CDFW Receives 5K Comments on Proposed Trout Regulation
Roger Bloom of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has a challenge on his hands. Bloom, the manager of the fisheries branch of the department, has to sort through five thousand comments he received after asking for suggestions on how to streamline trout-fishing regulations. During the two-month submission period, comments came in from fly and spin anglers, guides, outfitters, and a wide variety of sportsmen and sportswomen via e-mails, letters, and in person.
Bloom has said he sorted the comments into categories (read: piles on his desk) and started the review process, which will end with recommendations to the California Fish and Game Commission in March 2021. The Commission, in turn, will decide whether to adopt some or all of the CDFW’s proposals, which when first drafted numbered around 250.
One of the proposed changes that has drawn concern is the recommendation to open many trout streams to year-round angling. Opposition has been particularly vocal in the state’s tourism-dependent eastern Sierra, where Opening Day each year draws thousands of anglers to fish in the region. It’s a time that many celebrate as “Fishmas.”
“Locally, the topic has sparked much interest — not only among anglers and fishing guides, but also business owners, seasonal resort owners, and public officials. Concerns about the proposed regulations include reduced business revenue and the potential for more winter safety issues with ice-covered waters,” said an article in the newsletter of the Mono Lake Committee, an influential conservation group in the region.
The committee expressed concern about an expanded fishing season for Mono Lake’s tributaries, such as for parts or all of Rush, Lee Vining, Parker, and Walker Creeks. “Even though the new regulations would specify a zero bag limit, trout can still be adversely affected by increased fishing pressure, especially in
winter, when water levels are lowest and conditions are most challenging for fish,” wrote Lisa Cutting, author of the newsletter story. See the May/June 2019 issue of California Fly Fisher for a list of some of the waters affected by the proposed regulation changes. For more information on the changes, visit https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Inland/TroutPlan/Regulation-Simplification.
Attorney General Sues Westlands Water District to Block Shasta Dam Project
In May, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit to block Westlands Water District from participating in the planning of a project to raise the height of Shasta Dam. According to a press release from the Attorney General’s office, “The project poses significant adverse effects on the free-flowing condition of the McCloud River and on its wild trout fishery, both of which have special statutory protections under the California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The Act prohibits any agency of the State of California, such as Westlands, from assisting or cooperating with actions to raise the Shasta Dam.”
The press release also notes that in addition to the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Becerra, a coalition represented by Earthjustice has filed a separate suit. The coalition includes Friends of the River, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, and Golden Gate Salmon Association.
Year-Long Fishing License Bill Still Alive
A bill authored by Assembly Member Jim Wood of Santa Rosa and 13 others that would require that the CDFW issue 365-day (rather than calendar year) sportfishing licenses is among those surviving a deadline for being passed out of one house of the state legislature. Assembly Bill 1387, the so-called 365-day fishing license bill, was approved by the
Assembly on May 29, 2019, and is under review in a Senate committee.
The CDFW Shuts Down Illegal Pot Grow in Lake County
Wildlife officers at the CDFW shut down two illegal marijuana grows on private property in Lake County. A record check on both properties showed no state license to grow cannabis, no county cultivation permit, and no CDFW Lake or Streambed Alteration Agreement had been filed, nor were there any steps taken to secure any of these licenses or permits for the two commercial-size operations.
Illegal marijuana grows of this nature are known for stealing water and causing great environmental harm to California’s fish and wildlife, said David Bess, deputy director and chief of the CDFW Law Enforcement Division. The department supports cultivators who comply with applicable state and local laws and takes action to prevent environmental impacts.
On May 21, 2019, CDFW officers served a search warrant on an operation in Lower Lake that had approximately six thousand outdoor marijuana plants. Four suspects were arrested. On May 29, wildlife officers served another search warrant at a grow in Upper Lake with approximately four hundred outdoor marijuana plants. One suspect was arrested and a stolen firearm was recovered. Fish and Game Code violations include illegal water diversions and pesticide and petroleum products placed near streams. Charges for all suspects will be filed with the county district attorney’s office.
The CDFW would like to remind the public to report environmental crimes such as water pollution, water diversions, and poaching to the CalTIP hotline by calling (888) 334-2258 or by texting CALTIP at 847411 (tip411), followed by a space and the desired message.
