The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Golden Gate Salmon Association, Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association and Coastside Fishing Club have called upon the Secretaries of Interior, Commerce and California’s Natural Resource Agency to convene a joint emergency meeting to save Central Valley Chinook salmon from the drought. All four of the Central Valley salmon runs are in immediate peril because of the drought.
CSPA’s Executive Director, Bill Jennings said, “We have a potentially dire situation in which a large percentage of 2013 salmon may be lost if no action is taken. Salmon have been suffering from a manmade drought for decades and this year’s mismanagement of the water system and lack of rainfall exacerbates the problem. We’re calling on the state and federal government to save this years salmon run, which can be done if we act now.”
The groups propose an emergency course of action that includes, among other things: adjusting the timing and release points of hatchery smolts to minimize predation and competition with wild fish; trapping and hauling hatchery and naturally produced young salmon stranded by low flows or trapped at dams and weirs or captured at rotary screw traps to appropriate downstream locations and placing hauled salmon in acclimation net pens prior to final release.