Salmon win in 9th circuit court

California salmon and salmon fishermen won in federal court Friday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said the federal water project is obliged to provide enough water to double the salmon population.

That'll cut down on the fruits and nuts, Hank. Can you take that?

Damn tree huggin' liberals...why do they hate 'Merica so much?

Fish on...

Todd

Hank's got all the fruits and nuts he can handle in San Francisco.

I haven't noticed a shortage of fruits and nuts here...there's plenty to go around. Seems the nuts are staying and the fruits are moving to WA.

They don't need to be pumping smolts down the canal so agribusinesses can grow cotton.

Hankster -

Thanks for posting. Great news - finally a win for the fish. Wondering - do you know what this means for the water grab bill that our wonderful elected officials just passed a few days ago? Does this ruling over-rule that bill such that they won't be sending all of that water to Central Valley agribusiness afterall? Also...is this the final word, or can this ruling get overturned? I'm thinking this is the end of the line since it's the appeals court, but I'm no lawyer. Appreciate any info. NCD.

Nice.Good luck,
SZ

NCD,

A 9th Circuit ruling can be appealed to the SCOTUS, but that would take time and be uncertain as to outcome. Since water runs uphill, toward money, in CA, I'd expect the water interests to try a political end run to circumvent the court's ruling.

Sg

SG is right, but since this decision was by a three-judge panel, the ruling would need to be appealed to the full 9th Circut court (15 judges) before going to the Supremes. However, very few cases are accepted by the full 15-judge court of appeals. So if they're turned down by the full court (very likely), the next stop would likely be the SCOTUS, as SG indicates.

Even then, the SCOTUS accepts very few cases. They usually reserve their docket for those cases that representsignificant Consitutional issues. I can't imagine they would accept this one if it's appealed.

But lemme read the decision first.......

The House water-grab bill won't pass the Senate with Feinstein and Boxer working against it and Obama would veto it even if it did. The only way the salmon don't win this one is if SCOTUS overrules.

Excellent news. Thanks everyone for input/info. NCD.

Now there's good news for CA salmon fishermen..I'm counting the days until the season starts.

Big opportunity for salmon fishing

Years of futility will give way to fruition. The salmon are back in California. The countdown to the April 7 start of the 2012 salmon season is on.

The forecast is for a great year for salmon out of San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Bodega Bay, Monterey, and up and down the Pacific Coast.

Not “fair.” Not “good.” Great.

The season will run April 7 to mid-November (probably, to be finalized in April) with a two-fish limit and a 20-inch minimum size limit for sport anglers.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity, for both sport and commercial fishermen,” said Craig Stone, owner of Emeryville Sportfishing Center.

Salmon returns from the ocean (and through the bay and delta) to the Sacramento River system are projected at 820,000, and nearly double that, 1.6 million, up at the Klamath.

To put that in perspective, consider that just three years ago, in 2009, only 39,500 salmon returned through the bay and up the Sacramento River.

I’ll predict right now that we will also see more big fish, maybe the best in 20 years. The reason is twofold:

Last year’s forecast called for 333,000 adult salmon on the Bay Area coast to return to the Sacramento River system, but only 114,741 were counted. That means a lot of those 3-year-old salmon from last summer spent an extra year in the ocean and will become this year’s 4-year-olds that will produce the 25- to 40-pounders.

The ocean has had great feed conditions for two straight years, allowing salmon to grow an inch and a pound per month.

The high number of salmon was first predicted and reported on Dec. 14 at SFGate.com, based on a mind-bending increase in the return of 2-yearold salmon, or jacks, last fall.

Coleman National Fish Hatchery at Battle Creek on the Sacramento River counted 22,800 jacks, up from 721 in 2009 and 5,500 in 2010. The ratio of jacks to adults is roughly 30 jacks in the fall for 1 adult the following spring. So large jack returns last fall, on top of good feed conditions in the ocean this winter, mean a great season in 2012.

Now maybe everyone will move back to CA...

Keith

Hank , that really is great news. I am ready to roll.

Not celebrating quite yet on the rivers - the dismal rainfall totals so far this winter may mean low water next fall when these fish are supposed to come upriver...