The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and Restore the Delta issued a press release on Tuesday, March 17, 2015 documenting how State and federal fish agencies are failing to enforce laws to protect fisheries. Simply put, if endangered species become extinct, fault will be with State Water Board and captive fish agencies.
Bill Jennings, the executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, explains the severity of the mismanagement: “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. Delta and longfin smelt and Winter-run 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,”
Press Release: Export Projects Overpumping Delta During Drought Destroys Fisheries