[Fishlink] ~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 12/20/06<~~
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Tue, 24 Dec 2002 18:29:26 EST
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~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 12/20/06<~~
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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. 06, NO. 25 20 DECEMBER 2002
##########################################################
"We'll concede there is no conclusive proof just a handful of years into
the new federal [Columbia River] recovery program that every acre-foot
of flow required under the rules is needed to restore fish runs. But the
burden of proof sits not with those arguing that fish need water, but
those who insist otherwise." ....Portland Oregonian Editorial 12/12/02
##########################################################
IN THIS ISSUE.......
Report Says Klamath Farmer's 2001 Losses Were Covered,
Water Problems Remain. 6:25/01
Deadline Extended To 27 January For Comments On
Aquaculture Effluent Guidelines. 6:25/02
Canada Adopts Endangered Species Protection Act. 6:25/05
Wild Pink Salmon In Trouble In British Columbia,
Fish Farms Blamed. 6:25/12
California Central Valley Farmers To Keep Pollution
Exemption. 6:25/14
AND MORE......
##########################################################
6:25/01. KLAMATH PROJECT FARMERS' 2001 LOSSES WERE
COVERED BY AID, SAYS UNIVERSITY REPORT, BUT WATER
PROBLEMS REMAIN: A much awaited peer-reviewed final report by a
team of economists and researchers from Oregon State University and
the University of California released 18 December concluded that on
average Klamath Project farmers left with too little water during the
near-record 2001 drought have been more or less fully compensated by
various disaster relief and rebate programs, but that disaster assistance
was inequitably distributed, with some large landowners getting the vast
majority of aid while lease farmers and farm laborers received little or
nothing.
The 421-page study, "Water Allocation in the Klamath Reclamation
Project, 2001: An Assessment of Natural Resource, Economic, Social
and Institutional Issues with a Focus on the Upper Klamath Basin," was
a year and a half in the making, involving dozens of authors and peer
reviewers, and is intended to provide an objective and accurate analysis
of what really went on in the Klamath Project during the 2001 drought.
The report was intended to assess the consequences of decisions to
curtail water flows to some Klamath Project irrigators during that year,
and to identify management alternatives and lessons that can be learned
from that experience for the future.
Among its conclusions were that "net crop revenue on the Project was
reduced by $27 to $46 million," but that with "emergency payments of
between $25 and $35 million, the overall change in net farm revenue
was between negative $11 million and plus $10 million." In other
words, the 53 percent of Klamath Project farmers that did not receive
full irrigation water during the 2001 drought and suffered economic
damages were, on average, economically fully compensated. These loss
figures are also roughly one-tenth of what Klamath Project farmers were
claiming they would lose from the water cutbacks during the frenzy of
the water crisis, which resulted in Congressional hearings, lawsuits and
acts of civil disobedience that captured national media attention and
fueled right-wing efforts to overturn the Endangered Species Act (see
Sublegals 3:22/08: 3:15/07).
The report also concluded that in 2001 there was only "a 2.3 percent
decline in total employment in the three-county region compared to the
previous year." The report noted though that "it is essential, however, to
recognize that measures of aggregate or total changes in income and net
revenues mask the highly uneven distribution of the net losses or gains
among farms, farmworkers, and other individuals across different sectors
of the economy."
The report also made it clear that the underlying water over-allocation
problems of the Klamath Basin remain, and that similar conflicts are
inevitable unless things change in the Basin to bring the water demand
more in balance with the actual supply. These solutions, however, must
take into account all interests in the basin, not just irrigation interests.
The report concludes, "Any lasting solution to conflicts surrounding
allocation of scare resources requires that the needs of ALL interested
parties be addressed. In the Klamath Reclamation Project area, the
legitimate interests of Native Americans, irrigators and endangered
species must all be recognized and considered."
For more information see the 18 December Associated Press
summary of the report at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/12/18/st
ate2235EST7432.DTL. Also see the 19 December Oregonian summary
of the report's findings located on the web at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/ht
ml_standard.xsl?/base/front_page/1040302587193940.xml. Report
itself at: http://eesc.oregonstate.edu/klamath.
6:25/02. DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 27 JANUARY FOR
COMMENTS ON DRAFT USEPA AQUACULTURE EFFLUENT
GUIDELINES: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Office of Water is making new efforts to help reduce nutrient loadings
from commercial aquaculture and industrial fish farm operations in the
U.S., problems which have become serious in many areas. Among those
efforts is developing pollutant controls in the form of nationally
applicable discharge standards (known as effluent limitations, guidelines
and standards) for commercial and public aquaculture operations.
The original deadline for comments has been extended and now
comments on the proposal must be postmarked by January 27, 2003.
EPA will also conduct two or three public meetings (sites not yet
determined) to discuss the proposed rule. See the complete 12
September Federal Register (Vol. 67, No. 177, pp. 57871-57928) notice
at: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2002/September/
Day-12/w21673.htm. The standards and guidelines proposed may,
depending on how strong they are, be instrumental in either controlling
pollutants from these operations or become an industry exemption from
current pollution discharge rules.
Submit written comments to Ms. Marta Jordan, Office of Water,
Engineering and Analysis Division (4303T), U.S. EPA, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460. Comments may
also be sent by e-mail to the following e-mail address:
aquaticanimals@epa.gov. Additional information can be found on
EPA's websites by looking at: www.epa.gov/ost/guide/aquaculture.
