[Fishlink] ~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 12/28/01<~~
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~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 12/28/01<~~
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A WEEKLY QUOTA OF FISHERY SHORTS CAUGHT AND
LANDED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES
AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S
ASSOCIATIONS
VOL. 4, NO. 26 28 DECEMBER 2001
##########################################################
DISCLAIMER: As part of our new "Search for the Sacrasm, Find the
Fringe" contest, one article in this week's Sublegals is fictitious, a
creation of the Sublegals staff to bring some levity to the usually grave
fisheries news we must report to our readers. The challenge to our
readers is to locate the decoy article and submit your guess to
av_ifr@pacbell.net for a chance to be this week's winner. The
fabricated article will never be one featured in the table of contents and
will always contain the word "fringe" in the body of the article.
Congratulations to Patricia Clay of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
whose name was drawn from those correcting identifying last week's
Fringe article, "New Deepwater Ports Proposed" (4:25/06).
##########################################################
IN THIS ISSUE.......
SAN FRANCISCO BAY THREATENED BY DEVELOPMENT,
DREDGING AND DIVERSIONS. 4:26/01.
CORPS OF ENGINEERS PLANS TO DUMP DREDGE SPOILS IN
MOUTH OF COLUMBIA IN CRITICAL CRAB FISHERY. 4:26/03
KLAMATH RELIEF GRABBED BY BASIN'S RICHEST
GROWERS. 4:26/06.
ESA PETITION DISPUTES LISTING OF HATCHERY
SALMON. 4:26/08.
SACRAMENTO RIVER WINTER-RUN CHINOOK NUMBERS
WAY UP. 4:26/10.
AND MORE.......
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4:26/01. MOST IMPORTANT ESTUARY ON AMERICAN WEST
COAST THREATENED BY DEVELOPMENT, DREDGING AND
DIVERSIONS SAYS PCFFA: San Francisco Bay, regarded by
scientists as the most biologically important estuary on the west coast of
North and South America, is threatened by proposals for more diversion
of freshwater inflows, sand dredging, new port dredging and dredge
spoil disposal, a massive fill to accommodate the expansion of San
Francisco International Airport, and the retro-fitting and rebuilding of
the Bay Bridge, said Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations (PCFFA) President Pietro Parravano on 28 December.
"Our highest priority in the new year has to be the protection of San
Francisco Bay, along with other coastal estuaries, if we are to save most
of the fish stocks that support our west coast fishing industry. Salmon,
Dungeness crab, herring, oysters, halibut, and many species of sole all
depend on the Bay and our other coastal estuaries for spawning or
nursery habitat or both," declared Parravano. "And no estuary is more
threatened than our largest and most important -- San Francisco Bay."
Parravano ticked off the threats to San Francisco Bay, which is the
gateway between the Sierras and the sea of one of the west coast's
largest chinook salmon runs and supports the largest herring fishery
south of British Columbia along with being a major nursery area on the
west coast for Dungeness crab, to include:
* Diversions. More than half of the fresh water that historically flowed
into San Francisco Bay is now taken in most years by diversions in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and upstream. New reservoirs and water
storage facilities being proposed under CALFED (the state-federal
consortium charged with restoring the Bay-Delta ecosystem and
providing California a "secure" water supply) will, if built, further and
significantly reduce the fresh water available for maintaining an estuary.
CALFED has steadfastly refused to consider other sources of water,
such as desalinization, that would not wreak havoc on the Bay
ecosystem, according to the PCFFA.
* Airport Expansion. Present plans for expanding San Francisco
International Airport call for 1,000 to 1,400 acres of new fill in the Bay,
the biggest fill program proposed since passage of the Petris-McAteer
Act in 1965. The massive nature of the fill proposal would directly
affect wetland and Bay habitats utilized by fish and also change flow
patterns in the Bay.
* Dredging and Dumping. Plans are afoot for large scale dredging
operations to accommodate the newest classes of larger tankers and
container ships. Despite the designation of a deepwater offshore dredge
disposal site, much of the material dredged from the Bay is still being
dumped in the Bay, where important habitats such as reefs and eelgrass
are being impacted by both dredge operations and dumping. Moreover,
there are proposals to level (dynamite) many of the rocky reefs in the
Bay that provide fish habitat to accommodate merchant shipping.
* Sand Dredging. San Francisco Bay is now site of large-scale sand
dredging operations to provide aggregate sand and gravel for new
development. Much of this dredging is in areas of essential fish habitat
designated by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
* Bay Bridge Retrofit/Reconstruction. The proposal for a new span for
the Bay Bridge to replace the eastern section that was damaged in the
1989 earthquake will, under current plans, destroy a large area of San
Francisco Bay's remaining eelgrass habitat. Eelgrass is critical habitat
for herring and other fish species.
"NMFS [National Marine Fisheries Service] has to begin paying
attention. Here we have essential fish habitat [EFH] that is supposed to
be protected under the Magnuson-Stevens Act as well as ESA
[Endangered Species Act] listed fish that are supposed to be getting
protection and nothing is happening," said an exasperated Parravano.
"We don't even know the status of eelgrass in the Bay. It may very well
qualify in itself for listing as threatened or endangered." San Francisco
Bay is also believed to host the greatest number of invasive species of
any waterway in the world, in part because of its weakened ecosystem.
Parravano is calling for a meeting of the responsible agencies with
fishing representatives to develop a plan of action for protecting the San
Francisco Bay estuary and the fisheries that depend upon it. For more
information, e-mail: ifrfish@pacbell.net.
4:26/02. PCFFA AND IFR BOARD MEETINGS SLATED FOR
BODEGA BAY: The Board of Directors of the Pacific Coast Federation
of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) will meet 8-9 January at the
University of California's Bodega Marine Laboratory. The meeting will
coincide with the scoping hearing at the Lab for the management plan
review of the Gulf of the Farallones, Cordell Bank and Monterey Bay
National Marine Sanctuaries (see Sublegals, 4:21/08). The Institute for
Fisheries Resources (IFR) Board of Trustees will also meet at the
Bodega Marine Laboratory on Wednesday, the 9th. For more
information, e-mail: PCFFAfish@aol.com or IFRfish@pacbell.net.
Upcoming meetings of the PCFFA Board have tentatively been
scheduled for Eureka in February and Sacramento in March.
