The following is a press release received from Craig Tucker (of the Yurok Tribe) and the Klamath Riverkeeper. It’s not what you’d call great news: Excessive agricultural surface and groundwater withdrawals – and the willingness of state and federal agencies to look the other way – are imperiling salmon and steelhead populations in these two major spawning tributaries of the Klamath River:

Thursday, September 24, 2009

High numbers of fall Chinook salmon returning to the Shasta River are coming home to record low flows and extremely hot weather this week, creating ideal conditions for a large-scale fish kill in the Shasta River. Biologists and water managers with state and federal agencies are monitoring the situation closely as irrigators continue to maximize water withdrawals through the late September heat wave.

“We need to get more water in the river immediately,” said Erica Terence of Klamath Riverkeeper. “Unfortunately, the fish are moving much quicker than the resource managers on the Scott and Shasta Rivers this year.” The USGS realtime streamflow gage on the Shasta River shows record low flows for the last several days, as it has much of the summer. Temperatures are forecasted to be in the 90s through the weekend.

With 1,319 fish past the California Department of Fish and Game’s counting station in the Shasta River canyon as of Sept 22nd, this year’s fall Chinook run is shaping up to be among the largest in the last 20 years on the Shasta. Whether the fish are able to migrate and spawn throughout the basin, or whether the fish turn up dead, will be determined by the extent of irrigation deliveries over the next week. CDFG’s fish counting station on the adjacent Scott River is not yet operational.

“Unfettered agricultural diversions are playing Russian roulette with salmon, and it’s the commercial fishermen and Tribal people downriver who will deal with the consequences,” said Terence. She noted that the sacrifices of commercial salmon fishermen, who face a season closure caused by low returns to the Sacramento River, may be in vain if river conditions do not allow a successful spawning season.

Klamath Riverkeeper is surveying the Shasta River for fish mortalities and is monitoring locations where fish are currently holding in deeper, colder pools. Representatives of multiple organizations and agencies are also keeping tabs on the situation. Unofficial reports indicate at least 7 dead adult Chinook have been documented in the river at this time and fisheries managers and advocates would like to avoid an increase in that number.

Agricultural diversions and groundwater pumping have de-watered the Scott and reduced the Shasta to a trickle for much of the summer. Both tributaries were once abundant salmon producers and are recognized by scientists as key priorities in the effort to restore Klamath basin salmon. Terence added, “We cannot rely on dam removal alone to fix this watershed, it’s time to address the steadily increasing agricultural demand on the Klamath’s water.” The Shasta River was once the most productive salmon stream, for its size, in the state of California. Peer-reviewed science on the adjacent Scott River has demonstrated that decreasing flows cannot be fully explained by climate change.

This year’s record low flows come as CDFG is releasing its final Watershed Wide Incidental Take Permit Program for the Scott and Shasta basins – a controversial and potentially precedent-setting project that would widen allowances for coho kills from agricultural de-watering and other impacts. Klamath Riverkeeper is joining with other salmon allies to oppose the program. Terence said, “With conditions deteriorating for fish every year on the Scott and Shasta, CDFG should be proposing programs that expand protections for fish, not destroy them as the watershed wide permits would do.” She added, “the Scott and Shasta are now growing more alfalfa than they are fish – and its time for that to change.”

Irrigation season ends on the Scott and Shasta Rivers during the month of October.

I’d love to add a poignant twist to all this, but in truth, I’m too pissed off to do so. The politcal environment up here is so backwards (those who participated in our Stream Access/Land Use Planning Nightmare know the County Board of Supervisors would happily see every last fish disappear from the area), and it seems the agencies charged with protecting wildlife are willing to turn a blind eye in efforts to maintain good working relationships with irrigators.

How’s that working for us?

Just so you can watch the water levels dwindle in near realtime, here’s the USGS Streamflow Gage for the lower Shasta River can be found here.

More information on this summer’s Shasta and Scott flow crisis can be found here.

When I spoke to him this morning, CalTrout biologist Curtis Knight said “This is a critical element to restoring coho in one of the Klamath’s most important tributaries. It’s huge. It’s cool.”

For those unaware of the topology, the Shasta River runs through the Shasta Valley and empties into the Klamath River. Upwards of 80,000 Chinook salmon used to jam into the river, and it’s some of the most productive Coho salmon rearing habitat on the West coast.

One of the former owners of Big Springs Creek (the trib bought by the Nature Conservancy) remembers that, as a child, she was awakened at night by the “thousands of thrashing salmon” in the creek.

Last year, only 30 coho salmon returned to Big Springs Creek. In total.