6:25/03. EU FISHERIES SUBSIDIES SEEN AS MAJOR CAUSE
OF OVERFISHING: Environmental groups have accused European
Union (EU) governments of continuing to offer a patchwork of
environmentally damaging fishing subsidies and financial incentive
programs to continue to build up already excessive fishing capacity, even
as fisheries ministers gather in Brussels to discuss stocks in crisis and
system reforms, notes a 28 November Environment News Service
article. European Union fisheries officials, on the advice of fisheries
scientists, are calling for massive and unprecedented effort reduction in
many over-capitalized European fisheries in an effort to try to avoid
complete biological collapse (see Sublegals 2:22/20). Financial support
for building new or modernized fishing vessels still outstrips that for
reducing fishing effort, and subsidies vary enormously between
countries, the conservation organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
has warned. For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2002/2002-11-28-02.asp. For additional
information on the issue, go to: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/
where_we_work/europe/what_we_do/policy_and_events/epo/news.cfm?
uNewsID=4942.
International reduction of harmful fishing industry subsidies is also
still in contention at the World Trade Organization (WTO), but with
some countries attempting to define "subsidies" so broadly that environ-
mental protections intended to rebuild depleted fisheries would also be
banned along with subsidies that encourage overcapitalization (see
Sublegals 5:19/07; also see, "Not Fish Friendly: The WTO's New Doha
Agenda for Fisheries," www.pcffa.org/fn-apr02.htm).
6:25/04. "TROUBLED WATERS" SERIES HIGHLIGHTS PUGET
SOUND MARINE POLLUTION PROBLEMS: The Seattle
Post-Intelligencer has recently published a five part, multi-article series
on pollution problems plaguing Washington State's Puget Sound.
Industrial pollution, sewage overflow, over-development and 92,000
acres of the Puget Sound that have been deemed "seriously polluted" are
driving many marine species toward regional extinction, including many
that once supported major commercial fisheries. For more, go to:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/sound/day1.asp.
6:25/05. CANADA ADOPTS ENDANGERED SPECIES
PROTECTION ACT: On 12 December, Canada's recently adopted
Species At Risk Act (SARA) was given Royal Assent, the last act
required to adopt the first federal protections Canada has ever passed for
endangered species. The nine-year struggle to get such an act through
Parliament was marked with many setbacks, industry and landowner
resistance, and continual efforts to water down protections that most
biologists believed were long overdue (see Sublegals 5:19/09). Also,
without the adoption of its own endangered species laws, Canada was
under no obligation to protect U.S. listed endangered or threatened
species (such as Pacific coho salmon) once they migrated across the
border into Canada. The SARA process of designation of endangered
species must be based on a rigorous and independent scientific
assessment that operates at arms length from the federal government.
Listing also requires the development of recovery action plans for
species that are found to be most at risk. Landowner and industry
interests were appeased, however, by removing many enforcement
provisions and replacing them with compensation mechanisms to
reimburse landowners for costs of protection implementation on their
lands. SARA will come into force sometime in 2003. In the meantime,
the Government of Canada will be developing implementation
regulations. The complete text of the SARA bill can be found at:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/PDF/37/1/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/governme
nt/C-5_3.pdf. For additional infor- mation see:
http://www.ec.gc.ca/press/2002/021212_n_e.htm.
6:25/06. NMFS REQUESTS INPUT REGARDING UPCOMING
SCOPING MEETINGS: Mr. Bill Hogarth has announced that the
National Marine Fisheries Service will be holding scoping sessions next
year across the country to discuss issues relating to our fisheries
resources. He has requested that both commercial and recreational
fishermen email him comments about when the regional meetings
should occur to avoid conflicting with critical times in fishing seasons,
and about topics that should be addressed in these meetings. Email your
thoughts about current priorities and issues that need to be addressed to
bill.hogarth@noaa.gov.
6:25/07. CENTRAL VALLEY IRRIGATORS SUE TO DELIST
CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY DELTA SMELT AND REVERSE
WATER RESTRICTIONS: One of the first western fish to be listed
under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), in 1993, is the
California Delta smelt. Before widespread salmon listings, federal
protection of the Delta smelt drove many efforts for water reforms in the
California Central Valley Project (CVP), the world's largest and one of
the most subsidized federal irrigation systems. Until the smelt was listed,
CVP irrigation systems soaked up so much of the total flow from the
Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins that the San Francisco estuary
actually began running backwards, with saltwater intrusions flowing
nearly to the far inland City of Sacramento. These saltwater intrusions
pushed freshwater Delta smelt populations down by more than 90
percent and caused major declines in a number of its predator species,
including juvenile salmon. The massive CALFED estuary and delta
restoration effort was also in large part a response to the ESA listings of
both smelt and salmon.
Annual surveys for California's Delta smelt, however, indicate that
the small blue fish has just barely "reached all the population goals for
recovery set six years ago, when drought and Delta pumps threatened to
edge the once-abundant fish toward extinction" says the 19 October
Contra Costa Times. If this year's count confirms the trend, then the
recovery goals will be considered met and the fish could be delisted.
However, fisheries biologists say that although the official recovery
goals have (just barely) been met over the last five years, the goals
themselves are too low to constitute true recovery and it is unwise to
delist the smelt unless pump restrictions, fish screens and other
protective mechanisms now required under listing would still remain in
place, something which is far from assured.
Biologists also warn that this year's Delta smelt sampling catch is
among the lowest since state biologists began the annual sampling trawl
in 1967, and that even though recovery goals may have been technically
met by the thinnest of margins over the past five years, it remains far
from clear that the fish is in good shape. Prior year populations
benefited from several relatively wet years, while the two most recent
years have been drought years, likely reducing smelt populations back
below recovery thresholds. The species typically lives only one year,
and thus is particularly sensitive to annual climate fluctuations.
However, the Westlands Water District and the San Luis &
Delta-Mendota Water Authority filed suit on 4 December in U.S.
