See that fish? That fish, the Delta Smelt, is the center of a huge fight right now – between the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and people with Actual Brains.
The USFWS, through a 2008 Endangered Species Act decision, is restricting water to Central Valley – a region with a ton of farm crops. This water restriction isn’t just cutting off supply to farmers, but to municipalities as well, and job losses are occurring as a result.
Where is the water going? To the delta smelt. Because they’re on some endangered species list. But the problem with that is that no one is even sure if giving more water to the fish (and cutting off supplies of water to people in the process) will even help these teeny tiny fishies.
People with Actual Brains have been protesting these water restrictions, because it’s destroying farms and putting people out of work. And what’s more, because it’s unconstitutional. The delta smelt apparently only live in California, and they serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever except to exist. Therefore, they don’t have any commercial value, and so they can’t really be used by the USFWS as a basis to restrict water from, you know, PEOPLE and stuff.
So, a lawsuit was filed by people with Actual Brains with the assistance of Pacific Legal Foundation. And, happily, Judge Oliver Wanger granted an injunction against USFWS, and agreed with people with Actual Brains that the reduction of water exporting to agricultural operations is not right. He said, “Plaintiffs have shown that irreparable harm will likely occur in the absence of injunctive relief, including loss of water supplies, damage to permanent crops, including orchards and vineyards, crop loss or reduction in crop productivity, job losses, reductions in public school enrollment, limitations on public services, impaired ability to reduce the toxic effects of salt and other minerals in the soil, groundwater overdraft, increased energy consumption, and land fallowing that causes air quality problems.”
Yeah. All because the USFWS is worried about a useless little fish. This is just one more example of environmentalists gone haywire. It’s environmentalists putting plants and fish and other wildlife above humans, no matter what the cost.
And don’t get me wrong. I LOVE wildlife. Especially the cute and furry kind. I want to hug them and love them and squeeze them all. And I totally get wanting to protect endangered species. But not at the cost of people’s physical or economic needs. According to this, some stupid maggot delayed the construction of a freaking HOSPITAL for over a year in California. Protecting some brand of beetle ultimately caused a levee break, and now the delta smelt is preventing much needed water from reaching croplands which employ and ultimately feed many many people.
OMG, this pisses me off so much. In Georgia, specifically the Metro-Atlanta area we’ve been through a really rough drought the last five years and we’ve been told by the Army Corps of Engineers that we have to continue to release water from Lake Lanier (Atlanta’s main source of drinking water) so that some frigging endangered mussel in Florida doesn’t become extinct.
I recognize the circle of life and all that, but I’m pretty sure our link to life isn’t this frigging tenuous! There have been a crapload of species go extinct since man made his appearance on the planet and we’re doing fine without them.
Measure the cost and benefits to society. You CAN NOT quantify the value of the smelt as greater than the money, livelihoods, and lives that will be impacted by their destruction. You can GUESS that it MIGHT be a big deal, but it’s only a guess.
I’m sorry animal lovers, here’s the hierarchy:
PEOPLE
______
ALL ANIMALS
And don’t throw me some frigging red herring about the Child Molester vs the K9 Police Dog that’s saved a hundred lives. And if you need help making the call if it’s close, call me.
I have researched and cannot find a valid reason for these fish to live…
I cannot even find anything about how they are a valuable food source for some far more important animal that does something in our environment that we cannot live without (like filtering water or something).
So, I say… OFF WITH THEIR LITTLE FISHY HEADS.
So good to see that the evironuts are looking out for us all! All it well in the world.
QC – you totally made me giggle out loud with that one!!
QC: HAHAHAHAHA!!! So much for that cup of coffee! Dang it!
The smelt are supposedly vital to the eco-system to the Delta. My one problem with that though is the Delta has been moving water to farmers for over five decades and now suddenly it is vital?! Supplant those minnows somewhere else!!!
The backbone to the economy in California is farming and always has been. It is dying and being replaced with nothing and this doesn’t help. Over 80,000 workers are out of work in the Valley and that is the beginning. Think that doesn’t effect you guys? Think again, because these people are going belly up on the credit cards and mortgages.
Don’t get me started on environmentalists, who I view as the root of all evil.
i have to LIVE here, how do you think i feel?! haha CA is so beyond redic. sometimes..
