Article from Daily Kos.
TUE MAR 17, 2015 AT 03:13 PM PDT
By Dan Bacher
The Delta smelt, once the most abundant fish in the entire Bay Delta Estuary, may already be extinct, according to UC Davis fish biologist and author Peter Moyle, as quoted on Capital Public Radio.
“Prepare for the extinction of the Delta Smelt in the wild,” Moyle told a group of scientists with the Delta Stewardship Council.
The latest trawl survey by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) found just six smelt to date. That survey follows the fall midwater trawl survey, when biologists recorded the lowest number of smelt ever documented, 8, at a total of 100 sites sampled from September through December.
“That trawl survey came up with just six smelt, four females and two males,” Moyle told Capital Public Radio. “Normally because they can target smelt, they would have gotten several hundred.”
“Moyle says the population of Delta smelt has been declining for the last 30 years but the drought may have pushed the species to the point of no return. If the smelt is officially declared extinct, which could take several years, the declaration could change how water is managed in California,” according to the report.
“All these biological opinions on Delta smelt that have restricted some of the pumping will have to be changed,” said Moyle.
The Delta smelt is an indicator species that demonstrates the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The 2.0 to 2.8 inch long fish is endemic to the estuary and spends all of its life in the Delta.
Restore the Delta and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), opponents of the Governor’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral tunnels, responded to the alarming news that the Delta smelt may be extinct by blasting a move by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to further weaken Delta outflow and water quality standards.
They said the smelt may be reaching the “point of no return” if swift action is not taken – and indicated that the Board’s action makes even more likely the decimation of this once flourishing Delta species and endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon this year.
The State Water Board’s action lowered Delta outflow for the purpose of managing the ecosystems and salinity control, a move that the BDCP critiics said is “bad for fish, good for invasive species and helps storage” by reducing how much water the projects send from upstream reservoirs to keep salt out of the Delta.
“The State Water Board, even in the face of near-extinction of Delta smelt and salmon, is proposing to drastically relax minimal water quality and flow standards enacted to protect the Bay-Delta and tributary streams, for the third year in a row,” said Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “Delta and longfin smelt and Winter-run Chinook salmon have collapsed to less than one percent of historic numbers, and are facing extinction.”
“Yet the Water Board and the Governor expect our rivers and fisheries to bear the burden and suffer the consequences of mismanagement, even as additional acres of almonds are planted in the Valley. The Delta is a national treasure belonging to all of the people in the state and nation. It must not be sacrificed to the insatiable greed of special interests,” he stated.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, said here group and its partners have worked for 8 years for the protection of Delta smelt. She pinpointed “excessive water pumping” by the state and federal water exporters, especially on behalf of those growing almonds in the Westlands Water District and Kern County, for leading to the collapse of the estuary.
“And here in the fifth year of drought, the State Water Resources Control Board has left open a loophole that one could drive a Mack truck through, by allowing water exporters to tell the board how much water they need, and allowing for emergency water for these same growers,” she emphasized. “State and Federal fish agencies are failing to enforce laws to protect fisheries.”
“The estuary is unraveling; California is running out of water; and all the Brown Administration can talk about is dry tunnels that will save neither the fish, nor the people of California,” she explained.
Barrigan-Parrilla asked, “How much longer will the Brown Administration fiddle, and ignore that California must adjudicate water rights. Huge industrial farms on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley cannot be sustained while the estuary collapses.
She also noted that droughts are recurrent and predictable weather patterns in California – and droughts are “not emergencies,” except when the water agencies fail to manage for their recurrence.
Barrigan-Parrilla and Jennings said the current water quality objectives give a “green light” to the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to gamble that each water year will be normal to wet: they prioritize upstream storage for exports to south of Delta storage, resulting in a “beggar-thy-neighbor” competition pitting against each other exports, salinity control, fish protection, and ecosystem-protective outflows.
“This situation is preventable and state and federal agencies failed to prevent it,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “Mismanagement of our water resources by the State of California and federal government are sending both the endangered salmon and Delta smelt to extinction. Their political favoring of billionaire growers over the rest of us is finishing off the fish.”
Barrigan-Parrilla said Governor Jerry Brown favors corporate agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley over the economic and environmental needs of the people who live in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary. The salmon fisheries that this estuary sustains support a $1.5 billion economy, while Delta farming supports a $5.2 billion economy.
“We are poised to lose Delta smelt, Winter-run salmon, and steelhead as these fisheries are collapsing. Where is Gov. Brown’s concern for the people who live and work in the estuary?” she concluded.