Wolk’s fish rescue plans bill passes through Senate committee

Submitted to Aquafornia by Dan Bacher:

AB 1806, Assemblywoman Lois Wolk’s Fish Rescue Plans Bill, passed out of the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee today on a vote of 5-2. The bill will now go to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I am pleased that the Senate committee recognized the urgency of the Delta fisheries crisis and approved this bill,” said Assemblywoman Wolk (D-Davis). “AB 1806 will establish plans for emergency fish rescue. It also requires the Water Board to conduct a comprehensive review and require the state and federal water projects to be responsible for their impacts on Delta fisheries.”

The vote was on party lines, with Democrats Steinberg, Kehoe, Kuehl, Machado, and Migden voting “aye” and Republicans Cogdill and Hollingsworth voting “no” for the measure.

There were some amendments taken that should be out in print in the next couple of days. The Committee struck out the section that that required the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to mitigate for the massive fish kill that occurred on Prospect Island on the basis that that it would not be legally defensible, since the fish kill took place before the legislation was introduced.

AB1806 is important for two reasons. First, it addresses the issue of dealing with fishery disaster rescues. Second, the bill provides full mitigation for the degradation of Delta and Central Valley fisheries caused by the pumping of massive amounts of water south to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California.

John Beuttler, Conservation Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), and Dick Pool, coordinator of Water for Fish, testified in support of AB 1806 this morning. John Ryzanych, from the Allied Fishing Groups, Gary Adams, president of the California Striped Bass Association, Jim Martin, West Coast Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisheries Assocation (PCFFA), and Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign coordinator of Restore the Delta, also spoke in support of the bill.

“Every run of chinook salmon in the Central Valley is currently headed for extinction,” said Dick Pool. “Passage of this bill is needed to keep this from happening.”

The bill is opposed by big water agencies that would be forced to pay their fair share for the huge numbers of salmon and other fish killed in South Delta pumps and by the diversion of massive amounts of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Representatives from the Metropolitan Water District, Westlands Water District, and other water agencies spoke against the legislation.

CSPA called for a major effort to support this bill in the form of a letter writing campaign and attendance at the hearing. The campaign was very successful, based on today’s vote for AB 1806. For more information, go to www.calsport.org

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