Bad News for Fish Could be Disastrous News for Fishermen

On Tuesday, a federal court judge issued a ruling against the National Marine Fisheries Service that could have major implications for endangered and threatened salmon, steelhead and sturgeon species in the Bay-Delta. The court will hold a hearing next Tuesday regarding the appropriate remedy in response to this ruling. NRDC believes that the protections in the NMFS biological opinion are based on the best available science. That conclusion was recently upheld in a review by the National Research Council. We will continue to defend these protections in court. 

But the implications of this lawsuit reach far beyond the species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.  The next court ruling, which could come as early as next Tuesday, could have far-reaching implications for California and Oregon fishermen.  

Fortunately, most of the listed Winter- run Chinook salmon – at least those that survived their journeys down the rivers and through the Delta -- are now outside the influence of the water projects.  Outmigrating Spring-run and steelhead (both of which are also listed under the ESA) are still moving through the Delta. The few young steelhead that survive in the San Joaquin River could be particularly vulnerable if the court were to authorize increased pumping in the South Delta. 

In addition, we’re still in the heart of the outmigration period for young Fall-run salmon, the backbone of the salmon fishery.  Mature Fall-run fish migrate up the rivers later than the Winter- and Spring-runs – and as a result, their progeny leave the system later.  It’s not just the number of Fall-run killed at the pumps that counts. Increased Delta pumping could pull baby salmon out of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers into a maze of Delta channels, exposing them to a gauntlet of predators, pollution and pumps.  (Some of that pollution represents a double whammy from the state and federal projects. First, salmon suffer when water is diverted, then they take a second hit when some of that same water trickles back into rivers in the form of polluted agricultural runoff.)  The number of dead salmon at the pumps represents a fraction of the fish that are harmed by water project operations.

If the court were to relax Delta protections over the coming month, Fall-run salmon and the salmon fishing economy that depends on them could be hit particularly hard.  Those fish are not listed under the state or federal ESAs.  And everyone has an interest in restoring the Fall-run and preventing it from becoming yet another listed and litigated species in the Delta. 

Fortunately, the court has recognized the significance of impacts to tribes and fishermen from the decline of the Bay-Delta fisheries. Those communities are reeling from two closed salmon seasons and an extremely limited season this year. The effort to protect listed species in the Delta is critical. But it’s only part of the conversation. The State Water Resources Control Board, the Department of Fish and Game, the Department of the Interior and the National Marine Fisheries Service are all required by law to restore the health of the Bay-Delta’s salmon runs, including the commercial and recreational fishery.   Those legal protections have been forgotten far too often.   

The conversation we need to be having is not just how to prevent fish extinctions, but how to restore fish populations to a level that supports the recreational and commercial fishing that means so much to California families and the state’s economy.  

As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, we’ve hit “peak water” in the Bay-Delta.  So this conversation also needs to include a discussion of how agricultural and urban water agencies can work together with environmentalists and fishing and tribal communities to invest in water supply solutions that allow us to meet the needs of fish, farms and cities.

Comments