District Court in Fresno, California, seeking to formally delist the
species on the basis of the species having met recovery goals as specified
in the current recovery plan for five years, regardless of any later
declines. Westlands also hired its own consultants to prepare an
independent fish count of the species, who also concluded that recovery
goals had been met sufficiently to allow delisting. Once delisting
occurs, however, many current protection measures could be lifted,
resulting in much larger mortality rates for the fish in the pumps and in
still unscreened diversion ditches of the Central Valley Project, in effect
returning to conditions that contributed to the smelt's (and salmon's)
decline initially. The ESA itself also requires (16 U.S.C. 1533(c)(2))
federal trustee agencies to review all listings every five year, a process
that is itself overdue. For more information see the 4 December Fresno
Bee summary at:
www.fresnobee.com/local/story/5460470p-6444814c.html.
6:25/08. MAJOR FISHERIES CONFERENCE SET FOR 21-23
JANUARY IN WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) Fisheries Program will host the first-ever "National
Fisheries Leadership Conference," at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in
Washington, DC, 21-23 January 2003. The conference, primarily
oriented to recreational and inland fisheries, is expected to draw 350
national fisheries program leaders and a broad spectrum of state and
other invited partners to exchange ideas and to talk about the USFWS
Fisheries Program's new Strategic Vision for the 21st century.
Guest speakers tentatively include Interior Secretary Gale Norton and
Fish & Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams. All sessions of the
conference, as well as individual break-out meetings, are open to the
news media, and there is no charge for media registration, which begins
at 0800 HRS on 21 January at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, at 2500
Calvert St., NW, in Washington, DC. Please visit the conference web
site at: http://fisheries.fws.gov for updates on speakers and the
conference agenda. For more information contact: Ken Burton,
202-208-5657, email: Ken_Burton@fws.gov, or Craig Springer,
505-248-6867, email: Craig_Springer@fws.gov.
6:25/09. VIDEO ON CHILEAN SALMON FARMING INDUSTRY
AVAILABLE: A new educational video, "Infinite Growth: the Myth of
Chilean Salmon Farming," is a 32-minute documentary available in
English and Spanish on the impacts of Chilean fish farming. The Chilean
salmon fish farming industry generates considerable wealth for the
companies promoting it. In 2000, $973 million (U.S.) export income
was earned by Chilean salmon farming. The Chilean salmon farmers
project this to triple over the next few years as production increases.
However, as this video documents, this generation of wealth has not
brought with it an improvement for the people working in the salmon
farming industry in terms of better education, health or housing. In fact,
previously independent fishermen have been put out of business and are
now faced with no choice but to become dependent workers in this new
industry. Working conditions in the processing plants are poor and the
rate of pay is extremely low. Overall, as the documentary shows, the
economic benefits to local communities of farm fish operations have
been meager and the environmental and social damages huge. The video
was produced by and is available from the Terram Foundation, which
can be reached at: www.terram.cl. You can also order a copy by
contacting ddoren@terram.cl or calling the Foundation at:
(56-2)236-4277.
6:25/10. U.S. CORAL REEFS ENDANGERED, SAYS NEW NOAA
ASSESSMENT: A new study on the health of U.S. coral reefs has
found that virtually all of them are now threatened by various problems
of pollution, overfishing, coastal development and runoff. The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report, "The Status
of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely
Associated States," is meant to gauge any changes in the health and
extent of coral reefs in the U.S. and its territories and noted that in some
place like the Florida Keys, "disease and other factors have led to a 37%
decline in coral cover in just five years." Accompanying the study is a
report to Congress outlining strategies to prevent further damage and
allow for recovery of these fragile ecosystems, which are also the
nursery grounds for many species of fish, including several which are
commercially valuable. The full report can be obtained at:
http://www.nccos.noaa.gov/documents/coral_notice.pdf. NOAA also
has also established a centralized web site for coral reef information
generally at: http://www.coris.noaa.gov.
6:25/11. WORLD SUMMIT ON SALMON TO BE HELD 10-13
JUNE 2003: British Columbia's Simon Fraser University will be hosting
a conference called "The World Summit on Salmon," on 10-13 June
2003 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The summit is meant to be a special
forum for the globe's leading salmon scientists, conservationists and
managers. The four main themes of the summit will be: (1) to review the
prognosis and prospects of the world's wild salmon; (2) to identify
knowledge gaps and directions for future research; (3) to advance
full-cost assessment of wild salmon, and; (4) to provide an international
framework for action. For more information about the "World Summit
on Salmon" contact: Secretariat for the World Summit on Salmon, c/o
Continuing Studies in Science, Simon Fraser University, 8888
University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V6A-1S6, Canada, or by phone to:
604-291-4893 or fax to: 604-291-3851. Email contact is:
penikett@sfu.ca, or see the Salmon Summit conference web site located
at: http://www.sfu.ca/cstudies/science/salmon.htm.
6:25/12: WILD PINK SALMON IN TROUBLE IN BRITISH
COLUMBIA, FISH FARM SEA LICE TRANSMISSIONS BLAMED
FOR MASSIVE DECLINES: On 25 November the Canadian Pacific
Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (PFRCC) issued an advisory to
Canada's and British Columbia's Fisheries Ministers, warning of
dramatic decreases of wild spawning pink salmon within British
Columbia's Broughton Archipelago, attributing the declines to massive
infestations of sea lice transmitted to wild populations by nearby open
net pen salmon aquaculture operations. In his letter to the Ministers,
PFRCC Chair John A. Fraser explained that the populations of pink
salmon spawners in the Broughton Archipelago have suddenly decreased
from 3.615 million fish to a mere 147,000 (a 96 percent decline) and that
"spawner declines were virtually confined to the Broughton Archipelago
leading us to conclude that the decrease was specific to conditions in the
Broughton Archipelago and was related to conditions within the
Broughton Archipelago. There is evidence that the Broughton pink
juveniles were infested with sea lice, a condition essentially unreported
for juvenile pink salmon in the natural environment elsewhere. While
scientific certainty is not absolute, European research does indicate that
sea lice abundance can be associated with salmon farming..... Where
there is risk of serious or irreversible harm, the precautionary approach
calls for action based on the best evidence available. In this case the
absence of any evidence of some other causes than sea lice justifies
action."