4:26/03. CORPS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO DUMP DREDGE
SPOILS NEAR MOUTH OF COLUMBIA IN CRAB FISHING
GROUNDS: On 21 December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(COE) announced plans to designate new ocean dump sites near the
mouth of the Columbia River. The sites are primarily intended for
disposal of dredged material from annual maintenance of the river's
entrance channel. Among the new sites is a 49,000,000 square foot
section of the hotly-contested Deep Water Site, previously proposed in
conjunction with plans to deepen the Columbia River shipping channel
over one hundred miles to Portland. The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), responsible for permanent designation of ocean dredged
material disposal sites, had included the 14-square-mile Deep Water Site
in the channel deepening plan. The site is about six miles from the
mouth of the river, directly in the path of the biologically unique
Columbia River plume. The 50-year capacity of this site would exceed
250 million cubic yards. (175 million cubic yards were excavated to
build the Panama Canal).
Crab fishermen and coastal residents have condemned the Deep
Water Site as excessively large and detrimental to ocean resources and
local economies (see Sublegals, 4:15/01). Both the states of Oregon and
Washington have criticized the location and size of the site and the lack
of mitigation for the impacts of its use. In the notice COE says it
intends to start using a 1.75 square mile (7000 by 7000 feet) section of
the Deep Water Site under a so-called "emergency" procedure, thereby
circumventing some of the public involvement and environmental
protections afforded by the permanent EPA process. EPA will need to
concur with the emergency designation. (This action is specified under
Section 103 of the Marine Resources, Protection & Sanctuaries Act.
COE has previously used this authority, which allows a site to be used
for up to 10 years without the more formal EPA action, for other sites
near the Columbia River mouth. For more information, contact Peter
Huhtala at: huhtala@teleport.com.
4:26/04. CORPS SUED FOR ALLEGED DUMPING OF TOXIC
DREDGE SPOILS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY WETLAND: A lawsuit
was filed on 18 December against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(COE) by San Francisco BayKeeper and Friends of Suisun Marsh,
charging that the federal agency unlawfully permitted plans for a toxic
sediment disposal facility at the eastern reach of Suisun Marsh. Suisun
Marsh is located on the northern end of Suisun Bay in the upper reaches
of San Francisco Bay and provides habitat for both waterfowl and fish.
The litigation follows the 24 September approval by COE of the
Levine-Fricke Restoration Corporation's plans to deposit 17 million
cubic yards of dredged Bay sediment, including contaminated mud, on a
2,400-acre parcel of wetlands along the Montezuma Slough.
Contaminated wastewater used to slurry the sediments throughout the
site would be discharged back to San Francisco Bay without legally
required permit controls, according to the suit.
The sediments proposed for deposition at the site are known to
contain some 65 different toxic contaminants, according to the plaintiffs.
Sediment that is too toxic to be allowed for aquatic disposal must be
"contained" at the site underneath cleaner sediment. However, erosion
from runoff, erosive tidal action and burrowing animals all create risks
of re-exposing the buried contaminants. In addition to that risk, millions
of gallons of water would be used to slurry the contaminated sediment
and pump it through holding cells throughout the site. Approximately
one to three million gallons per day of the contaminated slurry water
would then be discharged back to the San Francisco Bay estuary.
Mobilizing the slurried sediment would also require the daily extraction
of two and half to five million gallons of fresh groundwater. For more
information, contact Jonathan Kaplan at: jonathan@sfbaykeeper.org.
4:26/05. OREGON KLAMATH WATER QUALITY PLAN OUT
FOR COMMENTS: The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) has released a draft state plan for improving the water quality of
the Upper Klamath Basin's highly polluted lakes and rivers, particularly
for cutting back the input of phosphorus by about 40 percent. Water
quality in the Upper Klamath Lake is so poor that it ranks as the most
polluted water body in Oregon. Large quantities of phosphorus coming
primarily from agricultural lands in the area are the major cause of
widespread lake alkalinity and destructive algae blooms which are
devastating for most aquatic life forms. Water pollution problems
caused by elevated phosphorus levels has thus contributed greatly to the
decline of lake fish in the Upper Klamath Basin and created serious
water quality problems for coho and chinook salmon for many river
miles below Iron Gate Dam.
It is hoped that increasing the overall water quality in the system
could ease restrictions on water levels in the Upper Klamath Basin,
which in 2001 had to be held high to ease water quality problems for
endangered lake fish. The state DEQ plan, required under the federal
Clean Water Act, would establish TMDLs ('total maximum daily loads')
of phosphorus in the water at no more than 120 tons/year, down from
the current 200 tons/year, but leaves the details on how this might be
accomplished to a vague and open ended 'adaptive management' process
to come up with measures in the future. Public notice of the plan is
available by going to www.deq.state.or.us/wq/TMDLs/TMDLs.htm and
scrolling down to "Upper Klamath Lake Sub-basin." A public hearing
on the draft TMDL plan will be held in Klamath Falls, Oregon, on 24
January at the Oregon Institute of Technology Student Union, Mt.
Shasta Room. Comments must be received by 4 February 2002.
4:26/06. KLAMATH DISASTER RELIEF GRABBED BY THE
RICHEST FARMERS?: An economics report commissioned by the
Klamath Forest Alliance critically examines the claims of economic
hardship in the Upper Klamath Basin attributed to irrigation water
cutbacks in summer 2001 caused by record drought and shifting water
allocation priorities. The report, "Crisis Profiteering: Inequities and
Excesses of the Klamath Project Bailout," concludes that Klamath
Irrigation Project farms are now receiving disaster assistance on average
considerably in excess of actual farm sales even in past high water years,
but that the majority of this disaster assistance is actually going to the
wealthiest growers. The report cited examples of Tule Lake Wildlife
Refuge lands being leased this year from the Bureau of Reclamation for
only $1 per year, then not irrigated, and then leaseholders receiving a
per acre "drought bailout" which netted them $60/acre in direct disaster
payments, plus refunded all their irrigation district fees, plus gave them
an additional $129/acre under the federal government's Section 2014
Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2001 (from the $20 million
designated for Klamath Project farmers, Sublegals 4:19/06), and will
additionally allow them to share in an additional $900,000 in direct farm
aid appropriated by the California Legislature. Much of the farm aid
program is being diverted to the wealthiest few farmers by similar
means, instead of directed toward those farmers who genuinely suffered
economic distress, the report concludes. The report is available at:
www.klamathforestalliance.org.
