Lowest delta-rivers salmon run ever in 2009
The dismal return is threatening to inflame tensions between California farming interests and the fishing industry. Moyle and others said ocean conditions have improved over the past few years, so salmon numbers should have increased. That has, in turn, fueled the contention among fishing representatives that diversions of water from the delta for agribusiness are causing the problem.
Fishermen were furious this week when Sen. Dianne Feinstein proposed diverting more water for Central Valley farmers. They claim she is being bamboozled by agribusiness interests and right-wing talk show hosts who insist cuts in water exports are putting salt-of-the-earth farmers out of business.
The real story, Pool contends, is that reckless increases in pumping have sucked up and killed millions of baby salmon as well as delta smelt, the tiny endangered fish that Fox News pundit Sean Hannity and agricultural lobbyists referred to as the “minnow” environmentalists are hosing farmers to save.