Twenty-one salmon farms exist within the Broughton Archipelago,
many known to be reservoirs of sea lice or to have suffered serious sea
lice problems in the recent past. Options proposed by the PFRCC
included fallowing all salmon farms within the Broughton Archipelago,
or implementation of rigorous sea lice control measures on the salmon
farms, with fallowing deemed the lowest risk option providing the
greatest likelihood of success. This is yet another blow to the credibility
of the salmon farming industry in British Columbia, just as the new
British Columbia Liberal Government led by Premier Gordon Campbell
has lifted in September a five-year moratorium on new British Columbia
fish farm licenses, over-ruling objections by environmentalists, fisheries
biologists and its own agency scientists (see Sublegals 6:11/11; 5:05/09;
5:02/11; 3:26/09).
The PFRCC was established in 1998 and is funded by the Canadian
government. Its role is to provide independent, strategic advice and
relevant information to Canada's and British Columbia's Fisheries
Ministers as well as the Canadian public on the status and long-term
sustainable use of British Columbia wild salmon stocks and their
freshwater and ocean habitat. Its current Chairman, The Honorable John
Fraser, is a former Speaker of the House of Commons and former federal
fisheries minister. For more information on the PFRCC and the advisory
see: http://www.fish.bc.ca.
6:25/13. INTERNATIONAL BERING SEA CONFERENCE 1-5
APRIL 2003: The "International Bering Sea Conference" will be held at
the Alyeska Prince Hotel in Girdwood, Alaska, between 1-5 April 2003,
sponsored by Pacific Environment. The conference will focus on the
Bering Sea as a shared international resource of concern to fisheries
managers, conservationists and scientists but also of political concern to
several countries, including the United States and the Russian
Federation. The goal of the conference will be to create an action plan
and recommendations to assure better international cooperation in the
Bering Sea. For more information contact Jennifer Eyres, Pacific
Environment Coordinator, (510)251-8800 x 307 or by email to:
jeyres@pacificenvironment.org. For more information see the
conference web site at:
www.pacificenvironment.org/marine/beringconference.htm.
6:25/14. CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY FARMERS TO
KEEP EXEMPTION FROM STATE WATER POLLUTION LAWS
FOR AT LEAST TWO MORE YEARS: California's Davis
Administration, headed for a crucial showdown on 5 December before
the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB)
has instead, under political pressure, apparently abandoned its plan to
require California farmers to reduce their runoff of pesticides and other
pollutants into the California Central Valley's streams and rivers. The
regulatory plan would have ended agriculture's 20-year-old special
exemption from state water pollution controls that all other industries in
the state must follow. In its place, state water pollution regulators want
to extend the exemption for yet another two years for the Central
Valley's seven million acres of irrigated crop fields, vineyards and
orchards.
At stake is the water quality of the Sacramento and San Joaquin river
systems that provide drinking water and recreation for millions and
support major runs of Pacific salmon, several of which are now classed
as either endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species
Act. The "Clean Farms, Clean Water Campaign," a coalition of more
than 50 fishing, farming, environmental and community groups
(including PCFFA), has been pushing the CVRWQCB to deal with the
issue for years, and some of its members finally filed a lawsuit against
the Board in early 2002 to force the state to come up with a regulatory
plan in lieu of a blanket waiver (see Sublegals 5:11/05). Removing the
exemption has broad public support. For more information on the Clean
Farms, Clean Water Campaign and the disappointing CVRWQCB ruling
see: http://www.cleanfarmscleanwater.org. For a Sacramento Bee 5
December Editorial see:
http://www.cleanfarmscleanwater.org/documents/edboardletter2.htm.
NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit your news items,
comments or any corrections to Editor at: sublegals@ifrfish.org, 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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~~>FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 12/20/06<~~<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. 06, NO. 25 20 DECEMBER 2002<BR>
##########################################################<BR>
"We'll concede there is no conclusive proof just a handful of years into<BR>
the new federal [Columbia River] recovery program that every acre-foot<BR>
of flow required under the rules is needed to restore fish runs. But the<BR>
burden of proof sits not with those arguing that fish need water, but<BR>
those who insist otherwise." ....Portland Oregonian Editorial 12/12/02<BR>
##########################################################<BR>
IN THIS ISSUE.......<BR>
<BR>
Report Says Klamath Farmer's 2001 Losses Were Covered, <BR>
Water Problems Remain. 6:25/01<BR>
<BR>
Deadline Extended To 27 January For Comments On <BR>
Aquaculture Effluent Guidelines. 6:25/02<BR>
<BR>
Canada Adopts Endangered Species Protection Act. 6:25/05<BR>
<BR>
Wild Pink Salmon In Trouble In British Columbia, <BR>
Fish Farms Blamed. 6:25/12<BR>
<BR>
California Central Valley Farmers To Keep Pollution <BR>
Exemption. 6:25/14<BR>
<BR>
AND MORE......<BR>
########################################################## <BR>
6:25/01. KLAMATH PROJECT FARMERS' 2001 LOSSES WERE<BR>
COVERED BY AID, SAYS UNIVERSITY REPORT, BUT WATER<BR>
PROBLEMS REMAIN: A much awaited peer-reviewed final report by a<BR>
team of economists and researchers from Oregon State University and<BR>
the University of California released 18 December concluded that on<BR>
average Klamath Project farmers left with too little water during the<BR>
near-record 2001 drought have been more or less fully compensated by<BR>
various disaster relief and rebate programs, but that disaster assistance<BR>
was inequitably distributed, with some large landowners getting the vast<BR>
majority of aid while lease farmers and farm laborers received little or<BR>
nothing. <BR>
<BR>
The 421-page study, "Water Allocation in the Klamath Reclamation<BR>