Additional relief for family farmers in the Klamath Basin was
included in this year's farm bill. The Senate version of that measure,
S.1731, however, was tabled before Congress' winter recess (see
Sublegals, 4:25/01; 4:25/03; 4:24/06). At the last minute, the American
Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) had stepped in opposing the Senate bill
citing its concern about an amendment by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV),
that would create a water conservation program intended to help farmers
such as those in the Klamath Basin whose use of water competed with
tribes, fishermen and wildlife. For more information, go to:
http://www.familyfarmer.org/sections/meet.html.
4:26/07. CATFISH LABELING CAUGHT UP IN SENATE FARM
BILL DEBATE: Among the provisions of the Senate Farm Bill, S.1731,
was language to permanently ban fish imports labeled wholly or in part
as catfish (see Sublegals, 4:25/01). WorldCatch News Network reported
on 21 December that this amendment was supported by Senators from
southern catfish producing states, but faced strong opposition from
Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Phil Graham (R-TX). A temporary,
one-year ban, signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush late
last month, remains in place (see Sublegals, 4:22/02). The new law, the
Agricultural Appropriations Act (H.R. 2330), prohibits the U.S. Food &
Drug Administration (FDA) from allowing any catfish to be imported
into the U.S. market labeled as catfish unless it comes from the North
American Ictaluridae family, which is produced largely in the U.S.
southeast. For the full WorldCatch article, go to: www.worldcatch.com.
4:26/08. ESA PETITION DISPUTES LISTING OF HATCHERY
FISH: A coalition of fisheries and conservation organizations led by
Trout Unlimited that includes both PCFFA and IFR filed a detailed
biological briefing with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
on 19 December disputing the current NMFS policy of even including
hatchery fish in the genetic conservation unit (or "ESU," for
"evolutionarily significant unit") which the federal Endangered Species
Act (ESA) is then used to protect. Currently NMFS sometimes includes
them and sometimes does not. The result of this confusing inclusion
policy was the recent decision by U.S. Federal Court Judge Michael
Hogan in the Alsea Valley Alliance case that threw out ESA protections
for the Oregon Coastal Coho ESU, a ruling then appealed by many of
these same organizations (but not by NMFS), and then ESA protections
were reinstated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals pending the
appeal (Sublegals 4:11/02; 4:13/01; 4:18/02, 4:20/08; 4:24/19). The
group's briefing questions whether hatchery fish should be included in
an ESU at all except in the rarest of circumstances. Originally intended
to be a petition for relisting of the Oregon coastal coho, the timely
reinstatement of ESA protections by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
made such a petition unnecessary. The petition was submitted instead as
part of the record for the review of its hatchery stock inclusion policy
that NMFS is undertaking in lieu of an appeal. For more information
see Item 9 in the 21 December issue of the Columbia Basin Bulletin,
available from: http://www.cbbulletin.com.
Landowner and inland industry groups have sought to apply the
Hogan ruling to nearly every ESA listing for salmon and steelhead
coastwide, hoping thereby to invalidate all federal protections for these
fish so as to relieve themselves of any responsibility for contributing
toward their recovery. The first wave of landowner delisting lawsuits
based on the Hogan ruling are expected to be filed in mid-January 2002.
4:26/09. WHIRLING DISEASE HITS OREGON'S CLACKAMAS
RIVER: The parasite causing whirling disease in salmon and trout has
again broken out in Oregon State. This time it's in the Clackamas River,
the first outbreak of the parasitic disease since 1987. The probable
source, according to agency investigators, is a nearby trout farm on the
Clear Creek tributary of the Clackamas. Oregon Department of Fish &
Wildlife (ODFW), which routinely monitors hatcheries and fish farms
for the disease, found the long-lived spores of the parasite at the Clear
Creek Rainbow Ranch fish farm. Whirling disease has decimated trout
and some salmonid populations in Montana, Idaho and other western
states, though many wild populations appear resistant. Hatchery fish,
however, are more susceptible due to crowded and stressful conditions
and because of genetic inbreeding. The parasite causes spinal
deformities that make fish swim in circles until they die of starvation.
An article on the problem appears in the 17 December Oregonian
available from their archives of that date at: http://www.oregonlive.com.
4:26/10. SACRAMENTO WINTER-RUN CHINOOK NUMBERS
UP: While scientists have called into question the efficacy of plans for
restoring salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin (see
Sublegals, 4:24/05), efforts at restoring the Sacramento River's
winter-run chinook, the first Pacific salmon listed under the Endangered
Species Act (ESA), appear to be succeeding. The San Francisco
Chronicle, in a 19 December article, confirmed earlier reports in
Sublegals of a substantial increase in the number of winter-run returning
to spawn in a reach of the Sacramento below Keswick Dam (a flow
regulating dam below Shasta reservoir). According to the Chronicle
report, the number of winter-run spawners has increased from 800 in
1996 to 11,000 this year, a 14-fold increase in the past five years.
Winter-run chinook were first petitioned for ESA listing in 1986 by
the American Fisheries Society (AFS) when the number of adult
spawners had fallen to 2,000 fish (down from 120,000 in 1969). The
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) fought the listing, choosing
to go with its "10-point handshake" a voluntary and unenforceable
agreement that ultimately did nothing but restrict fishing (AFS made
clear in its petition that fishing was not contributing to the run's decline).
In 1989, however, when the numbers were down to 400, the California
Fish & Game Commission listed the run under California's Endangered
Species Act (CESA) and NMFS then had no choice but to follow with a
federal listing. In 1991, when numbers fell to 191 fish and the run
appeared on the verge of extinction, PCFFA's late President Nat
Bingham brought the responsible agencies together with scientists and
fishing groups to form the Winter-Run Captive Broodstock Committee
and initiated actions to protect the fish in river. Although there have
been some restrictions placed on commercial and recreational salmon
fisheries, actions responsible for the winter-run turn-around undertaken
pursuant to the ESA include: cold water releases from Shasta Dam;
installation of effective fish screens at the Glen-Colusa and
Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation Districts; lifting of the gates at the Red
Bluff Diversion Dam during migration; controlling toxic mine tailing
waste water from the Iron Mountain mine site; and curtailment of state
and federal water pumps during migration through the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta. To see the San Francisco Chronicle article, go to:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/
2001/12/19/SP122063.DTL.
