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Sorry Tom, there's more to the story
The
Truth about the "Stocking" law suit and what you can do: A
Q&A Information Guide from CSPA
By Chris Shutes, CSPA FERC Projects Director
December 3, 2008
In October 2006, Pacific Rivers Council and Center
for Biological Diversity sued DFG over fish stocking programs it has
engaged in claiming that no Environmental Impact Report (EIR) had ever
been completed for the programs. The result of the case was a November
2nd court order requiring DFG to complete an EIR and a temporary halt to
stocking in some California lakes and streams. DFG is now engaged in the
EIR process, scheduled to be completed in January 2010.
Following a number of news articles and posts on
various fishing bulletin boards containing inaccurate information, CSPA
has put together this Q&A as an angler's guide.
Q: How many reservoirs, lakes and streams are
affected by the temporary ban on fish stocking?
A: About 175.
Q: Does this mean that these waters will never be
stocked again?
A: No. After the Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
is completed, alternatives will be evaluated and management decisions
will be made. It is irresponsible to say that any given location where
stocking has been halted temporarily will never see fish stocking in
the future.
Q: Will fish stocking in other waters be stopped as
a result of the management decisions that are informed by the EIR?
A: Maybe, when the EIR is completed. It is also
very possible that many of the waters where stocking is temporarily
halted will see stocking resume.
Q: Is an Environmental Impact Report a bad thing,
or an unnecessary one?
A: Understanding the environmental consequences
of resource management is important. Just because the people who filed
a lawsuit to require an EIR don’t particularly care about fishermen,
that doesn’t mean they haven’t raised a point that has validity.
DFG has never said that producing an EIR was uncalled for. If CSPA has
a gripe with DFG on this issue, it’s that DFG didn’t decide to do
an EIR before, and that DFG has taken too long to get it done once it
was compelled to.
Q: Do CSPA and other angler organizations file suit
to require EIR’s or to require changes to EIR’s, or otherwise use
EIR’s to protect fish?
A: We do this all the time. Take away the right
of the Center For Biological Diversity to file suit to require an EIR,
and you’ve taken away one of the major legal hammers CSPA and other
fishing organizations have to file suit to protect fish and fisheries.
Q: How do we keep other “environmental”
organizations from using legal processes against fishermen?
A: By supporting CSPA with your memberships, so
that we can be parties in lawsuits to represent angler interests. Only
the parties to lawsuits have standing to affect the outcome in court.
If you’re outside, you are essentially powerless. If we have
standing, DFG and other entities can’t cut deals that don’t defend
our interests. That’s why CSPA intervened in the Striper lawsuit
filed by Kern County water agencies against DFG: we can’t afford to
have DFG sit down in a settlement conference with Kern County water
users to decide the fate of striped bass. We need to be at the table.
Q: Why didn’t CSPA intervene in the fish stocking
lawsuit?
A: First, because lawsuits are expensive. Lack of
funding limits the number of legal actions on which we can be engaged.
Second, the remedy in this suit was to produce the EIR. CSPA can
respond to the EIR, and address the issues of substance, when the
draft EIR is published. We had no way of predicting that completion of
the EIR would be delayed.
Q: Is there anything anglers can do now to make DFG
stock waters in 2009 if DFG is enjoined from stocking those waters?
A: Not a damn thing. That’s how the courts
work.
Q: How about in the longer term?
A: There you go. When the Draft Environmental
Impact Report is issued, the public has a fixed time period to comment
on it. Those comments have to be considered by the lead agency, in
this case DFG. CSPA will post a link to the draft EIR on our website
as soon as the document is available. If the lead agency does not
adequately address comments, that gives parties who comment standing
to file suit once the final EIR is issued.
Q: Tom Stienstra says that we shouldn’t stop
stocking fish because that won’t protect frogs. Other things are
killing the frogs anyway.
A: Be careful what you wish for. The same kind of
argument is used against fish all the time. Since there are always
“other” things that kill off the fish, water managers tell us that
their piece of the problem is not important, and they should get a
free pass.
The EIR needs to do its job and analyze the
impacts of fish stocking on all aspects of the environment, including
frogs. Anglers will need to ask for careful definition of the criteria
used to reach conclusions, and for analysis of effects on a basis that
is as site-specific as is reasonable.
Q; Tom Stienstra also says that “a lawsuit could
shut down virtually any fishing or hunting program.” Are lawsuits the
problem?
A: Lawsuits filed by groups like CSPA have been
one of the most effective tools in keeping the degradation of
California’s fisheries from becoming even worse than it has.
Q: So are environmentalists to blame?
A: CSPA has long worked to build bridges between
anglers and environmental groups. In some measure, we consider
ourselves to be both an angler organization and an environmental one.
Anglers have, for far too long, been far too prone to engage in
circular firing squads, bickering among themselves and driving away
natural allies. On the other hand, CSPA has also found that many
self-described allies act against our interests in critical moments.
There are no formulas to address dealing with organizational partners.
One thing we do consistently is to try to define and follow our own
agenda.
Q: So what should anglers do until the draft EIR is
published?
A: CSPA suggests that anglers take the opportunity to discover new
places to fish if their usual fishing holes are affected by the
injunction. Watch the CSPA website and weekly e-mails for news about
the status of the fish stocking EIR, and be prepared to respond when
the document is issued. Educate yourself about the issues facing
California’s fisheries. Support CSPA and its efforts to improve
fisheries and fishing opportunities. It does not improve the situation
to give practical support to former Senator Phil Gramm’s statement
that Americans are a, "bunch of whiners."