Commercial fishermen rally

Hard times for the Fort Bragg Fishing Fleet

A rally for commercial fishermen is scheduled for March 28th in Santa Rosa, California to "demand real solutions to salmon declines." The Pacific Fisheries Management Council meets at 7pm to hear public comments about the 2006 salmon season and the rally is intended to bring attention to the commercial fishermen up and down the west coast. This year's salmon season is in jeopardy because of declining fish runs in the Klamath River and a lot of fishermen could face financial ruin if the season is cancelled or cut short.

My hope is to cover the rally and post some video on the Streamscope site by the end of the week.

Media attention on Klamath salmon

Lots of media attention these days on the plight of salmon fishermen, both commercial and recreational, due to the possible closure of the salmon fishing season.

This editorial was in the San Francisco Chronicle today.

The KQED radio show Forum did a show on urban salmon fisheries last week.

This AP article is a good overview of the cause of the problem.

And there may be a story on the Newshour this week.

Salmon season start in limbo

The impact of the fish kill on the Klamath River and the subsequent low returns of spawning salmon to the river and its tributaries is going to hit commercial and recreational fishermen hard this year.

Here's the latest from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Watch the trailer for the documentary

Click here to see a clip from Battle for the Klamath.

Dire times for salmon fishermen

The fish aren't there. That seems to be the bottom line for the Northern California communities that depend on Klamath River salmon in 2006. It appears there may be no commercial salmon season at all this year, due in part to the 2002 fish kill and low water flows that have created a multitude of problems for spawning salmon on the Klamath River.

Read the full story by clicking on the title above.

Load the documentary trailer onto Itunes and your Ipod

Open Itunes, click on Advanced at the top, click on Subscribe to Podcast and type http://homepage.mac.com/veriscope/BFKIpod.xml in the box. Click on OK and it will load into your copy of Itunes.

The quality is pretty impressive for such a small screen.

Battle for the Klamath in Amsterdam Festival

Battle for the Klamath was accepted into the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam's Docs for Sale program as a rough cut. The film should be finished in the next month and then begin a festival run with an eye toward a television sale.


Watch the trailer from the film.

Court tosses Bush plan for Klamath water

A federal judge says the irrigation plan for farmers doesn't help threatened fish.

ESA bill passes in the House

A scene in the the documentary takes a look at a July 2004 anti-ESA demonstration in Klamath Falls, OR where proponents of this bill held a hearing and demonstration.

The bill to "revise" the Endangered Species Act passes the House, 229 to 193. The bill's main sponsor is Richard Pombo, (CA-R), from the central valley town of Tracy, a booming bedroom community over the Oakland Hills from the Bay Area. More on the bill from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/politics/30species.html?pagewanted=print

The legislation won't get through the Senate in its current form, but the negotiations (and probable weakening) of the ESA have begun. Count how many times the phrase "best available science" is used by proponents of this bill in the coming months. That's code for "gut the ESA."

Watch a clip from the documentary

Click here to see a clip from Battle for the Klamath.

The Republican War on Science

Republican War on Science

Chris Mooney's book,The Republican War on Science, has a chapter entitled "Fishy Science" that covers many of the issues that are in Battle for the Klamath. The effort to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, Mike Kelly's whistleblower case, and the 2002 fish kill are all there in a book that lays out the systemic undermining of the scientific community under the Bush Administration.

The fight over water and fish in the Klamath River is a small story in this overall war, but it has many elements that make it the perfect example of political power colliding with regional environmental interests. Check out the book and make your own judgement about Mooney's findings.

Farmers lose court battle in Klamath Basin

A big blow to farmers in the Klamath Basin. This decision stems from the 2001 water shutoff controversy.

Dinosaur discovery

Mike Kelly, a fisheries biologist and one of the primary characters in Battle for the Klamath, is also an amateur paleontologist. He and a friend made a significant discovery in Oregon. Read the story.

More bad news from an important Klamath tributary.

Salmon numbers lowest on record

Fish die-off on upper Klamath

Another fish kill on the Klamath, this time on the Upper River. It appears this kill is due to high temps in the Upper Basin and is not as devastating as the 2002 kill on the Lower River, but the death of young fish is a great concern to the biologists working the Klamath, for obvious reasons.

New York Times article on commercial fishing on the Klamath

Reduced Salmon Season Is Felt at Wharf and Table

Tribes face fishing closure

Yurok Fisherman

This article from Indian Country Today explains how the restrictions on salmon fishing in the Klamath River apply not only to commercial and recreational fishermen up and down the coast, but also to the Indian tribes, particularly the Yurok tribe at the mouth of the river.

I spent a couple of days on the river with Yurok tribal fishermen, filming them fishing and talking to them about the 2002 fish kill and what the salmon mean to the tribe. Troy Fletcher, quoted in the story above, plays a large role in the documentary, explaining the Yurok's position in the ongoing controversy.

Chipping away at the Endangered Species Act

New Rule on Endangered Species in the Southwest - New York Times

This article in the New York Times is an example of the ongoing effort to chip away at the Endangered Species Act, a priority for some GOP members of Congress and certain factions in the Interior Department.

The example here takes place in the Southwestern U.S., but it builds on a ruling in Oregon regarding the endangered Coho salmon. The gist of the Oregon ruling, made by a judge, not a scientist, was that there was not much difference genetically between wild and hatchery raised salmon, so they all should be counted together. Every scientist I've talked to about this is outraged, usually after they stop shaking their head and laughing at the lack of sense in the ruling.

Once again, these issues are covered extensively in the documentary, where I talk to fishery biologists, government officials and environmentalists. I also covered a Congressional hearing about the Endangered Species Act last summer that took place in Klamath Falls, OR. An interesting event.

Lots of rain lately in the Upper Klamath Basin ...

Could mean some relief for the irrigation season and downstream flows.

Members of Congress seek disaster relief for fishermen.

Fort Bragg Fishing Fleet

Mike Thompson, the Congressman for the North coast of California and a critic of the federal government's role in the Klamath water diputes, is pushing for diaster relief to help the commercial fishermen and the lower river Indian tribes. He's also a character in the documentary, and speaks forcefully not only about the damage to the Yurok tribe's fishery, but also the economic impact on small businesses throughout the northern California coastal region.

Democrats seek disaster declaration over salmon restrictions

NPR takes a look at the Upper Klamath Basin

Here's a NPR report on the drought problems in the Upper Klamath Basin this Spring. Farmers are skittish because of the dry winter and the threat of another water curtailment similar to what took place in 2001.

The Bureau of Reclamation guy who's quoted in the story, Dave Sabo, and the farmer Steve Kandra, are both characters in the documentary.

More issues for commercial fishermen in CA

Salmon fishery protections unnerve commercial fishermen.

Consequences from both the 2002 fish kill and the die-off of juveniles heading out to sea. Zeke Grader, a chracter in the documentary, predicted this when I interviewed him almost a year ago.

Commercial Fishermen Hit

Trouble with the CA northcoast salmon season.

It's not just about the fish...

This story is a look at the problems the farmers in the Upper Klamath Basin face this growing season. The documentary looks at both the struggle of the farmers in the Upper Basin to survive with a limited water supply and the Indian tribes and fishermen of the Lower Basin to survive with limited fish.

Two of the people quoted in the article, Dave Sabo of the Bureau of Reclamation, and Steve Kandra, a local farmer, are characters in the film.

Mystery on the Columbia River

This story takes place up the coast on the Columbia, but it confirms the fears of some biologists of a sharp drop in salmon this year up and down the west coast. The Klamath River and its tributaries had the lowest number of returning salmon last fall since they started keeping records.