4:26/11. SCRAMBLE OVER FATE OF TWO UPPER COLUMBIA
DAMS: The Oregonian reported on 28 December that the Grant County
Public Utility District (PUD) might have to sell its two large
hydroelectric dams on the upper Columbia River for a fraction of their
current value if it loses its operating license in 2005. The Priest Rapids
and the Wanapum Dams are being sought instead by a joint venture
between PacifiCorp and the Yakima Nation in a competing licensing
application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that,
if successful, would put the Yakima Tribe in charge of the dams. If the
utility cannot renew its 50 year FERC license, a federal law would
require Grant PUD to sell the dams, which they value at several billion
dollars, at their "net book value" of only about $400 million in original
construction costs. The PUD built the dams in the 1950's and 60's.
The Yakima Tribe is interested in restructuring and operating the
dams to open up fish passage for Columbia River salmon, which has
been very poor and for which they are currently poorly designed. The
Tribe also created Yakima Power Company in 2000 to supply power to
its reservation, but does not yet have a source of cheap hydropower,
which the dams would provide. For more information see Item 8 of the
2 November Columbia Basin Bulletin, available from their archives
from their home page at: http://www.cbbulletin.com.
4:26/12. FIRST MPA SITE SELECTED FOR "BAJA-TO-BERING"
INITIATIVE: A spokesperson for the Canadian Parks & Wilderness
Society announced 18 December that the waters around Amchitka
Island, located at the tip of the Aleutian chain, has been nominated as
the first marine protected area (MPA) site under the Baja-to-Bering
initiative, a Canada-US-Mexico cooperative program involving both
governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). According
to Ecosystem Defenders (ED), a U.S. based environmental organization
that is one of the Baja-to-Bering partners, the waters around Amchitka
were chosen because of some extremely large fish and other marine
animals there, as well as some highly unique species seen nowhere else
in the world. The waters around Amchitka are believed to be the
spawning grounds for the new species of giant squid that was recently
discovered in the Pacific. In the 1950's the U.S. Government used the
island as a nuclear bomb testing site.
Under the proposal, approximately 25 percent of the Bering Sea
would be put into a "no-take" MPA and an equivalent amount of water
in the North Pacific to the south of Amchitka would also be made a
reserve. The proposal is expected to have the blessing of the Bush
Administration after Vice-President Dick Cheney met with leading oil
executives who told him oil and gas reserves in the proposed area are
marginal at best, with some potential on the FRINGE of the proposed
MPA. The petroleum companies prefer to concentrate on developing
known reserves off Sakalin Island and in Bristol Bay. The proposal also
would not interfere with military acoustic testing (at-sea acoustic testing
is already allowed in places such as the Monterey Bay National Marine
Sanctuary), nor cruise ship traffic since a "no-take" designation does not
prevent disposing of materials. Some Alaskan native groups have raised
concerns about the impact on their aboriginal hunting and fishing rights.
There was also a large protest from the head of a Russian Far East
regional fishery agency in Petropavlovsk, objecting to the inclusion of
Russian territorial waters in the proposal, calling it "blatant
imperialism.... an initiative based on 'theme-park science' intended
solely to raise money for NGOs and give more power to stupid little
bureaucrats." For more information on Amchitka Island, see the report
in the 17 December San Francisco Chronicle at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/
2001/12/17/MN12230.DTL.
4:26/13. SYMPOSIUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:
"The Role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Achieving
Sustainable Development" is the title of a symposium scheduled for
Tuesday, 8 January, at Fort Mason Center (Building A) in San
Francisco. The event, which begins at 1200 HRS, features, among
others, Victor Menotti, an IFR Associate who has written and spoken
extensively on the impacts of WTO rules and globalization on fisheries.
For more information, go to: http://www.globalexchange.org.
NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit your news items,
comments or any corrections to Allison Vogt, Editor at:
ifrfish@pacbell.net or call the IFR/PCFFA office with the news and a
source at either: (415) 561-FISH (Southwest Office) or (541) 689-2000
(Northwest Office).
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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>##########################################################
<BR> ~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 12/28/01<~~
<BR>##########################################################
<BR> A WEEKLY QUOTA OF FISHERY SHORTS CAUGHT AND
<BR> LANDED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES
<BR> AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S
<BR> ASSOCIATIONS
<BR>
<BR> VOL. 4, NO. 26 28 DECEMBER 2001
<BR>##########################################################
<BR>DISCLAIMER: As part of our new "Search for the Sacrasm, Find the
<BR>Fringe" contest, one article in this week's Sublegals is fictitious, a
<BR>creation of the Sublegals staff to bring some levity to the usually grave
<BR>fisheries news we must report to our readers. The challenge to our
<BR>readers is to locate the decoy article and submit your guess to
<BR>av_ifr@pacbell.net for a chance to be this week's winner. The
<BR>fabricated article will never be one featured in the table of contents and
<BR>will always contain the word "fringe" in the body of the article.
<BR>Congratulations to Patricia Clay of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
<BR>whose name was drawn from those correcting identifying last week's
<BR>Fringe article, "New Deepwater Ports Proposed" (4:25/06).
<BR>
<BR>##########################################################
<BR>
<BR>IN THIS ISSUE.......
<BR>
<BR>SAN FRANCISCO BAY THREATENED BY DEVELOPMENT,
<BR>DREDGING AND DIVERSIONS. 4:26/01.
<BR>
<BR>CORPS OF ENGINEERS PLANS TO DUMP DREDGE SPOILS IN
<BR>MOUTH OF COLUMBIA IN CRITICAL CRAB FISHERY. 4:26/03
<BR>
<BR>KLAMATH RELIEF GRABBED BY BASIN'S RICHEST
<BR>GROWERS. 4:26/06.
<BR>
<BR>ESA PETITION DISPUTES LISTING OF HATCHERY
<BR>SALMON. 4:26/08.
<BR>
<BR>SACRAMENTO RIVER WINTER-RUN CHINOOK NUMBERS
<BR>WAY UP. 4:26/10.
<BR>
<BR>AND MORE.......