Project, 2001: An Assessment of Natural Resource, Economic, Social<BR>
and Institutional Issues with a Focus on the Upper Klamath Basin," was<BR>
a year and a half in the making, involving dozens of authors and peer<BR>
reviewers, and is intended to provide an objective and accurate analysis<BR>
of what really went on in the Klamath Project during the 2001 drought.<BR>
The report was intended to assess the consequences of decisions to<BR>
curtail water flows to some Klamath Project irrigators during that year,<BR>
and to identify management alternatives and lessons that can be learned<BR>
from that experience for the future. <BR>
<BR>
Among its conclusions were that "net crop revenue on the Project was<BR>
reduced by $27 to $46 million," but that with "emergency payments of<BR>
between $25 and $35 million, the overall change in net farm revenue<BR>
was between negative $11 million and plus $10 million." In other<BR>
words, the 53 percent of Klamath Project farmers that did not receive<BR>
full irrigation water during the 2001 drought and suffered economic<BR>
damages were, on average, economically fully compensated. These loss<BR>
figures are also roughly one-tenth of what Klamath Project farmers were<BR>
claiming they would lose from the water cutbacks during the frenzy of<BR>
the water crisis, which resulted in Congressional hearings, lawsuits and<BR>
acts of civil disobedience that captured national media attention and<BR>
fueled right-wing efforts to overturn the Endangered Species Act (see<BR>
Sublegals 3:22/08: 3:15/07). <BR>
<BR>
The report also concluded that in 2001 there was only "a 2.3 percent<BR>
decline in total employment in the three-county region compared to the<BR>
previous year." The report noted though that "it is essential, however, to<BR>
recognize that measures of aggregate or total changes in income and net<BR>
revenues mask the highly uneven distribution of the net losses or gains<BR>
among farms, farmworkers, and other individuals across different sectors<BR>
of the economy."<BR>
<BR>
The report also made it clear that the underlying water over-allocation<BR>
problems of the Klamath Basin remain, and that similar conflicts are<BR>
inevitable unless things change in the Basin to bring the water demand<BR>
more in balance with the actual supply. These solutions, however, must<BR>
take into account all interests in the basin, not just irrigation interests. <BR>
The report concludes, "Any lasting solution to conflicts surrounding<BR>
allocation of scare resources requires that the needs of ALL interested<BR>
parties be addressed. In the Klamath Reclamation Project area, the<BR>
legitimate interests of Native Americans, irrigators and endangered<BR>
species must all be recognized and considered."<BR>
<BR>
For more information see the 18 December Associated Press<BR>
summary of the report at:<BR>
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/12/18/st<BR>
ate2235EST7432.DTL. Also see the 19 December Oregonian summary<BR>
of the report's findings located on the web at:<BR>
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/ht<BR>
ml_standard.xsl?/base/front_page/1040302587193940.xml. Report<BR>
itself at: http://eesc.oregonstate.edu/klamath.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/02. DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 27 JANUARY FOR<BR>
COMMENTS ON DRAFT USEPA AQUACULTURE EFFLUENT<BR>
GUIDELINES: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)<BR>
Office of Water is making new efforts to help reduce nutrient loadings<BR>
from commercial aquaculture and industrial fish farm operations in the<BR>
U.S., problems which have become serious in many areas. Among those<BR>
efforts is developing pollutant controls in the form of nationally<BR>
applicable discharge standards (known as effluent limitations, guidelines<BR>
and standards) for commercial and public aquaculture operations. <BR>
<BR>
The original deadline for comments has been extended and now<BR>
comments on the proposal must be postmarked by January 27, 2003.<BR>
EPA will also conduct two or three public meetings (sites not yet<BR>
determined) to discuss the proposed rule. See the complete 12<BR>
September Federal Register (Vol. 67, No. 177, pp. 57871-57928) notice<BR>
at: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2002/September/<BR>
Day-12/w21673.htm. The standards and guidelines proposed may,<BR>
depending on how strong they are, be instrumental in either controlling<BR>
pollutants from these operations or become an industry exemption from<BR>
current pollution discharge rules.<BR>
<BR>
Submit written comments to Ms. Marta Jordan, Office of Water,<BR>
Engineering and Analysis Division (4303T), U.S. EPA, 1200<BR>
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460. Comments may<BR>
also be sent by e-mail to the following e-mail address:<BR>
aquaticanimals@epa.gov. Additional information can be found on<BR>
EPA's websites by looking at: www.epa.gov/ost/guide/aquaculture.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/03. EU FISHERIES SUBSIDIES SEEN AS MAJOR CAUSE<BR>
OF OVERFISHING: Environmental groups have accused European<BR>
Union (EU) governments of continuing to offer a patchwork of<BR>
environmentally damaging fishing subsidies and financial incentive<BR>
programs to continue to build up already excessive fishing capacity, even<BR>
as fisheries ministers gather in Brussels to discuss stocks in crisis and<BR>
system reforms, notes a 28 November Environment News Service<BR>
article. European Union fisheries officials, on the advice of fisheries<BR>
scientists, are calling for massive and unprecedented effort reduction in<BR>
many over-capitalized European fisheries in an effort to try to avoid<BR>
complete biological collapse (see Sublegals 2:22/20). Financial support<BR>
for building new or modernized fishing vessels still outstrips that for<BR>
reducing fishing effort, and subsidies vary enormously between<BR>
countries, the conservation organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF)<BR>
has warned. For full text and graphics visit:<BR>
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2002/2002-11-28-02.asp. For additional<BR>
information on the issue, go to: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/<BR>
where_we_work/europe/what_we_do/policy_and_events/epo/news.cfm?<BR>
uNewsID=4942.<BR>
<BR>
International reduction of harmful fishing industry subsidies is also<BR>