Screw california agriculte???? if californias ag business goes under then this whole state is screwed. california practilly feeds the nation. the government wont do anything for at least five years, by then it will be far too late and thats what people dont understand. the farmers need the water now or there wont be a next year. by next year they will be broke and hundreds of thousands of acres will be disked up and this state will become a desert again. everyone will have to leave the state because there wont be work. grocerey stores will suffer, doctors will have no patients, car dealerships wont have buyers. i mean we are talking about huge consequences if the farmers go. there is a farm in huron that is heinz’s biggest supplier and this farm provides hundreds of jobs for growing the tomatoes, harvesting them, and processing them in their plant. lf the farmers go broke then this state will crumble beneath its own feet. please send me your comments and what you think about the water problem at naza2009@yahoo.com
Ryan – you miiiiight want to consider reading the actual post instead of just the title.
What happened to real conservatives? As a kid I would hang on every word of Barry Goldwater or William F. Buckley. What is missing in this story is the tale of heavily subsidized agribusiness sucking at the government tit. Google the ‘Heritage Foundation’ or ‘Cato’ institute on Ag. subsidies for a start.
Government PORK is PORK– the agricultural lobby wants cheap, subsidized water at the expense of taxpayer. A Little drought? No worries– lobby the governor for more dams, more pumps, cheap power and a canal to match the one in Panama. California is financially flat broke and our”conservative” governor hooks up with Diane Feinstein for an ELEVEN BILLION dollar bond issue.
Backed by the “California Alliance for Jobs” (check their website: supported by 50,000 union construction workers), and the “Latino Water Coalition” you might think some ‘conservatives’ would get a clue.
To ‘Ryan’ above– you think that if “Cal. Agriculture goes under the whole the whole state is screwed”? Wrong!! Ag in CA has about 30 billion in sales of state GDP of 1.8 trillion or about 2-3%. There are at least ten Fortune 500 companies in California with sales greater than all of AG– Apple, Hewlitt Packard, Chevron, Disney. Intel, Northrop-Grumman etc. Imagine any one of these companies asking for an 11 Billion dollar bond?
If we are the ‘bread basket” of the nation– why should California taxpayers buy the basket? Why should we give corporate farms a subsidy so Canadians can eat strawberries, China gets cheap rice and New Yorkers munch CA taxpayer subsidized almonds? I’m sick of paying high water rates while Ag gets a discount.
Agriculture uses three quarters of the developed water in the state, for less than 3% of GNP. Urban and manufacturing use 20% of the water and produce 97% of GNP (that’s jobs and revenues). And look at the type of jobs– it is estimated that up to 40% of the jobs in Ag are undocumented workers.These are the ‘massive job cuts’ you’ve heard of on Hannity!
For those who feel “USFWS is worried about a useless little fish” I would recommend a basic biology text– the writings of Dr.Seuss would be an excellent start. There are some excellent illustrations of a bigger fish eating the smaller fish, and then a bigger fish eating the larger fish, and yet an even larger fish consuming the large fish. It is called the “food chain”, and the chain is broken in the Delta. King Salmon, striped bass, sturgeon, black bass and a host of other tasty treats are vanishing because their food supply is depleted (yes, we humans feed at the top of the chain).
Finally, Check out:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/11/15/MN4E1AJVMS.DTL
Is there a real conservative out there that would back this pork filled water bill?
So, as perhaps the last fiscal conservative alive I say “Screw California Agriculture, Save the Smelt!”
fiscalcons you are such an idiot!! You would rather protect some stupid little fish than help people who are loosing farms that their families have owned for generations. And yes other bigger fish probably do eat the delta smelt but its not an important part of their diet. How about you do a little research and find how they have very little use. Also whats going to happen to food prices when a single tomato starts to cost $1 ? You think everyone is going to be happy? Please use that brain of yours and realize that people need the water more then these little fish.
