CALIFORNIA SPORTFISHING PROTECTION ALLIANCE
P.O. BOX 357
QUINCY, CALIFORNIA 95971
California Fish and Game Commission June 28, 1996
1416 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95914
Re: San Lorenzo River; Sportfishing Regulation Proposal; Southern Steelhead Trout; Commission Meeting of July 11, 1996 at Santa Cruz, California
Dear Commissioners:
Before the Commission on July 11, 1996 at Santa Cruz, California, will be whether the Commission should make a regulation change with the existing taking of southern steelhead trout on the San Lorenzo River for the purpose of sportfishing.
The proposal is very simple; change the take to one (1) southern steelhead with lures only.
The steelhead trout of the San Lorenzo River are southern steelhead trout. Southern steelhead trout are the most jeoparized steelhead in California. The San Lorenzo River also sustains coho salmon. Populations of coho salmon in California are also jeoparized. In many rivers and streams south of San Francisco Bay to the San Diego area, southern steelhead trout have either been extinguished or nearly extinguished. There are so few southern steelhead trout in many southern California coastal streams that the Department of Fish and Game should name them and not count them.
From 19,000 returning southern steelhead trout in the San Lorenzo River in the 1960's, this run of southern steelhead trout have declined to about 1,000 fish. We believe the Commission and the Department of Fish and Game have a duty to prevent these fish from being further endangered.
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance is a party to a petition before the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service to list steelhead trout in California under the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act. There is also another petition before the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service to list coho salmon under the protection of the federal ESA.
What are the problems with steelhead trout and coho salmon? The most serious problem in our view is adverse impacts to habitat. Steelhead trout and coho salmon need water to survive, including adequate habitat. Water development projects and land use activities can adversely effect their habitat. However, the taking of southern steelhead by sportfishing simply has a cumulative impact and effect to the returning "runs" of fish.
We urge the Commissioners to make a regulation change to the taking of southern steelhead trout in the San Lorenzo River. Reduce the taking of southerm steelhead trout to one (1) fish by lures only. That 50% reduction in taking would provide some relief for the southern steelhead in the river. However, should southern steelhead trout and/or coho salmon be listed for protection under the federal ESA, we firmly believe the river should be closed to sportfishing by the Commission until those species recover throughout their range.
We also recommend that the Department of Fish and Game be directed by the Commission to prepare a San Lorenzo River Southern Steelhead and Coho Salmon Management Plan. That management plan should be based on the results of existing and new studies, with recommendations to improve populations of southern steelhead and coho salmon and their habitat in the river. However, in the interim period, the most reasonable decision for the Commission to make at this time is to reduce the taking of southern steelhead trout by sportfishing as recommended by the Santa Cruz Fly Fishermen.
We also recommend the Commission receive testimony from the Department of Fish and Game's expert in the field of southern steelhead at the Commission's meeting of July 11, 1996. That expert is: Dennis McEwan, Steelhead Specialist. Inland Fisheries Division, Department of Fish and Game.
Please advise the CSPA regarding the Commission's decision in this matter. Thank you.
Respectfully Submitted
_______________________________________
Robert J. Baiocchi, Consultant
For: California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
P.O. Box 357
Quincy, CA 95971
Certificate of Service
California Fish and Game Commission
c/o Robert Treanor, Executive Secretary
California Fish and Game Commission
1416 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
(Original and Five (5) Copies)
Honorable State Senator Tom Hayden, Chairman
Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Wildlife
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Jacqueline Schafer, Director
Department of Fish and Game
1416 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dennis McEwan. Steelhead Speciialist,
Inland Fisheries Division
Department of Fish and Game
1416 Ninth Strreet
Sacramento, CA 95814
Tom Hogye, Director of Conservation
Santa Cruz Fly Fishermen
6 Canyon Road
Felton, CA 95018
Charles Bucaria, NCCFFF
7441 Center Parkway
Sacramento, CA 95823
Felix Smith
4720 Talus Way
Carmichael, CA 95608
Roy Thomas
Carmel River Steelhead Association
26535 Carmel Rancho Blvd
Carmel, CA 93923
Lorna Carriveau
Northern California Council FFF
CSPA Board
801 Brookside Drive
Woodland, CA 95695
Jim Crenshaw, President
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
1248 East Oak Avenue, Suite D
Woodland, CA 95695
Bill Jennings, Chairman
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
3536 Rainier Avenue
Stockton, CA 95204
Ray Cole, Board
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
2874 Calariva Drive
Stockton, CA 95204
Mike Jackson, Esquire
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
P.O. Drawer 207
Quincy, CA 95971
Jim Edmondson, Executive Director
California Trout, Inc.
9770 Sombra Terrace
Shadow Hills, CA 91040
Larry Hampy, Board
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
162 E Casuda Canyon Drive
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Mark Landre, Board
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
14504 Neargrove
LaMirada, CA 90638
Stephanie Reavesdail, Representative
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
107 Woodbine Street - #2
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Nick De Croce
Southwest Council FFF
712A South Broadway
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Interested Parties