<BR>
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<BR>4:26/01. MOST IMPORTANT ESTUARY ON AMERICAN WEST
<BR>COAST THREATENED BY DEVELOPMENT, DREDGING AND
<BR>DIVERSIONS SAYS PCFFA: San Francisco Bay, regarded by
<BR>scientists as the most biologically important estuary on the west coast of
<BR>North and South America, is threatened by proposals for more diversion
<BR>of freshwater inflows, sand dredging, new port dredging and dredge
<BR>spoil disposal, a massive fill to accommodate the expansion of San
<BR>Francisco International Airport, and the retro-fitting and rebuilding of
<BR>the Bay Bridge, said Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
<BR>Associations (PCFFA) President Pietro Parravano on 28 December.
<BR>"Our highest priority in the new year has to be the protection of San
<BR>Francisco Bay, along with other coastal estuaries, if we are to save most
<BR>of the fish stocks that support our west coast fishing industry. Salmon,
<BR>Dungeness crab, herring, oysters, halibut, and many species of sole all
<BR>depend on the Bay and our other coastal estuaries for spawning or
<BR>nursery habitat or both," declared Parravano. "And no estuary is more
<BR>threatened than our largest and most important -- San Francisco Bay."
<BR>
<BR>Parravano ticked off the threats to San Francisco Bay, which is the
<BR>gateway between the Sierras and the sea of one of the west coast's
<BR>largest chinook salmon runs and supports the largest herring fishery
<BR>south of British Columbia along with being a major nursery area on the
<BR>west coast for Dungeness crab, to include:
<BR>
<BR>* Diversions. More than half of the fresh water that historically flowed
<BR>into San Francisco Bay is now taken in most years by diversions in the
<BR>Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and upstream. New reservoirs and water
<BR>storage facilities being proposed under CALFED (the state-federal
<BR>consortium charged with restoring the Bay-Delta ecosystem and
<BR>providing California a "secure" water supply) will, if built, further and
<BR>significantly reduce the fresh water available for maintaining an estuary.
<BR>CALFED has steadfastly refused to consider other sources of water,
<BR>such as desalinization, that would not wreak havoc on the Bay
<BR>ecosystem, according to the PCFFA.
<BR>
<BR>* Airport Expansion. Present plans for expanding San Francisco
<BR>International Airport call for 1,000 to 1,400 acres of new fill in the Bay,
<BR>the biggest fill program proposed since passage of the Petris-McAteer
<BR>Act in 1965. The massive nature of the fill proposal would directly
<BR>affect wetland and Bay habitats utilized by fish and also change flow
<BR>patterns in the Bay.
<BR>
<BR>* Dredging and Dumping. Plans are afoot for large scale dredging
<BR>operations to accommodate the newest classes of larger tankers and
<BR>container ships. Despite the designation of a deepwater offshore dredge
<BR>disposal site, much of the material dredged from the Bay is still being
<BR>dumped in the Bay, where important habitats such as reefs and eelgrass
<BR>are being impacted by both dredge operations and dumping. Moreover,
<BR>there are proposals to level (dynamite) many of the rocky reefs in the
<BR>Bay that provide fish habitat to accommodate merchant shipping.
<BR>
<BR>* Sand Dredging. San Francisco Bay is now site of large-scale sand
<BR>dredging operations to provide aggregate sand and gravel for new
<BR>development. Much of this dredging is in areas of essential fish habitat
<BR>designated by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
<BR>
<BR>* Bay Bridge Retrofit/Reconstruction. The proposal for a new span for
<BR>the Bay Bridge to replace the eastern section that was damaged in the
<BR>1989 earthquake will, under current plans, destroy a large area of San
<BR>Francisco Bay's remaining eelgrass habitat. Eelgrass is critical habitat
<BR>for herring and other fish species.
<BR>
<BR>"NMFS [National Marine Fisheries Service] has to begin paying
<BR>attention. Here we have essential fish habitat [EFH] that is supposed to
<BR>be protected under the Magnuson-Stevens Act as well as ESA
<BR>[Endangered Species Act] listed fish that are supposed to be getting
<BR>protection and nothing is happening," said an exasperated Parravano.
<BR>"We don't even know the status of eelgrass in the Bay. It may very well
<BR>qualify in itself for listing as threatened or endangered." San Francisco
<BR>Bay is also believed to host the greatest number of invasive species of
<BR>any waterway in the world, in part because of its weakened ecosystem.
<BR>Parravano is calling for a meeting of the responsible agencies with
<BR>fishing representatives to develop a plan of action for protecting the San
<BR>Francisco Bay estuary and the fisheries that depend upon it. For more
<BR>information, e-mail: ifrfish@pacbell.net.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/02. PCFFA AND IFR BOARD MEETINGS SLATED FOR
<BR>BODEGA BAY: The Board of Directors of the Pacific Coast Federation
<BR>of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) will meet 8-9 January at the
<BR>University of California's Bodega Marine Laboratory. The meeting will
<BR>coincide with the scoping hearing at the Lab for the management plan
<BR>review of the Gulf of the Farallones, Cordell Bank and Monterey Bay
<BR>National Marine Sanctuaries (see Sublegals, 4:21/08). The Institute for
<BR>Fisheries Resources (IFR) Board of Trustees will also meet at the
<BR>Bodega Marine Laboratory on Wednesday, the 9th. For more
<BR>information, e-mail: PCFFAfish@aol.com or IFRfish@pacbell.net.
<BR>Upcoming meetings of the PCFFA Board have tentatively been
<BR>scheduled for Eureka in February and Sacramento in March.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/03. CORPS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO DUMP DREDGE
<BR>SPOILS NEAR MOUTH OF COLUMBIA IN CRAB FISHING
<BR>GROUNDS: On 21 December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
<BR>(COE) announced plans to designate new ocean dump sites near the
<BR>mouth of the Columbia River. The sites are primarily intended for
<BR>disposal of dredged material from annual maintenance of the river's
<BR>entrance channel. Among the new sites is a 49,000,000 square foot
<BR>section of the hotly-contested Deep Water Site, previously proposed in
<BR>conjunction with plans to deepen the Columbia River shipping channel
<BR>over one hundred miles to Portland. The U.S. Environmental Protection
<BR>Agency (EPA), responsible for permanent designation of ocean dredged
<BR>material disposal sites, had included the 14-square-mile Deep Water Site
<BR>in the channel deepening plan. The site is about six miles from the
<BR>mouth of the river, directly in the path of the biologically unique
<BR>Columbia River plume. The 50-year capacity of this site would exceed
<BR>250 million cubic yards. (175 million cubic yards were excavated to
<BR>build the Panama Canal).