Dewatering, Cattle Damage Main Culprits

Dewatering, overgrazing and other cattle damage, diversion dams, and Dwinnell Dam (Lake Shastina) have absolutely hammered salmon populations on the Shasta River, and while Chinook populations are in trouble, Coho salmon have taken the biggest hit.

That’s because Coho live in the watershed for a whole year before heading to the ocean, and despite the spring-fed nature of the Shasta River (and Big Springs Creek), dewatering and destruction of habitat by cattle drove summer water temperatures into the lethal zone.

Knight said “The issue in the Shasta is they can’t make it through the summer due to all the diversions. The water heats up, and they’ve got no place to go. That’s why restoring Big Springs Creek is one of the big keys to restoring the Shasta River. ”

Ideal Rearing Habitat

The meandering, spring-fed, nutrient rich Shasta River is critical to salmon recovery because smolt growth rates in the river are exceptional. Given the proper water temperatures, the salmon smolts that are headed to the ocean are bigger than those coming from less-rich streams, which leads to much higher survival rates in the ocean – and much higher return rates later.

The San Francisco Chronicle covered the story here, and details the reasons for the precipitous decline in salmon:

Conservationists had been trying to get hold of the land for 30 years, but it was only in the last year and a half that biologists noticed a deadly plume of warm water flowing down from the ranch.

Cattle had tramped the banks so much that the creek spread out, making it shallow and slow-moving. The summer heat warmed the water, and there was no vegetation left to shade it from the blazing sun.

That’s when the conservancy stepped up efforts to persuade the last owner, Irene Busk, to sell. Besides the ranch, the conservancy purchased a conservation easement on 407 acres where Busk will continue her ranching operation.

The purchase, which was made with private funds, also will protect 3 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat along the upper Shasta River.

It’s a good day to be a salmon. Now I’m getting the heck out of here.

See you in the river, Tom Chandler.

Still, if I had to be sick, I didn’t pick a bad day for it; the wind is bending the L&T’s fruit trees almost to the ground, and the sky is bright blue – neither of which portends a great day on the river.

In fact, temperatures on our back porch have yet to reach 50 degrees, and it’s closing in on lunchtime in the second week in June.

I’m inside and working (though when my head gets full, the words come slowly), but still stealing a few minutes to read what’s on the Internet.

There’s a lot to comment on – and I’m saving some of it for coming days – but here’s a couple things to chew on while I’m brewing tea, and getting ready to renew my assault on the local fisheries.

Ode to Old Guys

Singlebarbed pens a wry observational piece about the value of old guys, and while he’s pretty much older than dirt himself, it’s still an engrossing read (and a rare glimpse into the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club’s bygone years).

There’s something magical about Old Guys, which is why I enjoy their company so much. I liken it to the baseball pitcher that knows he’s only got 90 pitches in his arm, and treats each without wasted motion, executing the delivery without the frantic movement of youth or temper, merely going about his business as thoroughly as his arm allows.

Salmon as Invasive Species?

While Chinook Salmon populations plummet along the USA’s west coast, in South America, Chinook are finding a home for themselves in the region’s undammed, largely unpolluted rivers.

Hard to believe it’s the same species. But the chinook salmon, conservation heartbreak of the U.S. West Coast, is invading and thriving in South America.

Chinook, or king salmon, largest of the five North American salmon species, reached South America some 25 years ago as people tried to farm them there, says Cristián Correa of McGill University in Montreal. Now a broad survey of records and stream visits finds chinook reproducing on their own in at least 10 Andean watersheds that empty into the Pacific…

In a decade or two, will we be in the embarrassing position of flying to South America to catch salmon we’ve extirpated from our own rivers?

See you on the couch, Tom Chandler.

Federal judge Oliver Wanger today tossed out a controversial water plan that would have allowed more pumping of water from the imperiled California Delta at the expense of five species of protected chinook salmon and steelhead trout.

Recreational fishing, commercial fishing and conservation groups and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe celebrated the ruling as a victory for the millions of Californians who depend on the delta for drinking water, fishing jobs and agriculture. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the largest and most significant estuary on the West Coast – and increased state and federal exports to subsidized agribusiness and southern California in recent years are a key factor in the collapse of Sacramento River salmon.

In his opinion Judge Oliver W. Wanger relied on the National Marine Fisheries Services’ (NMFS) own finding that diverting water from the bay-delta was killing huge numbers of salmon. He said, “This morbid projection is inconsistent, if not irreconcilable” with the agency’s opinion that the project operations did not jeopardize the survival of the fish. He also faulted the agency for failing to analyze the effects of global warming on the fish, calling that failure “arbitrary and capricious.”

"How extirpation of approaching one-third of the species affected by Project operations does not constitute jeopardy is not explained," said Wanger. "NMFS’s no jeopardy conclusion for the Project operations’ effects on the spring-run Chinook is expressly contradicted by underlying data and opinions of the BiOp."