LA City Attorney Honored for Wildlife Crime Work
The CDFW and the California Fish and Game Commission have named Jessica Brown, the supervising city attorney in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, as 2018 Wildlife Prosecutor of the Year. Brown oversees the Environmental Justice Unit in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, which includes a team of prosecutors who are dedicated to the successful prosecution of fish and wildlife cases.
“The Los Angeles City Attorney’s team of Environmental Justice Unit prosecutors, and especially Ms. Brown, have worked tirelessly to prosecute poachers and to send a clear message that poaching and trafficking of wildlife will not be tolerated,” said David Bess, CDFW deputy director and chief of the Law Enforcement Division. “Ms. Brown is a true asset to the protection of California’s natural resources and has displayed exceptional skill and an outstanding commitment with her relentless pursuit of justice.”
First Spring-Run Chinook in Over 65 Years Netted in San Joaquin River
An adult spring-run Chinook salmon netted on April 9, 2019, in the San Joaquin River’s Eastside Bypass is the first such salmon discovered to have returned from the Pacific Ocean to the river in more than sixty-five years. It is one of five Chinook salmon captured in the same area of the river that month by scientists with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s San Joaquin River Restoration Program.
Kern River Hatchery Reopens to Raise and Plant Native Trout
The Kern River Hatchery has reopened to the public with a new mission: to raise Kern River rainbow trout and stock the native fish throughout the Kern River Basin where anglers will have a chance to catch them. New facilities recently constructed at the hatchery in Kernville are designed to breed, rear, and facilitate the planting of the Kern River rainbow trout, one of 12 subspecies of trout native to California. The goal is to plant the native strain of rainbow trout instead of other domesticated strains.
The hatchery will continue to serve as a holding facility and planting base for rainbow trout reared in other hatcheries for stocking in waters from Bakersfield to the high Sierra as the new program progresses. The hatchery, which has been in operation since 1928, is located in Kernville and open daily to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Backcountry Stocking in North Region Shaped by Frog Protection
The CDFW has announced changes to the summer trout-stocking schedule for backcountry waters in its Northern Region because the Cascades frog (Rana cascadae) is a candidate for listing as an endangered or threatened species. The Cascades frog is found in a variety of habitats, such as large lakes, ponds, wet meadows, and streams at middle to high elevations from the Klamath-Trinity region along the Cascades Range axis in the vicinity of Mount Shasta, then southward to the headwater tributaries of the Feather River.
In 2017, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to approve the candidacy of the Cascades Frog for potential listing under the California Endangered Species Act. During the candidacy review process, the CDFW is obligated to protect the species, including protection from introduced fish in its native habitats, one of a number of threats to its survival in California. Consequently, 41 backcountry locations, primarily in Siskiyou and Trinity Counties now known to support Cascades frogs, will not be stocked with trout. An additional 19 locations will not be stocked until the CDFW can conduct a visual inspection to determine the presence of frogs. If it detects the presence of the Cascades frog, no stocking will occur. The CDFW will continue to stock trout in 146 locations throughout the region, which encompasses Del Norte, Humboldt, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties.
The 41 locations removed from the CDFW’s 2019 trout stocking allocations are typically remote backcountry waters that were planted annually with fingerling rainbow trout by airplane, horse, or mule. These waters historically were devoid of trout before humans introduced them. Not stocking these waters should not negatively affect fishing opportunities in the near future, because it takes a substantial amount of time for the fingerlings to grow to catchable size. Most of these waters contain self-sustaining populations of trout that will be available for anglers to catch this year, just as in previous years.
The trout originally allocated to these 41 locations will instead be stocked in other waters to improve angling opportunities. Many of the trout will remain in the CDFW’s hatcheries to grow to catchable size for later stocking into more popular and accessible waters.