<BR>
<BR>Crab fishermen and coastal residents have condemned the Deep
<BR>Water Site as excessively large and detrimental to ocean resources and
<BR>local economies (see Sublegals, 4:15/01). Both the states of Oregon and
<BR>Washington have criticized the location and size of the site and the lack
<BR>of mitigation for the impacts of its use. In the notice COE says it
<BR>intends to start using a 1.75 square mile (7000 by 7000 feet) section of
<BR>the Deep Water Site under a so-called "emergency" procedure, thereby
<BR>circumventing some of the public involvement and environmental
<BR>protections afforded by the permanent EPA process. EPA will need to
<BR>concur with the emergency designation. (This action is specified under
<BR>Section 103 of the Marine Resources, Protection & Sanctuaries Act.
<BR>COE has previously used this authority, which allows a site to be used
<BR>for up to 10 years without the more formal EPA action, for other sites
<BR>near the Columbia River mouth. For more information, contact Peter
<BR>Huhtala at: huhtala@teleport.com.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/04. CORPS SUED FOR ALLEGED DUMPING OF TOXIC
<BR>DREDGE SPOILS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY WETLAND: A lawsuit
<BR>was filed on 18 December against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
<BR>(COE) by San Francisco BayKeeper and Friends of Suisun Marsh,
<BR>charging that the federal agency unlawfully permitted plans for a toxic
<BR>sediment disposal facility at the eastern reach of Suisun Marsh. Suisun
<BR>Marsh is located on the northern end of Suisun Bay in the upper reaches
<BR>of San Francisco Bay and provides habitat for both waterfowl and fish.
<BR>The litigation follows the 24 September approval by COE of the
<BR>Levine-Fricke Restoration Corporation's plans to deposit 17 million
<BR>cubic yards of dredged Bay sediment, including contaminated mud, on a
<BR>2,400-acre parcel of wetlands along the Montezuma Slough.
<BR>Contaminated wastewater used to slurry the sediments throughout the
<BR>site would be discharged back to San Francisco Bay without legally
<BR>required permit controls, according to the suit.
<BR>
<BR>The sediments proposed for deposition at the site are known to
<BR>contain some 65 different toxic contaminants, according to the plaintiffs.
<BR>Sediment that is too toxic to be allowed for aquatic disposal must be
<BR>"contained" at the site underneath cleaner sediment. However, erosion
<BR>from runoff, erosive tidal action and burrowing animals all create risks
<BR>of re-exposing the buried contaminants. In addition to that risk, millions
<BR>of gallons of water would be used to slurry the contaminated sediment
<BR>and pump it through holding cells throughout the site. Approximately
<BR>one to three million gallons per day of the contaminated slurry water
<BR>would then be discharged back to the San Francisco Bay estuary.
<BR>Mobilizing the slurried sediment would also require the daily extraction
<BR>of two and half to five million gallons of fresh groundwater. For more
<BR>information, contact Jonathan Kaplan at: jonathan@sfbaykeeper.org.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/05. OREGON KLAMATH WATER QUALITY PLAN OUT
<BR>FOR COMMENTS: The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
<BR>(DEQ) has released a draft state plan for improving the water quality of
<BR>the Upper Klamath Basin's highly polluted lakes and rivers, particularly
<BR>for cutting back the input of phosphorus by about 40 percent. Water
<BR>quality in the Upper Klamath Lake is so poor that it ranks as the most
<BR>polluted water body in Oregon. Large quantities of phosphorus coming
<BR>primarily from agricultural lands in the area are the major cause of
<BR>widespread lake alkalinity and destructive algae blooms which are
<BR>devastating for most aquatic life forms. Water pollution problems
<BR>caused by elevated phosphorus levels has thus contributed greatly to the
<BR>decline of lake fish in the Upper Klamath Basin and created serious
<BR>water quality problems for coho and chinook salmon for many river
<BR>miles below Iron Gate Dam.
<BR>
<BR>It is hoped that increasing the overall water quality in the system
<BR>could ease restrictions on water levels in the Upper Klamath Basin,
<BR>which in 2001 had to be held high to ease water quality problems for
<BR>endangered lake fish. The state DEQ plan, required under the federal
<BR>Clean Water Act, would establish TMDLs ('total maximum daily loads')
<BR>of phosphorus in the water at no more than 120 tons/year, down from
<BR>the current 200 tons/year, but leaves the details on how this might be
<BR>accomplished to a vague and open ended 'adaptive management' process
<BR>to come up with measures in the future. Public notice of the plan is
<BR>available by going to www.deq.state.or.us/wq/TMDLs/TMDLs.htm and
<BR>scrolling down to "Upper Klamath Lake Sub-basin." A public hearing
<BR>on the draft TMDL plan will be held in Klamath Falls, Oregon, on 24
<BR>January at the Oregon Institute of Technology Student Union, Mt.
<BR>Shasta Room. Comments must be received by 4 February 2002.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/06. KLAMATH DISASTER RELIEF GRABBED BY THE
<BR>RICHEST FARMERS?: An economics report commissioned by the
<BR>Klamath Forest Alliance critically examines the claims of economic
<BR>hardship in the Upper Klamath Basin attributed to irrigation water
<BR>cutbacks in summer 2001 caused by record drought and shifting water
<BR>allocation priorities. The report, "Crisis Profiteering: Inequities and
<BR>Excesses of the Klamath Project Bailout," concludes that Klamath
<BR>Irrigation Project farms are now receiving disaster assistance on average
<BR>considerably in excess of actual farm sales even in past high water years,
<BR>but that the majority of this disaster assistance is actually going to the
<BR>wealthiest growers. The report cited examples of Tule Lake Wildlife
<BR>Refuge lands being leased this year from the Bureau of Reclamation for
<BR>only $1 per year, then not irrigated, and then leaseholders receiving a
<BR>per acre "drought bailout" which netted them $60/acre in direct disaster
<BR>payments, plus refunded all their irrigation district fees, plus gave them
<BR>an additional $129/acre under the federal government's Section 2014
<BR>Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2001 (from the $20 million
<BR>designated for Klamath Project farmers, Sublegals 4:19/06), and will
<BR>additionally allow them to share in an additional $900,000 in direct farm
<BR>aid appropriated by the California Legislature. Much of the farm aid
<BR>program is being diverted to the wealthiest few farmers by similar
<BR>means, instead of directed toward those farmers who genuinely suffered
<BR>economic distress, the report concludes. The report is available at:
<BR>www.klamathforestalliance.org.