More Bad News for Fishermen

The ocean fishing season for salmon has already been killed off by extremely low returns, and it looks like a zero-take policy will apply to river fisheries too:

The Commission will decide on whether or not to close salmon season on Central Valley rivers at its meeting in Monterey on May 9. However, it is extremely likely that the Commission will close salmon fishing on the Sacramento, American, Feather, San Joaquin and other rivers in conformance with the PFMC’s "zero take" allowance for the dwindling salmon population.

An Underground Rant

Here’s the scenario; salmon populations in the Sacramento River are collapsing (several species, including the stalwart Chinook run), steelhead are hurting, Delta Smelt and Longfin Smelt are on the brink of extinction, and they want to export more water from the Delta?

Here’s a thought: maybe it’s time California learned to live within its water budget.

The economic impacts will surely be huge — big enough to garner attention from around the globe. I thought a quick roundup of articles from a range of media outlets would prove educational. I was right.

First, Britain’s U.K. Independent weighs in with an excellent overview of the situation, including a map of the West Coast of the US (was it for their readers, or the vast majority of geographically challenged Americans?).

America’s west coast looks set to lose almost all of its wild salmon harvest this year, depriving fish retailers and restaurants around the world of one of their key sources of high-quality fish, and raising troubling questions about the viability of commercial fishing in an age of climate change and increased competition over water use.

The New York Times writes some typically tight lead paragraphs focused on the gravity of the situation:

Federal officials have indicated that they are likely to close the Pacific salmon fishery from northern Oregon to the Mexican border because of the collapse of crucial stocks in California‘s major watershed.

That would be the most extensive closing on the West Coast since the federal government started regulating fisheries.

“By far the biggest,” said Dave Bitts, a commercial fisherman from Eureka, Calif., who is at a weeklong meeting of the Pacific Coast Fisheries Management Council in Sacramento.

“The Central Valley fall Chinook salmon are in the worst condition since records began to be kept,” Robert Lohn, regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Portland, Ore., said Wednesday in an interview. “This is the largest collapse of salmon stocks in 40 years.”

The Stockton Record emphasizes local coverage in its report, including interviews with a fly fishing club and tackle shop employees:

Shutting down fishing wouldn’t be a total shock. Salmon have been in decline for several years now. Fewer people are using professional charter boats for their excursions, and anglers aren’t having particularly good luck. They caught on average less than one salmon every two days in 2007, worse than the two previous years.

“It’s been so slow lately anyway,” said Allison Shawnego at Hap’s Bait in Rio Vista.

At Fisherman’s Friend bait and tackle shop in Lodi, salmon lures stocked three years ago are still on the shelves, said employee Rick Frisk.

“It’s a bummer,” he said. “We’ve got to do something, even if it takes shutting the whole system down and letting the fish come up and do their thing.”

The Coos Bay, OR paper (The World) offers some interesting insight into the management process itself:

The situation is so unfamiliar that scientists had no way to predict the fleets’ ocean fishing effects on Sacramento returns — a stark contrast to the situation in recent years on the Klamath River.

Low returns to the Klamath have frustrated fleets and managers in recent years and once was the driving season-setting factor for much of Oregon’s South Coast fleets. The Klamath Ocean Harvest Model was designed to forecast potential ocean catch effects on the abundance of Klamath River fall Chinook.

But no model has been used for the Sacramento River. None has ever been needed. The stock has been stable.

Until now.

The Salmon Technical Team was forced to push the boundaries of fisheries science in Sacramento: It planned to adopt the Klamath Ocean Harvest Model to the Sacramento River.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen this,” Charleston salmon troller Paul Heikkila said.

Then the Redding Record-Searchlight — whose editorial board never met a dam, development or water diversion they didn’t like — immediately raises the issue of government handouts to affected parties (presumably in defense of their ad sales department):

But back to economics. If a fish caught is worth $200, the math also works in reverse. Halting recreational fishing for the year will drain millions from the Sacramento Valley’s economy — hurting not just fishing guides and bait shops, but also gas stations, restaurants, hotels and anyone else who pays the rent with tourists’ dollars.

There is heated debate about whether this disaster is natural (ocean currents, climate cycles), man-made (water pumping, habitat degradation) or a mix of both, but there is no doubt that it’s a disaster.

So would the federal government come through with disaster relief? Last year, $60.4 million in aid went to offset the losses on the coast from tight ocean fishing restrictions related to the Klamath River. The potential closure this year is even more severe and could run all the way to Redding.

Nobody likes to ask for a handout, but if there’s ever a time for disaster assistance, this is the year.

This is just the first wave; the real fallout is yet to come (to see it all happen, I recommend following the Aquafornia water blog. It’s the real deal.)

