Save the salmon

The unprecedented closure of California’s salmon fishery in 2008
and 2009, which put thousands out of work and cost California’s
economy a quarter of a billion dollars, is a terrible tragedy that
could have been avoided. Misguided federal and state water policy
and the manipulation of wildlife-agency science allowed
unsustainable and excessive water diversions from the Delta, which
contributed to the crash of California’s salmon and other Bay-Delta
native fish populations.
Indeed, the National Marine Fisheries Service released a
biological opinion earlier this month concluding that water pumping
for the federal Central Valley Project and the California State
Water Project jeopardized the survival of federally protected
salmon, steelhead, southern green sturgeon, and southern orcas,
which depend on Central Valley salmon for food. The biological
opinion calls for reasonable changes in pumping — reductions of 5
to 7 percent in Delta water exports — to prevent the extinction of
these species.
This is a stark difference from Bush-era permits that allowed
record water diversions from the Delta and Central Valley rivers,
leading to the collapse of the Delta ecosystem and ultimately
intervention by federal courts.
However, wealthy agribusiness interests are pushing for
ever-increasing water diversions and a peripheral canal that will
devastate the Delta ecosystem and destroy California’s largest
salmon fishery. Congressman Devin Nunes is currently pushing an
amendment to appropriations bills that would remove funding for
implementing the biological opinion, eliminating Endangered Species
Act protections for endangered fish, and sabotaging the restoration
of California’s salmon runs. This salmon extinction amendment
narrowly failed last week, but will likely be reintroduced to other
spending bills in the coming weeks.
Protecting the Bay-Delta’s endangered species also protects
commercial fishing jobs, recreational angling, and the communities
that depend on fishing and tourist dollars. Nunes is attempting to
cast blame for the economic hardships in the Central Valley caused
by drought and recession on protections for endangered fish.
Reviving healthy salmon runs could support recreational and
commercial salmon fishing to the tune of tens of thousands of jobs
and bring up to a billion dollars or more to the California
economy.
Encourage your congressional representatives to uphold the
Endangered Species Act, protect the habitats salmon need to
survive, and vote no on any amendment that would strip funding for
essential protections for Central Valley salmon.
Jeff Miller is a conservation advocate with the Center for
Biological Diversity.