Diane Feinstein, CA Senator (big supporter of California agribusiness) wrote a letter to the CA DFG that calls out stresses on the Delta ecosystem and the Delta Smelt. Striped Bass and Black Bass are mentioned by name as a threat to the Delta Smelt. Multiple steps are suggested (some of which are good such as reducing pollution), but the end goal is twofold; destroy the delta ecosystem by increasing water flows to Central / Southern California agriculture and build the peripheral canal. This misinformation campaign about stripers and largemouth is fueled by agriculture's insatiable thirst for water in the state. It is NOT a fisherman vs. environmentalist battle. While Diane Feinstein is a democrat, she is in the pocket of the San Joaquin farmers. Blaming the decline of the Delta Smelt on stripers and black bass is total horsesh-t. Lumping stripers and black bass in with mussels is criminal. The Delta needs healthy flows of water. Welfare farming in the western San Joaquin basin (where the soil is loaded with salt and selenium) is the real culprit here. Massive amounts of water are necessary to farm that land. The state would be better off to pay those farmers to let their fields lay fallow and preserve the flows in the san Joaquin river / Delta.

If stripers and black bass are classified as invasive species that would mean no limit (size or numbers) for meat fisherman and it would be illegal to catch and release striped or largemouth bass in the Delta.

Here is a direct quote from the letter, “regulatory actions must be taken to address all points of stress on the Delta, including not just the State and federal water projects, but also ammonia discharges from wastewater treatment plants, the predation of native fish by striped bass and other non-native species, invasive species, lack of sufficient habitat, pyrethroids and other pesticides, other toxics and other problems”.

http://aquafornia.com/archives/6017
http://documents.scribd.com/docs/efksrvmutwb0qwwhei9.pdf


Fisherman must unite and fight back!!!!!! www.restorethedelta.org is a great resource for detailed information on how to contact your local representative to make your voice heard. Bobby Barrack is filming a video on the subject this weekend. I'll post the link on this message board. Please forward it to any fisherman that will read it!!!

Agriculture uses 80% of the water in California.
http://www.californiagreensolutions.com/cgi-bin/gt/tpl.h,content=1869
http://www.edf.org/documents/4033_hetchhetchyrestored_Chap03.pdf


This is a water grab by the powerful agribusiness industry. Don't let anybody tell you that the environmentalists or PETA or anybody else are trying to take fishing away from you. This is all about water flows. Stripers were introduced to the Delta in 1867 and cohabitated with smelt for over 100 years. As water was diversions increased signifcantly from the Delta, smelt and stripers began to decline. The good news is that the empirical data shows the stripers and Delta Smelt decling simultaneously as the water diversions out of the Delta were increased. Salmon populations are also adversly affected by the increased water diversions. This BS about stripers and black bass must be exposed as a lie. The NATIVE FISH ARE IMPACTED NEGATIVELY BY WATER DIVERSIONS TOO!!!!!!!!

Again, this isn't a battle with skinny, long haired, hippies, eating kind veggie burritos, wearing PETA T-shirts. This is SERIOUS BATTLE with the most powerful industries in California. The data is on the fisherman's side, but accurate information must be distributed quickly. Update to follow.

Mike F