<BR>
<BR>Additional relief for family farmers in the Klamath Basin was
<BR>included in this year's farm bill. The Senate version of that measure,
<BR>S.1731, however, was tabled before Congress' winter recess (see
<BR>Sublegals, 4:25/01; 4:25/03; 4:24/06). At the last minute, the American
<BR>Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) had stepped in opposing the Senate bill
<BR>citing its concern about an amendment by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV),
<BR>that would create a water conservation program intended to help farmers
<BR>such as those in the Klamath Basin whose use of water competed with
<BR>tribes, fishermen and wildlife. For more information, go to:
<BR>http://www.familyfarmer.org/sections/meet.html.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/07. CATFISH LABELING CAUGHT UP IN SENATE FARM
<BR>BILL DEBATE: Among the provisions of the Senate Farm Bill, S.1731,
<BR>was language to permanently ban fish imports labeled wholly or in part
<BR>as catfish (see Sublegals, 4:25/01). WorldCatch News Network reported
<BR>on 21 December that this amendment was supported by Senators from
<BR>southern catfish producing states, but faced strong opposition from
<BR>Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Phil Graham (R-TX). A temporary,
<BR>one-year ban, signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush late
<BR>last month, remains in place (see Sublegals, 4:22/02). The new law, the
<BR>Agricultural Appropriations Act (H.R. 2330), prohibits the U.S. Food &
<BR>Drug Administration (FDA) from allowing any catfish to be imported
<BR>into the U.S. market labeled as catfish unless it comes from the North
<BR>American Ictaluridae family, which is produced largely in the U.S.
<BR>southeast. For the full WorldCatch article, go to: www.worldcatch.com.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/08. ESA PETITION DISPUTES LISTING OF HATCHERY
<BR>FISH: A coalition of fisheries and conservation organizations led by
<BR>Trout Unlimited that includes both PCFFA and IFR filed a detailed
<BR>biological briefing with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
<BR>on 19 December disputing the current NMFS policy of even including
<BR>hatchery fish in the genetic conservation unit (or "ESU," for
<BR>"evolutionarily significant unit") which the federal Endangered Species
<BR>Act (ESA) is then used to protect. Currently NMFS sometimes includes
<BR>them and sometimes does not. The result of this confusing inclusion
<BR>policy was the recent decision by U.S. Federal Court Judge Michael
<BR>Hogan in the Alsea Valley Alliance case that threw out ESA protections
<BR>for the Oregon Coastal Coho ESU, a ruling then appealed by many of
<BR>these same organizations (but not by NMFS), and then ESA protections
<BR>were reinstated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals pending the
<BR>appeal (Sublegals 4:11/02; 4:13/01; 4:18/02, 4:20/08; 4:24/19). The
<BR>group's briefing questions whether hatchery fish should be included in
<BR>an ESU at all except in the rarest of circumstances. Originally intended
<BR>to be a petition for relisting of the Oregon coastal coho, the timely
<BR>reinstatement of ESA protections by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
<BR>made such a petition unnecessary. The petition was submitted instead as
<BR>part of the record for the review of its hatchery stock inclusion policy
<BR>that NMFS is undertaking in lieu of an appeal. For more information
<BR>see Item 9 in the 21 December issue of the Columbia Basin Bulletin,
<BR>available from: http://www.cbbulletin.com.
<BR>
<BR>Landowner and inland industry groups have sought to apply the
<BR>Hogan ruling to nearly every ESA listing for salmon and steelhead
<BR>coastwide, hoping thereby to invalidate all federal protections for these
<BR>fish so as to relieve themselves of any responsibility for contributing
<BR>toward their recovery. The first wave of landowner delisting lawsuits
<BR>based on the Hogan ruling are expected to be filed in mid-January 2002.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/09. WHIRLING DISEASE HITS OREGON'S CLACKAMAS
<BR>RIVER: The parasite causing whirling disease in salmon and trout has
<BR>again broken out in Oregon State. This time it's in the Clackamas River,
<BR>the first outbreak of the parasitic disease since 1987. The probable
<BR>source, according to agency investigators, is a nearby trout farm on the
<BR>Clear Creek tributary of the Clackamas. Oregon Department of Fish &
<BR>Wildlife (ODFW), which routinely monitors hatcheries and fish farms
<BR>for the disease, found the long-lived spores of the parasite at the Clear
<BR>Creek Rainbow Ranch fish farm. Whirling disease has decimated trout
<BR>and some salmonid populations in Montana, Idaho and other western
<BR>states, though many wild populations appear resistant. Hatchery fish,
<BR>however, are more susceptible due to crowded and stressful conditions
<BR>and because of genetic inbreeding. The parasite causes spinal
<BR>deformities that make fish swim in circles until they die of starvation.
<BR>An article on the problem appears in the 17 December Oregonian
<BR>available from their archives of that date at: http://www.oregonlive.com.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/10. SACRAMENTO WINTER-RUN CHINOOK NUMBERS
<BR>UP: While scientists have called into question the efficacy of plans for
<BR>restoring salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin (see
<BR>Sublegals, 4:24/05), efforts at restoring the Sacramento River's
<BR>winter-run chinook, the first Pacific salmon listed under the Endangered
<BR>Species Act (ESA), appear to be succeeding. The San Francisco
<BR>Chronicle, in a 19 December article, confirmed earlier reports in
<BR>Sublegals of a substantial increase in the number of winter-run returning
<BR>to spawn in a reach of the Sacramento below Keswick Dam (a flow
<BR>regulating dam below Shasta reservoir). According to the Chronicle
<BR>report, the number of winter-run spawners has increased from 800 in
<BR>1996 to 11,000 this year, a 14-fold increase in the past five years.