The lakes that will not be stocked include the following. In Siskiyou County: Aspen, Big Blue, Blueberry, Buckhorn, Burney, Buzzard, Chinquapin, Clear, Cliff, Crater (Big), China Mountain, Cuddihy No. 1, Cuddihy No. 3, Deep, Dogwood , Fisher, Granite (Blue), High and Hogan Lakes, Lake of the Island, Lipstick , Milne, Rainy, South Sugar, Spirit, Statue, Summit, Syphon, Wicks, Wooley, and Wright (Lower) Lakes. In Trinity County: Big Bear, Deer, Diamond, Emerald, Granite, Horseshoe, Little Boulder, Luella, and Ward Lakes.
Fewer Printed Fishing Regs
The CDFW is reducing the number of fishing-regulation books that they print, so anglers need to get used to reading them online. Access for these and all the other regulations is through https://wildlife.ca.gov/regulations. The department says: “As part of a broader effort by the department to go paperless, CDFW is in the process of transitioning to online regulations books and will be decreasing the number of printed books shipped to license agents and CDFW offices in 2019 and beyond. The cost to print and ship regulations books is significant, and money saved will be put toward fish and wildlife conservation.”
Maps of Fishing Regs, Lands
The CDFW has created a statewide map that contains links to fishing regulations. Click on the map with your mouse, and up pops the regulation for that spot. It’s available at https://map.dfg. ca.gov/sportfishingregs. The CDFW has a similar map with links to all its lands at https://map.dfg.ca.gov/lands.
Single Delta Tunnel Project Final Approval Could Take Three Years
Don’t expect to see final approval and construction of Governor Gavin Newsom’s single tunnel to divert water around the Delta anytime before the next three years. The governor fulfilled a campaign promise to replace Jerry’s Brown’s twin-tunnel proposal with a single tunnel in a policy move that led to the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) to withdraw its application with the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) to build the twin-tunnel project.
A new application calls for building a single tunnel between the diversion point at the Sacramento River near Courtland and the pumps that send water to Central Valley agriculture and Southern California urban areas. The initial project called for 30 miles of tunnels — really, pipes that would be 40 feet in diameter and 150 feet below ground — that would have cost an estimated $15 billion. The CDWR halted the planning on the twin tunnels by withdrawing its application to a sister agency, the State Water Board, for permission to build the massive Sacramento River project. The twin=tunnel project had been in the planning stages for more than a decade. During this process, conservationists have sought to save fish species that have been declared threatened or endangered.
$600 Million “Service Based” CDFW Budget Approved
After months of wrangling, state lawmakers approved a $601 million CDFW budget based on a new Service Based Budget Project (SBB), which is a method of measuring performance for achieving the department’s mission. Under the method, the budget is based on specific tasks that the department’s 2,207-member staff must achieve during the budget year, which runs from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. According to the CDFW’s description of the project on its website, “This review will help inform the future budget based on staff time needed to complete these tasks.” The process will be coordinated by two teams of CDFW executives, with the results reported to members of an external stakeholders group whose members haven’t yet been named. The SBB process will run through 2021, according to the CDFW.
Editor’s Note: Martens Wins Writing Awards
Davis resident Tom Martens won three writing awards at a conference of the Outdoor Writers Association of California (OWAC) for work published in 2018 in California Fly Fisher. Martens won the following in OWAC’s Excellence in Craft Awards Contest: first place in the Best Outdoor Magazine Column category for his column about California conservation issues called “The Good Fight”; second place in the Best Newspaper News Article category for a piece headlined “Wildfire and Fish,” which reported on a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection study on the impact of 4,723 fires that burned 1,171 square miles in the first half of 2018; and first place in the John Reginato Conservation Award category for a column called “Cannabis Impact on Fish,” which analyzed the impact of fifty thousand active marijuana growing sites and five thousand abandoned ones on rivers and fish. The award is named after the late John Reginato, a Redding resident who promoted conservation and outdoor activities during his life and who has been inducted into the California Outdoor Hall of Fame.
The annual contest was judged by professional writers and photographers who did not submit entries in the OWAC contest. The awards were presented at the OWAC spring conference that was held in Mount Shasta in Siskiyou County.
Martens is a freelance writer who is editor at large for California Fly Fisher and former outdoor editor of the Contra Costa Times newspaper in Walnut Creek. Before retiring, he worked as executive director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, the Discover the Delta Foundation, and other nonprofit organizations. He is a member of the OWAC board of directors.
