California's most
abundant salmon run
suddenly dropped this
season to an historic
low. Fishing groups and
many environmental
organizations were quick
to point the finger: The
pumps in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta that move water to
grow half of the
nation's fruits and
vegetables and provide a
key water supply for two
out of every three
California residents.
"It's proof that the
operation of these water
projects is harming
salmon," one
environmentalist told
the Associated Press.
But what
if this treasured salmon
run is in trouble for
other reasons? What if
government scientists
were increasingly
suspecting changing
conditions in the ocean
as the primary factor?
And what if
environmental groups
were publicly reluctant
to blame another human
activity - recreational
and commercial salmon
fishing - because the
groups were allies in
court skirmishes against
the water projects?
When it
comes to figuring out
why any given fish
species is thriving or
struggling at any given
moment, usually the
experts point to a
variety of factors.
First, a little
background on salmon.
There are three
different "runs," or
populations, of salmon
that migrate from the
Pacific Ocean, through
the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta and
up the Sacramento River
to spawn in various
tributaries. There is
the winter run (the
adults swim upstream in
winter months), the
spring and the fall. Out
in the ocean, where
fishing is allowed, the
various species all
mingle and can't be
regulated separately. In
the delta, the winter
and spring runs have
been protected for years
under the federal
Endangered Species Act
so that pumping
operations have a
limited impact on the
species.
Protections have not
been extended to the
more abundant fall run.
Its population has gone
up and down over the
last 10 years like the
stock market, varying
between 300,000 and
800,000 fish. But this
past fall, the official
run was 90,414 returning
salmon, the lowest in a
quarter century. When
the information was
released, the
blame-the-delta-pumps
theory was once revived.
Looking
at the human impacts on
salmon, here are three
to consider. Yes, there
are the delta pumps of
the State Water Project
and Central Valley
Project. But, their
operations are carefully
regulated when salmon
are migrating to
minimize possible
impacts. These same
pumping restrictions
were in place when the
salmon run skyrocketed
to record highs too.
A second
human activity is the
state's nurturing of a
destructive, artificial
fishery in the delta, a
population of non-native
striped bass. According
to a 1999 study by the
California Department of
Fish and Game, the bass
consume a significant
number of the fall
salmon run as the
fingerlings (called
smolt) try to swim
through the delta to the
ocean.
Third,
there is fishing of
salmon in the delta and
upstream for pure
recreation. What
percentage die this way
before they spawn?
Perhaps 25 percent,
according to a 2006
report by the Pacific
Fishery Management
Council.
And then
there's a fourth
"culprit"- Mother
Nature. Changing ocean
conditions have
dramatically lowered
food sources for salmon
in recent years. "The
ocean environment has a
strong influence on how
many survive the initial
period at sea and how
many come back to spawn
three to four years
later in the Sacramento
River," a biologist with
the Farallon Institutes
for Advanced Ecosystem
Research told The
Chronicle. Climate
change will exacerbate
these problems in the
ocean. Indeed, this is
not a problem unique to
the Sacramento salmon
runs, populations have
crashed in rivers all
the way up to Alaska.
Despite
all these factors at
play, single-focused
environmental and
fishing groups are
blaming the water
systems in the delta for
the salmon's problems.
We need to have a more
candid and complete
conversation about how
to minimize all human
impacts facing the
salmon and other
important delta species.
Instead of wasteful
litigation, an approach
based more on science
and cold, hard facts is
the only way to create a
better water system that
provides California with
safe, reliable drinking
water supplies and safe
passage for salmon
through the delta to a
changing ocean.
Laura
King Moon is the
assistant general
manager of the State
Water Contractors, a
nonprofit association of
27 public agencies from
Northern, Central and
Southern California that
purchase water under
contract from the
California State Water
Project. Visit
www.swc.org.
