crisis and fiscal woes, such financing now appears to be a pipe dream, but the Governor says he’s working on that and that he’s to have a Peripheral Canal as part of his environmental legacy.

These cloaked moving targets that resemble legislation are not premised on viable solutions to fix the collapsing Delta ecosystem’s for the fisheries that depend on it. The water the Delta needs that should be provided by appropriate flow regimes to recover and renew its ecosystem and fisheries are not a component of the bills.

BEWARE, this translates into no fishery recovery, because without the water at the right place, time and at the required temperature, the fisheries of the Delta and its Central Valley Tributaries will be condemned to levels that won’t support the sport and commercial fishing we love and enjoy. It could mean no restoration of this natural heritage in our lifetime!

The “Delta Bill Package” also fails to solve the state’s water crisis and the imperative need for developing a meaningful state-wide, mandatory water conservation program now, and other water management elements to assist regional self reliance instead of greater dependence on the Delta’s waters.

In a state where we are all supposed to be living and working together  we now have most of the Central Valley’s political representatives vocally advocating the destruction of our Central Valley fisheries. This “fish verse people” mentality is morally bankrupt, because it is just about their making more money. When they propagandize about “all the jobs and business they lost”, they have never cared to mention the jobs lost to the sport and commercial fishing industries that supplies the goods and services to 2 million anglers, food for the market place, and some $8 billion to our economy. No salmon season is just the tip of this economic iceberg!

So what can we do about this? The same thing we did about the legislation that proposed to eliminate the striped bass fishery. Stand up and be counted! The legislature will be holding a hearing at the State Capitol on July 7th at 9 a.m. in Room 4202 (fourth floor of the new wing of the capitol) to present the new Delta Bill Package. Get there early, wear your fishing hat and let them know you want your Delta and its fisheries restored.

Tell them you want them to live up to all the promises our government has made over the past half century to bring our fisheries back. Tell them you would like it done before they pass bond measures that will spend billions on new facilities and water infrastructure that won’t fix the problems.

Because a lot of this “process” is a moving target at best, if you can’t attend, you should call your state representative and senator and let them know that you do not want them supporting this “end run” process that will not solve the water problems of our state. Let them know we need solutions that will work to save our fisheries and require better water management that so the rest of the state can become more water efficient and self-reliant.

You can find the list of Senate and Assembly Members, their phone numbers and addresses by going to the following website http://www.legislature.ca.gov/