The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

please add your comments to this article on the SACBEE website, it needs more attention. Also, email the story to 5 friends, so it will become most emailed story, which scares politicos by shining the light on their slimy asses!, http://www...om/378/story/507812.html

You may have to create a user account, you will not get put on a spam/mailing list. Send a clear message to Sacramento they need to treat Striped Bass as a game fish.
(BTW- Matt Weiser is an excellent Environmental reporter, and if you know of a issue regarding fisheries that needs attention, he is always looking for leads on stories and he is very helpful. His email and work phone is listed in the story.)




Fish trapped in levee repairs
As authorities drain water off the Delta's Prospect Island, thousands of fish are expected to die.
By Matt Weiser - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B1

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Thousands of fish are likely to die on Prospect Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta within the next few days, the unwitting victims of a project to repair two levee breaks on the island after storms in 2006.

The 1,253-acre island, adjacent to the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel, is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The bureau began repairing the levee breaks in October, and recently started pumping trapped water off the island.

Fish are also trapped with the water. No one knows exactly how many or what kind. But several fishermen began raising alarms about the problem Tuesday when they learned about the impending carnage.

Bob McDarif, an avid fisherman and owner of Cliff's Marina near Freeport, was on the scene Tuesday and said thousands of fish could be seen thrashing on the island as the water level dropped. Among them, he said, were thousands of striped bass, a popular sport fish.

"What's going to happen is, every one of these fish are going to die," said McDarif. "There could be a million fish in there. It's terrible."

Bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken said his agency consulted with federal wildlife officials before starting the project. He said they concluded the pumping could begin because there was no practical way to evacuate the fish.

The bureau directed its contractor to wait for a low tide before closing the last breach, McCracken said, so the island would drain naturally as much as possible.

"There certainly were some fish, unfortunately, that were unsalvageable, that we couldn't get off of this island. So there probably has been some fish loss out there," said McCracken.

Most of the fish are likely to be striped bass, a non-native fish that is not protected by law. McDarif said he saw thousands of them stranded in the shallow waters on Prospect Island.

But striped bass are part of a category of fish that has been declining in recent years. These pelagic or "open water" species include the Delta smelt, a native fish protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.

Al Donner, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said his agency gave the go-ahead for the pumping after determining there was a "negligible" chance that smelt would be killed.

He also said there was no effort to determine what kind of fish might be trapped.

"Because we didn't think there would be any – or if any, very few – Delta smelt there, that wasn't a matter of discussion," Donner said.

Ironically, government wildlife experts identified Prospect Island more than 10 years ago as an ideal location to be intentionally flooded to create fish habitat. That is why Congress directed the bureau to buy the island in 1994.

A $10 million restoration project was proposed, said Lee Laurence, a project manager at the bureau. At one point in 2002, the project hinged on a $700,000 grant from the CalFed Bay-Delta Program to the state Department of Water Resources, Laurence said.

But CalFed spokesman Keith Coolidge said the grant wasn't funded because Congress balked at creating a North Delta Wildlife Refuge that would have included the island.

Prospect Island was considered ideal for restoration because its interior is relatively shallow. Many Delta islands have sunk more than 20 feet below sea level because their peat soils decompose when dried out. But Prospect Island is less than 10 feet deep, making it a good candidate for restoration.

It is also in an area identified as a traffic zone and feeding area for both Delta smelt and salmon.

McCracken said the bureau felt obligated to fix Prospect Island because of liability concerns. Water flowing out one of the breaches was eroding a neighbor's levee, he said, and five boats capsized while navigating the rapids caused by a breach.

Gary Bobker, program manager at the Bay Institute, said conflicts over Prospect Island illustrate the need for a comprehensive vision for the future of the Delta, one that establishes large restoration zones and deals with liability issues.

A task force appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to present just such a vision when it meets next week in Sacramento. The North Delta near Prospect Island is one area it has looked at for restoration.

But the bureau is hoping to unburden itself of Prospect Island. By the end of this month, it plans to offer the island to any other agency within the Department of Interior, Laurence said. She does not expect any takers, in which case it will be offered for sale to anyone, perhaps as soon as January.