With the endangered Delta Smelt forcing reduced pumping from the California Delta to Southern California (and the Longfin Smelt set to join it on the list), native fisheries in the Delta and elsewhere collapsing, a water-hungry Southern California looking for new water sources, and talk of a peripheral canal and new dams springing up, one thing is sure.

It’s going to be an interesting water-park ride the next few years. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The Aquafornia blog has also posted a summary article using different sources. Excellent stuff. And if you’re in a mood to read a short article from someone who isn’t interested in letting those pumping the delta into oblivion walk on this one, then read Dan Bacher’s article.

See you in the media, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: chinook salmon,king salmon,sacramento salmon,salmon collapse,west coast fishing closure,salmon recovery,holy crap

Early season salmon fishing off the coasts of California and most of Oregon was shut down Wednesday by federal regulators responding to an unprecedented collapse of salmon populations along the West Coast.

The actions affect commercial and recreational fishing seasons either underway or scheduled to open in the coming weeks. When they meet again next month, regulators are likely to close the bigger fishing seasons that come later in the year.

Specifically, a small recreational fishing season off Fort Bragg that opened in mid-February will close April 1. Other recreational fishing seasons from San Francisco to the Mexican border that were scheduled to open April 5 have been closed.

This report from the Contra Costa Times says the later salmon seasons will probably be canceled as well — the product of a disastrous 2007 fall chinook salmon run on the Sacramento River.

Ocean conditions, delta pumping blamed

The Sacramento chinook had been the backbone of the west coast salmon runs, but with less than 90,000 adults returning to spawn (second lowest number on record) and a dismal number of two year-old “jack” salmon counted (less than 2,000), it appears the commission thinks even a recreational sport fishery isn’t warranted.

Next year’s salmon run could easily fall below 60,000, so any salmon fishery that might impact the Sacramento’s Fall chinook run will likely be affected.

This spells trouble (or even the end of) the west coast salmon fleet, which has already been rocked by the 2006 closure to protect failing Klamath River salmon runs.

The blame game is fully underway, and while Pacific Fishery Management Council scientists point the finger at oceanic conditions (lack of nutrients at the bottom of the food chain), others feel that increased pumping from the Delta — leading to the collapse of several native species — is a contributing factor.

You can read the whole Contra Costa Times article here, and the Seattle Times article here.

See you buying salmon belly futures, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: salmon,endangered salmon,sacramento chinook salmon,commercial salmon fishing,chinook salmon

From the LA Times:

SACRAMENTO — – Faced with an “unprecedented collapse” of California’s Central Valley salmon population, federal regulators warned Tuesday that the West Coast fishing industry is on course toward steep restrictions this year.

The number of chinook salmon returning to the Sacramento River plummeted to near historic lows last year, and fishery experts are predicting similarly light returns this year.

Donald McIsaac, director of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, said the reason for the decline remains unclear.

There’s been a lot of speculation about the non-availability of food for juvenile salmon due to ocean conditions (which many scientists are linking to climate change issues), yet one group remains convinced the problem is at least partially due to Delta water diversions:

The Sacramento River’s “missing salmon” were juveniles migrating to sea in spring 2005, when state and federal water managers “set records for pumping delta water south,” said Mike Sherwood, an attorney with Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental legal group that has been jousting with water managers over water exports.

The Environmental News Service is carrying a slightly more detailed article than the LA Times, but you don’t really have to read the fine print to guess what comes next.

Fishing closures (both sport and commercial), the inevitable government payouts, and yes — the finger pointing.

There are a lot of people hoping this is a one-time event, but the low number of returning “jack” salmon (two year-old fish) suggests poor returns in 2008.

Is this an artifact of global climate change? Are the ghosts of all those delta water diversions and habitat compromises finally coming back to haunt us?

See you buying tofu, Tom Chandler.

UPDATES: Singlebarbed weighed in last night. Now the Eugene, Oregon Register Guard considers the economic consequences to Oregon’s coastal fishing communities — already pummeled by Klamath-related closures and this year’s disastrously low catches:

Earlier this year, the Oregon Salmon Commission released figures that depict one of the worst salmon seasons on record. The fleet landed 463,500 pounds, about 20,000 pounds less than in 2006 — a more restricted season. Between 1979 and 2007, chinook landings have averaged more than 2 million pounds. In only two of those years have landings dropped below 500,000 pounds.

The fleet earned $2.6 million in 2007, slightly less than what trollers brought in the year before, despite the highest price per pound fishermen have fetched since 1981: $5.64.

Technorati Tags: salmon,chinook salmon,central valley salmon,endangered salmon,sacramento river salmon,unprecedented collapse,salmon recovery