Good idea for research and advocacy but bad idea for management as the waters flowing through it impact the entire state and need to be largely controlled by the large governmental agencies able to balance those often conflicting claims, whereas a Delta only agency would not, though Reclamation should have spent the $100,000 to save the fish.
Wolk calls for Delta protection agency
A recent fish kill shows fragmentation of system, she says.
By Ngoc Nguyen - ngnguyen@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Friday, December 7, 2007
After hearing testimony Thursday about events that led up to last month's massive fish kill on Prospect Island, Assemblywoman Lois Wolk said she is convinced of the need for a single oversight body looking after the Delta.
"Everybody is pointing fingers," said Wolk, the Davis Democrat who chairs the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife. "No one is taking responsibility for what went wrong."
Wolk, who convened the public hearing Thursday, said she would like to work in the next legislative session to establish a Delta oversight and stewardship body.
Before Thanksgiving, Bureau of Reclamation contractors repaired a breached levee, leaving a body of standing water on the island. They then began pumping water off the island, killing tens of thousands of stranded fish.
A local fisherman reported the dead fish, and eventually the pumping was halted.
John Davis, Bureau of Reclamation regional director, said Thursday that he "deeply regrets" the high loss of fish and that "fish mortality exceeded expectations."
The levee repair project, which cost $2.5 million, was modeled after previous efforts, Davis said.
A bureau evaluation found that salvaging the fish would have cost $100,000, he said.