still in contention at the World Trade Organization (WTO), but with<BR>
some countries attempting to define "subsidies" so broadly that environ-<BR>
mental protections intended to rebuild depleted fisheries would also be<BR>
banned along with subsidies that encourage overcapitalization (see<BR>
Sublegals 5:19/07; also see, "Not Fish Friendly: The WTO's New Doha<BR>
Agenda for Fisheries," www.pcffa.org/fn-apr02.htm).<BR>
<BR>
6:25/04. "TROUBLED WATERS" SERIES HIGHLIGHTS PUGET<BR>
SOUND MARINE POLLUTION PROBLEMS: The Seattle<BR>
Post-Intelligencer has recently published a five part, multi-article series<BR>
on pollution problems plaguing Washington State's Puget Sound. <BR>
Industrial pollution, sewage overflow, over-development and 92,000<BR>
acres of the Puget Sound that have been deemed "seriously polluted" are<BR>
driving many marine species toward regional extinction, including many<BR>
that once supported major commercial fisheries. For more, go to:<BR>
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/sound/day1.asp.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/05. CANADA ADOPTS ENDANGERED SPECIES<BR>
PROTECTION ACT: On 12 December, Canada's recently adopted<BR>
Species At Risk Act (SARA) was given Royal Assent, the last act<BR>
required to adopt the first federal protections Canada has ever passed for<BR>
endangered species. The nine-year struggle to get such an act through<BR>
Parliament was marked with many setbacks, industry and landowner<BR>
resistance, and continual efforts to water down protections that most<BR>
biologists believed were long overdue (see Sublegals 5:19/09). Also,<BR>
without the adoption of its own endangered species laws, Canada was<BR>
under no obligation to protect U.S. listed endangered or threatened<BR>
species (such as Pacific coho salmon) once they migrated across the<BR>
border into Canada. The SARA process of designation of endangered<BR>
species must be based on a rigorous and independent scientific<BR>
assessment that operates at arms length from the federal government. <BR>
Listing also requires the development of recovery action plans for<BR>
species that are found to be most at risk. Landowner and industry<BR>
interests were appeased, however, by removing many enforcement<BR>
provisions and replacing them with compensation mechanisms to<BR>
reimburse landowners for costs of protection implementation on their<BR>
lands. SARA will come into force sometime in 2003. In the meantime,<BR>
the Government of Canada will be developing implementation<BR>
regulations. The complete text of the SARA bill can be found at:<BR>
http://www.parl.gc.ca/PDF/37/1/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/governme<BR>
nt/C-5_3.pdf. For additional infor- mation see:<BR>
http://www.ec.gc.ca/press/2002/021212_n_e.htm.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/06. NMFS REQUESTS INPUT REGARDING UPCOMING<BR>
SCOPING MEETINGS: Mr. Bill Hogarth has announced that the<BR>
National Marine Fisheries Service will be holding scoping sessions next<BR>
year across the country to discuss issues relating to our fisheries<BR>
resources. He has requested that both commercial and recreational<BR>
fishermen email him comments about when the regional meetings<BR>
should occur to avoid conflicting with critical times in fishing seasons,<BR>
and about topics that should be addressed in these meetings. Email your<BR>
thoughts about current priorities and issues that need to be addressed to<BR>
bill.hogarth@noaa.gov.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/07. CENTRAL VALLEY IRRIGATORS SUE TO DELIST<BR>
CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY DELTA SMELT AND REVERSE<BR>
WATER RESTRICTIONS: One of the first western fish to be listed<BR>
under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), in 1993, is the<BR>
California Delta smelt. Before widespread salmon listings, federal<BR>
protection of the Delta smelt drove many efforts for water reforms in the<BR>
California Central Valley Project (CVP), the world's largest and one of<BR>
the most subsidized federal irrigation systems. Until the smelt was listed,<BR>
CVP irrigation systems soaked up so much of the total flow from the<BR>
Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins that the San Francisco estuary<BR>
actually began running backwards, with saltwater intrusions flowing<BR>
nearly to the far inland City of Sacramento. These saltwater intrusions<BR>
pushed freshwater Delta smelt populations down by more than 90<BR>
percent and caused major declines in a number of its predator species,<BR>
including juvenile salmon. The massive CALFED estuary and delta<BR>
restoration effort was also in large part a response to the ESA listings of<BR>
both smelt and salmon.<BR>
<BR>
Annual surveys for California's Delta smelt, however, indicate that<BR>
the small blue fish has just barely "reached all the population goals for<BR>
recovery set six years ago, when drought and Delta pumps threatened to<BR>
edge the once-abundant fish toward extinction" says the 19 October<BR>
Contra Costa Times. If this year's count confirms the trend, then the<BR>
recovery goals will be considered met and the fish could be delisted.<BR>
However, fisheries biologists say that although the official recovery<BR>
goals have (just barely) been met over the last five years, the goals<BR>
themselves are too low to constitute true recovery and it is unwise to<BR>
delist the smelt unless pump restrictions, fish screens and other<BR>
protective mechanisms now required under listing would still remain in<BR>
place, something which is far from assured. <BR>
<BR>
Biologists also warn that this year's Delta smelt sampling catch is<BR>
among the lowest since state biologists began the annual sampling trawl<BR>
in 1967, and that even though recovery goals may have been technically<BR>
met by the thinnest of margins over the past five years, it remains far<BR>
from clear that the fish is in good shape. Prior year populations<BR>
benefited from several relatively wet years, while the two most recent<BR>
years have been drought years, likely reducing smelt populations back<BR>
below recovery thresholds. The species typically lives only one year,<BR>
and thus is particularly sensitive to annual climate fluctuations.<BR>
<BR>
However, the Westlands Water District and the San Luis &<BR>
Delta-Mendota Water Authority filed suit on 4 December in U.S.<BR>
