Northern California Outdoor Issues provides opinion and news related to fishing, hunting, outdoor recreation and water issues here and in neighboring states. This feature of www.myoutdoorbuddy.com – your online outdoors-news magazine – is published on Thursday and Friday and updated regularly. Your comments and opinions are welcome. Send to myoutdoorbuddy@frontiernet.net or to P.O. Box 402, Shingletown, CA 92688
F&G Commission betrays anglers; South Coast MLPA Act decision is biased[Editor's Note: This article applies to northern California fishing news in that the North Coast MLPA Process is currently underway. This is just the latest in series of decisions made by the Fish & Game Commission that show disregard for the input of local stakeholders. Be on guard...your favorite north coast fishing spot is in jeopardy! -- To help contact the Humbolt Area Saltwater Anglers via the Humboldt Tuna Club website: www.humboldttuna.com] |
Flow Policy for coastal rivers flawed: Why you should act!Abstract: Proposed Flow Policy -- Why you should act! The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) will be adopting a Flow Policy for some Northern California coastal streams from the Mattole River south to San Francisco Bay. This policy is a result of actions by Trout Unlimited and the California Legislature.
The proposed Flow Policy will hopefully and finally provide daily releases of flows from some coastal dams and diversions to prevent the extinction of coastal endangered Coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout, including endangered Tidewater Goby species in coastal lagoons These species are protected by the federal and state Endangered Species Acts. Unfortunately the California Department of Fish and Game, US NOAA Fisheries, US Fish and Wildlife Service, State Water Board, and the California Resources Agency have ignored enforcing the federal and state ESA because of water politics in California. The Flow Study falls short of providing a statewide policy that sustains Coho salmon and threatened steelhead, and endangered Tidewater Goby throughout California coastal rivers and streams. Please write the State Water Board and demand that all coastal rivers and streams have adequate flow requirements below all dams and diversions that sustain Coho salmon and their habitat and threatened steelhead and their habitat, and also endangered Tidewater Goby species and their habitat because these fisheries belong to the people of California. Write: commentletters@waterboards.ca.gov . Anglers are encouraged to submit written comments to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to support California coastal anadromous fisheries. Bob Baiocchi, a California Licensed Angler and fish advocate is asking anglers to “Demand Instream Flows at all times from all dams and diversions that will provide daily flows for the survival of anadromous fish in need of spawning, rearing, migration, and lagoon habitats)...Full Story |
SALMON: Is it time to think outside the box?By Gary Heffley
Being an average fisherman who has enjoyed the highs and lows of salmon fishing over the last few decades I am dismayed along with everyone else about the state of the California Salmon fishery. I am not talking just about the state of recreational salmon fishing in the state; I am speaking of the industry that has all but disappeared.
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USFWS proposes voluntary draft Tidal Marsh Recovery PlanA proposed voluntary effort to recover tidal marsh ecosystems along the California coast has been written by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Draft Recovery Plan for Tidal Marsh Ecosystems of Northern and Central California lays out strategies for the public and interested parties and groups to cooperate in conserving the native species that depend on tidal marshes. The plan covers 17 species, six that are federally protected and 11 more that are imperiled. In reality, the plan will help many more species in the tidal marshes, which are down to less than 10 per cent of their original extent...Full Story |
Salmonid Restoration Conference is in Redding, Mar. 10-13Salmonid Restoration Federation and the California-Nevada American Fisheries Society chapter will co-host the 28th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference and the 44th Annual Cal-Neva AFS Conference in Redding, California, March 10-13.
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RFA pushes for flexibility bill"Unless We Unite...Sportfishing is in big trouble"
By Jim Hutchinson, Jr. Recreational Fishing Alliance, Managing Director
[Editor’s Note: While Mr. Hutchison’s alert posted below refers to the east coast fisheries being closed by NMFS via the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), what’s going on there is exactly what is happening to our fisheries here. MyOutdoorBuddy.com urges all its readers to support the RFA in every way possible.]
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