Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3710 April 27- May 11 2018 | Page 7

April 27 - May 11, 2018 VOL.37 • ISS. 10 Hey Dan! — Letters To The Editor COVER STORY 7 Established 1982 What’s on your mind? Do you have something you’d like to share with us and our readers? A picture... a story... a question to ask, or an answer to another? Let’s hear your compliments, or your gripes! Whatever it is, send it to: HEY, DAN!, c/o Fish Sniffer Publications, The Fish Sniffer - P.O. Box 776, Colfax, CA 95713, or you can now e-mail it at danielbacher@fishsniffer.com. Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the return of pictures or text. Thanks! 2018 Ocean Salmon Seasons Slashed Hey Dan! SAN FRANCISCO -- The Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) has slashed ocean salmon fishing seasons for both sport and commercial salmon fishermen and women in 2018. This reduction in fishing days, announced April 10, amounts to cuts of about a third for the ocean sport fishery and over half of the commercial fishery, compared to a regular season. The drastic reductions are due to a forecast of relatively few adult Sacramento Basin fall run salmon, which constrains the season this year. That forecast comes from the National Marine Fisheries Service based on a weighted return of sub adult salmon to the Sacramento Valley in 2017. The number of adult Sacramento salmon in the ocean are believed to be fewer because an estimated 95 to 98 percent of natural spawned eggs died in overheated Sacramento River spawning beds during the drought in 2015. This left very few surviving natural origin baby salmon that year. Those salmon would have returned this year as adults. Water managers at the time left too little water in Lake Shasta, the source of the upper Sacramento River, to cool the spawning beds. River temperatures exceeded 56 degrees Fahrenheit, the tempera- ture beyond which salmon eggs die. “This year’s greatly shortened commercial and sport seasons are caused by losses we sustained during the drought,” said GGSA president John McManus. “This could have been avoided if more water had been reserved to keep the Sacramento cool enough to support spawning salmon. The State Water Resources Control Board is in a position to insure we don’t see a repeat in the next drought and we hope they act to protect California’s unique salmon runs. Families and communities up and down the coastal and inland river areas depend on these salmon.” The majority of salmon caught in the last few years and again this year are likely to be from one of the five salmon hatcheries in the Central Valley. Although they’re likely supply- ing the vast majority of this year’s fish, in other years they supply a minority, with the rest coming from natural spawning areas in Central Valley rivers. “Natural origin salmon can vastly outnum- ber those contributed by hatcheries in years when our rivers get enough water for spawning and to deliver baby salmon to the ocean,” said GGSA board member Vance Staplin. “The natural areas have the capacity to supply many times what the hatcheries produce when the rivers are correctly managed.” “Baby salmon need high flow, turbid, rapid runoff in the spring to safely migrate down Central Valley rivers and out to the ocean,” said Staplin. “We got that kind of runoff with last week’s storms which should help boost salmon survival.” Sport ocean salmon fishing is already under- way in Monterey Bay and points south. Sport ocean salmon fishing is set to open off the San Mateo, SF, Marin, Sonoma and the Mendocino coasts on June 17. In a welcome change from 2017, the far north of state ocean waters from southern Humboldt County to the Oregon border will have sport fishing, unlike last year. Commercial salmon fishermen will see a few days of fishing from Monterey Bay south in May and June. From San Mateo County north, commercial trollers will be forced to sit mostly idle until late July, losing the normally valuable months of May, June and much of July. “The No.1 Newspaper Dedicated Entirely To Northern California Sportsmen!” Published By NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ANGLER PUBLICATIONS, INC. The Fish Sniffer P.O. Box 776, Colfax, CA 95713 Toll-Free (833)-347-4661 www.fishsniffer.com CAL KELLOGG’S E-MAIL: calkellogg@.fishsniffer.com EDITORIAL E-MAIL: danielbacher@.fishsniffer.com Hey Michael! The curtailing of the recreational salmon season by about a third and the commercial salmon season by more than half makes it even more urgent that we compel the state and federal governments to take the measures necessary to restore our struggling salmon populations – and stop Governor Jerry Brown’s salmon-killing Delta Tunnels project. ~Dan Frazier: Met’s Dishonesty Threatens to Destroy Delta Hey Dan! SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-Discovery Bay) issued the follow- ing statement today after the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California’s Board of Directors voted to finance the majori- ty of the proposed Delta twin tunnels plan: “Californians deserve comprehensive 21st century water management solutions in light of climate change and more frequent and devastating droughts, not a decades old plan that creates no benefit and picks the pockets of hard-working people. The vote by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California shows that propo- nents of this project have been deceitful the whole time. There’s never been a “statewide” approach as they’ve claimed. It’s never been about sustainability but a foolhardy plan to overdraw the Delta to sell a limited and pre- cious natural resource to the highest bidder. This boondoggle uses antiquated methods for water delivery to degrade the water quality for all Californians and places greater burdens farmers in the Delta and Central Valley. Just like the Colorado River Compact, this project is built on false pretenses of water availability. Met has already proven they are bad actors by overcharging San Diego for water many times. Given this history, my concern is Met may try to overcharge Central Valley farmers too.” Assemblymember Frazier represents the 11th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Antioch, Bethel Island, Birds Landing, Brentwood, Byron, Collinsville, Discovery Bay, Fairfield, Isleton, Knightsen, Locke, Oakley, Pittsburg (partial), Rio Vista, Suisun City, Travis AFB, Vacaville and Walnut Grove. ~ Andrew Bird, Assemblyman Jim Frasier’s Office Hey Andrew! That’s a great statement from Assemblymember Frasier about the MWD vote. I completely agree with Frasier that “this boondoggle uses antiquated methods for water delivery to degrade the water quality for all Californians and places greater bur- dens farmers in the Delta and Central Valley.” I predict that the Delta Tunnels will be in the courts for decades – and they will never be built because they make no legal, scientific, economic or financial success. ~Dan TRAILER HITCHES ~ Michael Coates, GGSA CALIFORNIA-NEVADA EDITION • Professionally Installed • Custom Fit • Same Day Service 11844 Atwood Rd • Auburn 6455 Pacific St • Rocklin 530-888-7825 916-773-7333 3624 Glenn Chadaris of the Big Red Worm Bait Company jumped aboard the Happy Hooker for a day of live bait potluck action in San Francis- co Bay on April 14. While drifting a live anchovy on the Berkeley Flats, Glenn picked up his first ever keep- er halibut when this feisty 10 pound- er jumped on his bait. Live bait pot- luck action has been good to very good inside the bay. Halibut are the main attraction, but stripers and the occasional white sea bass are in the mix too. Photo by CAL KELLOGG, Fish Sniffer Staff. FOUNDERS Harold A. (Hal) Bonslett (1937-2000) Winnie A. Bonslett ADMINISTRATION Paul Kneeland....................................Publisher Daniel Bacher.....Editor/Conservation Director Cal Kellogg...........Editor/Media Development ADVERTISING/MARKETING Paul Kneeland.................Advertising Director Sheldon Bright.............Advertising/Marketing Ernie Marlan.........................Advertising Sales Kit McNear...........................Advertising Sales PRODUCTION Cal Kellogg...................Director of Production Wes Ward........................................Webmaster GENERAL OFFICE Brooke Cyphers..........Administrative Director Daniel Bacher...Conservation, Special Features Paulette Kenyon............................Food Editor The Fish Sniffer has a NEW PHONE NUMBER! 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