<BR>
<BR>Winter-run chinook were first petitioned for ESA listing in 1986 by
<BR>the American Fisheries Society (AFS) when the number of adult
<BR>spawners had fallen to 2,000 fish (down from 120,000 in 1969). The
<BR>National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) fought the listing, choosing
<BR>to go with its "10-point handshake" a voluntary and unenforceable
<BR>agreement that ultimately did nothing but restrict fishing (AFS made
<BR>clear in its petition that fishing was not contributing to the run's decline).
<BR>In 1989, however, when the numbers were down to 400, the California
<BR>Fish & Game Commission listed the run under California's Endangered
<BR>Species Act (CESA) and NMFS then had no choice but to follow with a
<BR>federal listing. In 1991, when numbers fell to 191 fish and the run
<BR>appeared on the verge of extinction, PCFFA's late President Nat
<BR>Bingham brought the responsible agencies together with scientists and
<BR>fishing groups to form the Winter-Run Captive Broodstock Committee
<BR>and initiated actions to protect the fish in river. Although there have
<BR>been some restrictions placed on commercial and recreational salmon
<BR>fisheries, actions responsible for the winter-run turn-around undertaken
<BR>pursuant to the ESA include: cold water releases from Shasta Dam;
<BR>installation of effective fish screens at the Glen-Colusa and
<BR>Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation Districts; lifting of the gates at the Red
<BR>Bluff Diversion Dam during migration; controlling toxic mine tailing
<BR>waste water from the Iron Mountain mine site; and curtailment of state
<BR>and federal water pumps during migration through the Sacramento-San
<BR>Joaquin Delta. To see the San Francisco Chronicle article, go to:
<BR>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/
<BR>2001/12/19/SP122063.DTL.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/11. SCRAMBLE OVER FATE OF TWO UPPER COLUMBIA
<BR>DAMS: The Oregonian reported on 28 December that the Grant County
<BR>Public Utility District (PUD) might have to sell its two large
<BR>hydroelectric dams on the upper Columbia River for a fraction of their
<BR>current value if it loses its operating license in 2005. The Priest Rapids
<BR>and the Wanapum Dams are being sought instead by a joint venture
<BR>between PacifiCorp and the Yakima Nation in a competing licensing
<BR>application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that,
<BR>if successful, would put the Yakima Tribe in charge of the dams. If the
<BR>utility cannot renew its 50 year FERC license, a federal law would
<BR>require Grant PUD to sell the dams, which they value at several billion
<BR>dollars, at their "net book value" of only about $400 million in original
<BR>construction costs. The PUD built the dams in the 1950's and 60's.
<BR>
<BR>The Yakima Tribe is interested in restructuring and operating the
<BR>dams to open up fish passage for Columbia River salmon, which has
<BR>been very poor and for which they are currently poorly designed. The
<BR>Tribe also created Yakima Power Company in 2000 to supply power to
<BR>its reservation, but does not yet have a source of cheap hydropower,
<BR>which the dams would provide. For more information see Item 8 of the
<BR>2 November Columbia Basin Bulletin, available from their archives
<BR>from their home page at: http://www.cbbulletin.com.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/12. FIRST MPA SITE SELECTED FOR "BAJA-TO-BERING"
<BR>INITIATIVE: A spokesperson for the Canadian Parks & Wilderness
<BR>Society announced 18 December that the waters around Amchitka
<BR>Island, located at the tip of the Aleutian chain, has been nominated as
<BR>the first marine protected area (MPA) site under the Baja-to-Bering
<BR>initiative, a Canada-US-Mexico cooperative program involving both
<BR>governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). According
<BR>to Ecosystem Defenders (ED), a U.S. based environmental organization
<BR>that is one of the Baja-to-Bering partners, the waters around Amchitka
<BR>were chosen because of some extremely large fish and other marine
<BR>animals there, as well as some highly unique species seen nowhere else
<BR>in the world. The waters around Amchitka are believed to be the
<BR>spawning grounds for the new species of giant squid that was recently
<BR>discovered in the Pacific. In the 1950's the U.S. Government used the
<BR>island as a nuclear bomb testing site.
<BR>
<BR>Under the proposal, approximately 25 percent of the Bering Sea
<BR>would be put into a "no-take" MPA and an equivalent amount of water
<BR>in the North Pacific to the south of Amchitka would also be made a
<BR>reserve. The proposal is expected to have the blessing of the Bush
<BR>Administration after Vice-President Dick Cheney met with leading oil
<BR>executives who told him oil and gas reserves in the proposed area are
<BR>marginal at best, with some potential on the FRINGE of the proposed
<BR>MPA. The petroleum companies prefer to concentrate on developing
<BR>known reserves off Sakalin Island and in Bristol Bay. The proposal also
<BR>would not interfere with military acoustic testing (at-sea acoustic testing
<BR>is already allowed in places such as the Monterey Bay National Marine
<BR>Sanctuary), nor cruise ship traffic since a "no-take" designation does not
<BR>prevent disposing of materials. Some Alaskan native groups have raised
<BR>concerns about the impact on their aboriginal hunting and fishing rights.
<BR>There was also a large protest from the head of a Russian Far East
<BR>regional fishery agency in Petropavlovsk, objecting to the inclusion of
<BR>Russian territorial waters in the proposal, calling it "blatant
<BR>imperialism.... an initiative based on 'theme-park science' intended
<BR>solely to raise money for NGOs and give more power to stupid little
<BR>bureaucrats." For more information on Amchitka Island, see the report
<BR>in the 17 December San Francisco Chronicle at:
<BR>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/
<BR>2001/12/17/MN12230.DTL.
<BR>
<BR>4:26/13. SYMPOSIUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:
<BR>"The Role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Achieving
<BR>Sustainable Development" is the title of a symposium scheduled for
<BR>Tuesday, 8 January, at Fort Mason Center (Building A) in San
<BR>Francisco. The event, which begins at 1200 HRS, features, among
<BR>others, Victor Menotti, an IFR Associate who has written and spoken
<BR>extensively on the impacts of WTO rules and globalization on fisheries.
<BR>For more information, go to: http://www.globalexchange.org.
<BR>
<BR>NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit your news items,
<BR>comments or any corrections to Allison Vogt, Editor at:
<BR>ifrfish@pacbell.net or call the IFR/PCFFA office with the news and a
<BR>source at either: (415) 561-FISH (Southwest Office) or (541) 689-2000
<BR>(Northwest Office).
<BR>
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