| The media owners in
California, and the Department of Water Resources like to keep the focus on
the "fish vs farmer" conflicts, as they do endless studies to validate
taking MORE water away from the Delta, even though its a well documented
fact the monumental decline in native fish populations is directly
attributed to the diversion of to much fresh water from the Delta. It
seems in the last 10 years at least 6 billion dollars have been spent on
fish studies, and on planning new diversions off the Sacramento River, and
new water conveyance routes that "might" allow native fish, like salmon, to
still survive their annual migration through the Delta to spawn in their
natural habitats in the Sierra streams above Sacramento. Just look at
the statistics of fish decline since California starting taking more water
out of the Delta in the 1990's, assuming they could "reoperate" the Delta
Cross Channel to avoid more fish kills. Long story. As of 2011,
according to reports by the different fish agencies...salmon, smelt and
other native species are still in decline and could go extinct. There
are MANY agencies trying to fight additional water being exported from the
Delta. Other agencies promote use of the Yolo Bypass area for fish
restoration experiments. Other agencies promote restoration of the San
Joaquin salmon runs by diversion of Sacramento River instead. In other
words, restore salmon runs on the San Joaquin by destroying salmon runs on
the Sacramento River. However, historically the salmon preferred the
Sacramento River....just read it all for yourself.
Start
with this description of the abundance of salmon in the Delta in the 1850':
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/scenes_of_wonder_and_curiosity/alabaster_cave.html
which is an account of the writer's observations of fishing on the
Sacramento River while on his way to the Alabaster Cave in the Sierra
Foothills. NOTE! Below are maps from reports. To see all
the fish studies, please use the links to the left, by year. |