District Court in Fresno, California, seeking to formally delist the<BR>
species on the basis of the species having met recovery goals as specified<BR>
in the current recovery plan for five years, regardless of any later<BR>
declines. Westlands also hired its own consultants to prepare an<BR>
independent fish count of the species, who also concluded that recovery<BR>
goals had been met sufficiently to allow delisting. Once delisting<BR>
occurs, however, many current protection measures could be lifted,<BR>
resulting in much larger mortality rates for the fish in the pumps and in<BR>
still unscreened diversion ditches of the Central Valley Project, in effect<BR>
returning to conditions that contributed to the smelt's (and salmon's)<BR>
decline initially. The ESA itself also requires (16 U.S.C. 1533(c)(2))<BR>
federal trustee agencies to review all listings every five year, a process<BR>
that is itself overdue. For more information see the 4 December Fresno<BR>
Bee summary at:<BR>
www.fresnobee.com/local/story/5460470p-6444814c.html.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/08. MAJOR FISHERIES CONFERENCE SET FOR 21-23<BR>
JANUARY IN WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife<BR>
Service (USFWS) Fisheries Program will host the first-ever "National<BR>
Fisheries Leadership Conference," at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in<BR>
Washington, DC, 21-23 January 2003. The conference, primarily<BR>
oriented to recreational and inland fisheries, is expected to draw 350<BR>
national fisheries program leaders and a broad spectrum of state and<BR>
other invited partners to exchange ideas and to talk about the USFWS<BR>
Fisheries Program's new Strategic Vision for the 21st century. <BR>
<BR>
Guest speakers tentatively include Interior Secretary Gale Norton and<BR>
Fish & Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams. All sessions of the<BR>
conference, as well as individual break-out meetings, are open to the<BR>
news media, and there is no charge for media registration, which begins<BR>
at 0800 HRS on 21 January at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, at 2500<BR>
Calvert St., NW, in Washington, DC. Please visit the conference web<BR>
site at: http://fisheries.fws.gov for updates on speakers and the<BR>
conference agenda. For more information contact: Ken Burton,<BR>
202-208-5657, email: Ken_Burton@fws.gov, or Craig Springer,<BR>
505-248-6867, email: Craig_Springer@fws.gov.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/09. VIDEO ON CHILEAN SALMON FARMING INDUSTRY<BR>
AVAILABLE: A new educational video, "Infinite Growth: the Myth of<BR>
Chilean Salmon Farming," is a 32-minute documentary available in<BR>
English and Spanish on the impacts of Chilean fish farming. The Chilean<BR>
salmon fish farming industry generates considerable wealth for the<BR>
companies promoting it. In 2000, $973 million (U.S.) export income<BR>
was earned by Chilean salmon farming. The Chilean salmon farmers<BR>
project this to triple over the next few years as production increases.<BR>
However, as this video documents, this generation of wealth has not<BR>
brought with it an improvement for the people working in the salmon<BR>
farming industry in terms of better education, health or housing. In fact,<BR>
previously independent fishermen have been put out of business and are<BR>
now faced with no choice but to become dependent workers in this new<BR>
industry. Working conditions in the processing plants are poor and the<BR>
rate of pay is extremely low. Overall, as the documentary shows, the<BR>
economic benefits to local communities of farm fish operations have<BR>
been meager and the environmental and social damages huge. The video<BR>
was produced by and is available from the Terram Foundation, which<BR>
can be reached at: www.terram.cl. You can also order a copy by<BR>
contacting ddoren@terram.cl or calling the Foundation at:<BR>
(56-2)236-4277.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/10. U.S. CORAL REEFS ENDANGERED, SAYS NEW NOAA<BR>
ASSESSMENT: A new study on the health of U.S. coral reefs has<BR>
found that virtually all of them are now threatened by various problems<BR>
of pollution, overfishing, coastal development and runoff. The National<BR>
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report, "The Status<BR>
of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely<BR>
Associated States," is meant to gauge any changes in the health and<BR>
extent of coral reefs in the U.S. and its territories and noted that in some<BR>
place like the Florida Keys, "disease and other factors have led to a 37%<BR>
decline in coral cover in just five years." Accompanying the study is a<BR>
report to Congress outlining strategies to prevent further damage and<BR>
allow for recovery of these fragile ecosystems, which are also the<BR>
nursery grounds for many species of fish, including several which are<BR>
commercially valuable. The full report can be obtained at:<BR>
http://www.nccos.noaa.gov/documents/coral_notice.pdf. NOAA also<BR>
has also established a centralized web site for coral reef information<BR>
generally at: http://www.coris.noaa.gov.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/11. WORLD SUMMIT ON SALMON TO BE HELD 10-13<BR>
JUNE 2003: British Columbia's Simon Fraser University will be hosting<BR>
a conference called "The World Summit on Salmon," on 10-13 June<BR>
2003 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The summit is meant to be a special<BR>
forum for the globe's leading salmon scientists, conservationists and<BR>
managers. The four main themes of the summit will be: (1) to review the<BR>
prognosis and prospects of the world's wild salmon; (2) to identify<BR>
knowledge gaps and directions for future research; (3) to advance<BR>
full-cost assessment of wild salmon, and; (4) to provide an international<BR>
framework for action. For more information about the "World Summit<BR>
on Salmon" contact: Secretariat for the World Summit on Salmon, c/o<BR>
Continuing Studies in Science, Simon Fraser University, 8888<BR>
University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V6A-1S6, Canada, or by phone to:<BR>
604-291-4893 or fax to: 604-291-3851. Email contact is:<BR>
penikett@sfu.ca, or see the Salmon Summit conference web site located<BR>
at: http://www.sfu.ca/cstudies/science/salmon.htm. <BR>
<BR>
6:25/12: WILD PINK SALMON IN TROUBLE IN BRITISH<BR>