The bureau expects to spend about $2.5 million fixing the Prospect Island levees and pumping out the water. That's almost as much as the $2.8 million it spent to buy the island in 1994.

In the meantime, McDarif plans to gather a volunteer force at Cliff's Marina at 8 a.m. today to try to rescue some of the fish.

"I'm just trying to save these fish," he said. "This situation right here is totally outrageous."

About the writer:
Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264.




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Comments
There are 2 comments posted so far. Below is a sampling of the latest comments.
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TiredOfCrime at 12:36 AM PST Wednesday, November 21, 2007 wrote:
I say let Padilla move his homeless camp out there. There are no homes and hard working people aroun...more

Goldenman at 6:58 AM PST Wednesday, November 21, 2007 wrote:
Attn: Mr. McDarif! Should you be reading these comments about the Fish Death Trap , Id like to ...more


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Stranding of fish probed


State asks why thousands were left after repairs to Delta island; private rescue effort is pursued.


By Matt Weiser - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, November 24, 2007
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B3

http://www...om/101/story/516194.html

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State wildlife officials said Friday they are conducting a criminal investigation into the stranding of thousands of fish on Prospect Island in the Delta.

State Fish and Game Department spokesman Steve Martarano said his agency began the investigation Wednesday when it learned the fish became trapped after two levee breaks were repaired on the island.

Water remaining on the island was pumped out over the past two weeks, but no effort was made to relocate the fish that previously swam through the breaks and were left behind when the pumping began.

"We know we have a lot of dead fish," Martarano said. "Any time you have a large number of dead fish like this, you have to investigate the reasons why."

He would not say who is the target of the investigation, or what charges might be involved. He also didn't know how many fish have died or what kinds.

But one provision of the state Fish and Game Code forbids the "wanton waste" of a sport fish. Most of the fish seen trapped on the island are striped bass, a popular sport fish.

Prospect Island, owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, is north of Rio Vista in a remote area along the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel.

A contractor working for the bureau last month began repairing two levee breaks on the island from storm damage in 2006.

About two weeks ago, after the breaks were patched, it began pumping water off the island.

Federal wildlife officials told the bureau it was unlikely that any protected fish species were present on the island. So no plan to relocate the fish was required, nor was any detailed survey of the fish conducted.

But after the pumping began, citizens became concerned.

Bob McDaris, owner of Cliff's Marina near Freeport, has led a citizen effort to save the fish, which are now trapped in pools less than 10 inches deep. Most are striped bass, but he has also seen sturgeon, salmon, catfish, bluegill, carp and perch.

"There are thousands of fish out there. You cannot walk and not trip over them," he said.

Jeff McCracken, spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation, said Friday his agency has held talks with Fish and Game about finding a way to rescue the surviving fish. When and how this might occur is still unclear.

"We're going to talk to them about what's out there and what can be done – if there's a way to salvage the fish that remain," said McCracken. "But most of the fish are in areas where the water is so poor that they've become distressed by now, and there's probably not much you can salvage."

Meanwhile, McDaris continues to organize his own rescue effort.

On Friday, he said he will put up $1,000 to hire a helicopter to fly the fish off the island, and he welcomed other donations. A helicopter is needed, he said, because the stranded pools of water are too far from the river's edge to carry fish by hand.

He has received hundreds of calls from other fishermen eager to help. But he is waiting to rescue the fish until he gets permission to gain access to Prospect Island, because he doesn't want to be cited for trespassing, even though the island is federal land.

McDaris said anyone who wants to help can call him at Cliff's Marina, (916) 665-1611, or by cell phone, (916) 769-8047. Money left over from a rescue attempt, he said, will be donated to a fishing charity.

"I think we can save a thousand fish," McDaris said. "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm trying."

About the writer:
Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264.

http://cbs...levee.dead.2.594116.html

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Troutnut-
Must admit to still being rather confused by this board layout. Probably some way to connect with you, but I can't figure out how to navigate there. Please shoot me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Thanks, Ralph

Ralph,

Click on troutnut's name and it will pop open his profile. From there you can click on the Messages button and it will ask if you would like to send a PM or an email. Pretty easy, but not always obvious!