Bravo fiscalcons! First off, you’re the only one who seems to have actually educated yourself on the subject before replying and that alone is enough for me. You actually make some amazing points as well which was just icing on the cake. Everyone want’s to say screw the tiny fish and people are far more important than animals but FYI we rely on these ecosystems and if there not doing well eventually we WILL feel the repercussions. One of the main reasons the smelt are so important is because they show how healthy the ecosystem is as a whole. If there isn’t enough water for them or other species to survive in than something needs to change. These “other species” include salmon, that we all know and love to eat, which are also suffering due to the massive amounts of water being pumped from the Delta. Furthermore, the salmon fisheries are suffering right along with the agriculture business but fighting opposing battles. Jobs and money are being lost because the salmon cannot survive in the Delta either. On top of that, the major issue that is being addressed here is not over a fish, it is the fact that we are using a resource unsustainably that particular fish is just the first one suffering. If we were to carry on using the amount of water we currently are more jobs and more people will have to suffer.
Actually fiscalcons didn’t educate himself or he would know who gets those subsidies and exactly why they get them. He is looking at it through the view of a coke bottle. He is also misinterpreting the raw data from Heritage and Cato.
lilly: Quit talking nonsense, and as to the slamon they would be a whole lot more in abundance if the enviros didn’t put a stop to the fish ladders back in the 70′s. History doesn’t begin anew each day. There is a gigantic difference between an ecologist and and an environmentalist. Learn it.
And if either one of you guys think the corporations that have cropped up here in California can provide employment for the entire state you are sadly mistaken. Remember two things. Those corporations popped up on the backs of the farmers, and employment is of little comfort when food prices are too high or there is simply no food to buy. Many things grown can only be grown in California, and what is imported is only employing the workers of other countries.
Fiscalcons is correct on most points. If ag is so important and worth so much, then let it pay for the infrastructure it needs to convey the water it needs. There is no reason the taxpayer should continue to subsidize huge corporate farms. Also, the smelt are the canary in the coal mine. The entire Delta ecosystem is crashing in a huge way, and folks, we are connected to it. Delta smelt are simply an indicator organism – the extinctions won’t stop there.
Maybe we can save the dinosaurs too if it is not too late! Never hear of the survival of the fittest. Extinction is part of the circle of life. You enviromental freaks just want to play God.
Amen brother. 98% of the species that have walked the face of the earth are already extinct, so going extinct is not abnormal at all. I say gut shooot them at the border, and if they crawl in and make it, “Welcome”.
jimbo: I have heard that ecosystem crap before, and guess what ecosystems adapt!! Ask those in the know about the San Francisco Bay. Furthermore farmers have built the infrastructure and have no problem building even more infrastructure, but the eco nuts like the courts, lawyers, and blocking.
Why is is the party of die hard Darwinism refuse to let evolution happen time and again?!
Oh and one other thing stupid jimbo…learn how the world around you works. If private corporations build the infrastructure they own it…not you! Therefore you get no rights to it’s use or any of the benefits. So next time you want to enjoy that lake…TOO BAD!
Okay, actually, having done quite a bit of research on this subject myself, I have come to the conclusion that, contrary to the views of the author, Delta Smelt do need to be protected.
Let me start by saying that I am a VERY conservative republican, so far so, that I almost consider myself a libertarian. However, I disagree with the average conservative on this issue, basically because of one fundamental issue:
It is fairly clear that the Smelt are a vital link in the food chain. Which means that without the smelt, salmon industries will be harmed. Don’t believe me? Then let me show:
a. Evidence
There isn’t much evidence talking about this, so you’ll have to make do with liberal sources, but they are credible. The first author is an engineer and a scientist, and the second source is an environmental specialist with RL Weigt Environmental Consultants.
http://www.mylocalnews.com/nws/index.php?/main/content/viewpointin_defense_of_the_little_delta_smelt/
http://www.farallones.org/e_newsletter/2009-03/DeltaSmelt.htm
So there you have several people who agree with me that smelt are a vital link in the food chain.
b. Logic
If you don’t believe the two sources above me, then perhaps this line of reasoning will help you:
1. Obviously, smelt eat and are eaten. That much should be a given, the only question is whether or not they are vital.
2. Smelt populations have decreased by 95% over the last 20 years
3. Salmon populations have also decreased rapidly (In fact, last years salmon fishing season was cancelled)
4. One of the things causing the salmons death is a loss of food.
Meaning: Smelt are directly affecting salmon. (Obviously they are not the only reason, but as Smelt lose their lives, salmon lose theirs… the loss of smelt certainly are a large part of the salmon’s downfall)
As one last establishing point, if you read the second article, at the bottom it mentions how pumps kill smelt, so we can take it for granted that reactivating the pumps will kill the smelt. This will then lead to the impacts:
1. No Benefit (Just trading farmers for fishers)
a. Farmers would obviously be benefited
b. Fishers would be harmed
Without Smelt to feed on, salmon won’t have their source of food, and they will starve. That means that all who fish for salmon won’t have a means of living, and you will be no better off than when you started off. Because now you will have just switched the problem onto the fishers.
