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Feds say lack of food did the salmon in, but fishermen argue Delta pumps deserve blame

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 16, 2008 at 5:35 am

From Stockton’s Record:

Federal officials stuck with their assertion Thursday that the most immediate cause of last year’s salmon crash was a lack of food in the ocean, despite arguments from fishermen that export pumps in the south Delta are largely to blame.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, charged with protecting salmon, was on the hook Thursday as legislators questioned an administrator about the sudden decline of fish in the Delta and throughout the West.

California salmon fishing is essentially canceled at sea and inland rivers in 2008. Fishermen say it’s unlikely 2009 will be much better and that action is needed to make fishing viable even in 2010. “We rank this as one of the largest man-made fishery disasters in this country,” said Richard Pool, president of Pro-Troll Fishing Products in Concord. Pool compared the salmon crash to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. “There’s a number of causes,” he said, “but in our mind, excess pumping from the Delta” beats them all.

Fisheries Service regional administrator Rodney McInnis said ocean conditions were blamed in a “preliminary inquiry,” but he said a more detailed review of other potential causes would be finished by the end of the year.

Get the rest of this story from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.

May 16, 2008 · Filed Under Salmon

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