COLUMBIA, FISH FARM SEA LICE TRANSMISSIONS BLAMED<BR>
FOR MASSIVE DECLINES: On 25 November the Canadian Pacific<BR>
Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (PFRCC) issued an advisory to<BR>
Canada's and British Columbia's Fisheries Ministers, warning of<BR>
dramatic decreases of wild spawning pink salmon within British<BR>
Columbia's Broughton Archipelago, attributing the declines to massive<BR>
infestations of sea lice transmitted to wild populations by nearby open<BR>
net pen salmon aquaculture operations. In his letter to the Ministers,<BR>
PFRCC Chair John A. Fraser explained that the populations of pink<BR>
salmon spawners in the Broughton Archipelago have suddenly decreased<BR>
from 3.615 million fish to a mere 147,000 (a 96 percent decline) and that<BR>
"spawner declines were virtually confined to the Broughton Archipelago<BR>
leading us to conclude that the decrease was specific to conditions in the<BR>
Broughton Archipelago and was related to conditions within the<BR>
Broughton Archipelago. There is evidence that the Broughton pink<BR>
juveniles were infested with sea lice, a condition essentially unreported<BR>
for juvenile pink salmon in the natural environment elsewhere. While<BR>
scientific certainty is not absolute, European research does indicate that<BR>
sea lice abundance can be associated with salmon farming..... Where<BR>
there is risk of serious or irreversible harm, the precautionary approach<BR>
calls for action based on the best evidence available. In this case the<BR>
absence of any evidence of some other causes than sea lice justifies<BR>
action." <BR>
<BR>
Twenty-one salmon farms exist within the Broughton Archipelago,<BR>
many known to be reservoirs of sea lice or to have suffered serious sea<BR>
lice problems in the recent past. Options proposed by the PFRCC<BR>
included fallowing all salmon farms within the Broughton Archipelago,<BR>
or implementation of rigorous sea lice control measures on the salmon<BR>
farms, with fallowing deemed the lowest risk option providing the<BR>
greatest likelihood of success. This is yet another blow to the credibility<BR>
of the salmon farming industry in British Columbia, just as the new<BR>
British Columbia Liberal Government led by Premier Gordon Campbell <BR>
has lifted in September a five-year moratorium on new British Columbia<BR>
fish farm licenses, over-ruling objections by environmentalists, fisheries<BR>
biologists and its own agency scientists (see Sublegals 6:11/11; 5:05/09;<BR>
5:02/11; 3:26/09).<BR>
<BR>
The PFRCC was established in 1998 and is funded by the Canadian<BR>
government. Its role is to provide independent, strategic advice and<BR>
relevant information to Canada's and British Columbia's Fisheries<BR>
Ministers as well as the Canadian public on the status and long-term<BR>
sustainable use of British Columbia wild salmon stocks and their<BR>
freshwater and ocean habitat. Its current Chairman, The Honorable John<BR>
Fraser, is a former Speaker of the House of Commons and former federal<BR>
fisheries minister. For more information on the PFRCC and the advisory<BR>
see: http://www.fish.bc.ca.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/13. INTERNATIONAL BERING SEA CONFERENCE 1-5<BR>
APRIL 2003: The "International Bering Sea Conference" will be held at<BR>
the Alyeska Prince Hotel in Girdwood, Alaska, between 1-5 April 2003,<BR>
sponsored by Pacific Environment. The conference will focus on the<BR>
Bering Sea as a shared international resource of concern to fisheries<BR>
managers, conservationists and scientists but also of political concern to<BR>
several countries, including the United States and the Russian<BR>
Federation. The goal of the conference will be to create an action plan<BR>
and recommendations to assure better international cooperation in the<BR>
Bering Sea. For more information contact Jennifer Eyres, Pacific<BR>
Environment Coordinator, (510)251-8800 x 307 or by email to:<BR>
jeyres@pacificenvironment.org. For more information see the<BR>
conference web site at:<BR>
www.pacificenvironment.org/marine/beringconference.htm.<BR>
<BR>
6:25/14. CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY FARMERS TO<BR>
KEEP EXEMPTION FROM STATE WATER POLLUTION LAWS<BR>
FOR AT LEAST TWO MORE YEARS: California's Davis<BR>
Administration, headed for a crucial showdown on 5 December before<BR>
the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB)<BR>
has instead, under political pressure, apparently abandoned its plan to<BR>
require California farmers to reduce their runoff of pesticides and other<BR>
pollutants into the California Central Valley's streams and rivers. The<BR>
regulatory plan would have ended agriculture's 20-year-old special<BR>
exemption from state water pollution controls that all other industries in<BR>
the state must follow. In its place, state water pollution regulators want<BR>
to extend the exemption for yet another two years for the Central<BR>
Valley's seven million acres of irrigated crop fields, vineyards and<BR>
orchards. <BR>
<BR>
At stake is the water quality of the Sacramento and San Joaquin river<BR>
systems that provide drinking water and recreation for millions and<BR>
support major runs of Pacific salmon, several of which are now classed<BR>
as either endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species<BR>
Act. The "Clean Farms, Clean Water Campaign," a coalition of more<BR>
than 50 fishing, farming, environmental and community groups<BR>
(including PCFFA), has been pushing the CVRWQCB to deal with the<BR>
issue for years, and some of its members finally filed a lawsuit against<BR>
the Board in early 2002 to force the state to come up with a regulatory<BR>
plan in lieu of a blanket waiver (see Sublegals 5:11/05). Removing the<BR>
exemption has broad public support. For more information on the Clean<BR>
Farms, Clean Water Campaign and the disappointing CVRWQCB ruling<BR>
see: http://www.cleanfarmscleanwater.org. For a Sacramento Bee 5<BR>
December Editorial see:<BR>
http://www.cleanfarmscleanwater.org/documents/edboardletter2.htm. <BR>
<BR>
NEWS, COMMENTS, CORRECTIONS: Submit your news items,<BR>
comments or any corrections to Editor at: sublegals@ifrfish.org, or call<BR>
the IFR/PCFFA office with the news and a source at either: (415)<BR>
561-FISH (Southwest Office) or (541) 689-2000 (Northwest Office). <BR>
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