October 28, 2004

1) Permit requirements for fish rescue

If you are interested in helping rescue stranded fish in Alameda Creek, the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) requires a list of permitted individuals to “avoid unauthorized persons poaching fish under the guise of fish rescues.”

If you want to legally 'possess' rescued steelhead or salmon (including removing them from the water, handling, transporting, or re-releasing), send me an e-mail with your name, address, phone number, and CA drivers license number to give to the DFG. DFG has warned us that you must be on this list and have a copy of a Letter of Permission from DFG in your immediate possession to legally participate in fish rescue efforts supervised by the East Bay Parks biologist.

I encourage people who want to participate in fish rescue to send me your information so we can get you on the letter of permission.

However, as an editorial comment, I find it interesting that DFG is requiring such strict adherence to the law for volunteers trying to help restore the fish populations that DFG allowed to be illegally destroyed in Alameda Creek. I also find it hypocritical to threaten volunteers trying to do restoration with prosecution for trying to rescue fish without following the exact letter of the law, when DFG has not required the dam owners or water districts on Alameda Creek to follow either the letter or the spirit of the law requiring fish passage or adequate water flow below dams, despite repeated documented violations and repeated requests for enforcement from the ACA (specifically CA Fish and Game Codes 5901 and 5937 – see http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=fgc&codebody=&hits=20).

2) Update on fish in Alameda Creek

We had confirmed sightings yesterday of at least 3 distinct fish, most likely chinook salmon, at the BART weir and the lower rubber dam. We also have a reliable sighting of more fish below the BART weir that we believe are steelhead based on appearance and behavior. The Park District biologist visited the BART weir today and none of these fish were at the BART weir or in an area where they could be accessed at current flow. The Alameda County Water District has no plans to raise their rubber dams, out of concern they will strand fish. Flows at the weir are very low, about 40 cfs, so these fish will likely hold below the weir until the next storm. The Park District biologist will likely attempt to document and possibly move these fish after the next storm, when the ACWD raises their rubber dams. I will alert people when that happens. Again, if you want to legally participate, send me your information so we can get you on a letter of permission from DFG.

Another outrageous situation is that DFG and NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for protecting listed steelhead trout, will not allow any fish stranded or rescued at the BART weir to be moved upstream. These fish can only be moved downstream to the Bay. That’s right – the current official policy of state and federal regulatory agencies is that until fish passage structures are built in Alameda Creek, federally protected steelhead trying to swim upstream to spawn but blocked by illegal barriers can only be moved downstream to remove them from the creek and encourage them to go to some other stream somewhere else. This policy results from the S.F. Public Utilities Commission’s objection to moving fish upstream into “their” jurisdiction where they might have to provide water in the creek for the fish to survive.

This despite the fact that the Alameda County Flood Control District is amenable to moving fish into suitable habitat in Stonybrook Creek, which is in their jurisdiction. It is a minor miracle that adult steelhead still attempt to migrate up Alameda Creek – the longer these fish are prevented from spawning in successive years, the more likely that we will lose this migratory fish run. The ACA has been advocating for 7 years for fish passage at the BART weir and rubber dams and these projects are still years away from construction, despite some good-faith efforts in planning and searching for funding for these projects. The ACA has been asking for an interim fish transport operation for several years now to allow fish to get upstream to suitable spawning and rearing habitat while potential fish passage projects move slowly forward.

If you disagree with the policy on moving fish, please contact the following responsible agencies and tell them that until the water agencies fix the problem by building fish ladders, regulatory agencies should allow steelhead and salmon during spawning season to be moved upstream, as nature intended, and that the SFPUC should not be able to veto restoration efforts:

Rob Floerke

Central Coast Regional Manager

CA Department of Fish and Game

P.O. Box 47

Yountville, CA 94599

rfloerke@dfg.ca.gov

(707) 944-5517

Gary Stern

NOAA Fisheries

777 Sonoma Avenue, Room 325

Santa Rosa, CA 95404

gary.stern@noaa.gov

(707) 575-6060

Michael Carlin

Planning Director

S. F. Public Utilities Commission

1155 Market St., 4th floor
San Francisco CA, 94103

mcarlin@sfwater.org

(415) 934-5787