2. This is Constitutional
Salmon directly impact more than just California. As smelt are a tool in the lives and protection of salmon, the rules for salmon should apply to smelt. Saying that smelt are just California is just the little picture.
So looking at it all, yes, if it was just smelt, I would TOTALLY agree with the other conservatives and say that yes, we need to protect farmers over fish, but when we look at the big picture, we can see that the Smelt are actually necessary to protect fishermen.
Hey Lucky.
I guess you have joined the liberal band wagon that believes fishing(recreational at that)is more important than the farmers who have farmed this state for the past one hundred and fifty years. Please go beyond the superficial research to find the truth, it may set you free.
“3. Salmon populations have also decreased rapidly (In fact, last years salmon fishing season was cancelled)
4. One of the things causing the salmons death is a loss of food.
Meaning: Smelt are directly affecting salmon. (Obviously they are not the only reason, but as Smelt lose their lives, salmon lose theirs… the loss of smelt certainly are a large part of the salmon’s downfall)”
You are coming in the middle and claiming you are informed. You are not. Look at the other environmental policies thst have killed off the salmon. Start with the hissy fits of the 60′s and 70′s that prohibited fish ladders.
It’s easy for people to sit there and say that this fish doesn’t matter but the truth is that just because noone knows the significance of this fish does not mean it doesn’t matter!!!! It is definately a food source for something, and the protection is not just for this fish but for salmon and several other species. True, they need to keep looking for the cause, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try this in the process. It’s rediculous that so many people feel that this species has no right to live because it’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. this animal can’t just move out and the farmers can. It’s about the fact that humans put more focus on the “poor farmers” that are capable of moving. we can get the crops elsewhere, the farmers can choose to live elsewhere, the fish cannot. they are a native species. Why do people think that they are so much better than gods other creatures? Its in the bible that people are to care for each other and all of gods creatures. the farms were built in an area not suited for agriculture unless you pump in water from elsewhere, do the farmers really think that they have every right to invade the land and kick out and distroy the native wildlife? Who cares if it’s a fish!!! we can have it all, human life and farming and the fish, but we need to regulate ourselves. Suck it up and do whats right for everyone, not just yourselves.
Rebecca: Farm land cannot just up and move, and that is some of the most fertile farmland in the world. Many crops grown there cannot be grown any where else in the world. Furthermore the Delta has been used for farming for over 40 years, and now suddenly it’s a problem? Don’t think so. Smelt can be raised in fish farms and reintroduced just for starters. They are not a food source for any type of wildlife in the Delta.
The rest of your post is hogwash and immature to say the least. It doesn’t even scratch the economics for the state, the country, or the world either. There is really something wrong with a person who puts a damn minnow over human life, misguided and ignorant doesn’t even begin to scratch that surface either.
That is absolutely rediculous. what is this sacred plant that only grows in california? Avacados? strawberries? oranges? The smelt are a food source for salmon. They are a small minnow sized fish, and they are absolutely at the bottom of the food chain. As for farming, how long has it been responsibly farmed? was there a water source there before the pumped in in from the delta? Or have farmers just been changing the land? almost any warm place with a long growing season can be fertile, especially if you bring in water and other elements from elsewhere. The problem here has nothing to do with human life. It has everything to do with the fact that people believe that their lifestyles are more important than the natural world, regardless of what they are harming. That is absolutely rediculous, and furthermore the farmers won’t parish because they can’t farm. Feel free to try and belittle me all you want, it just shows how weak your arguement is. Whaaaa!!!!! we have to go find jobs elsewhere because we can’t make due here! welcome to america, a huge percentage of the country has to deal with hard times. It’s unfortunate that people have to change their lives after being so used to doing things a certain way. however they have absolutely no right to wipe out a species over it. period.
Rebecca – if you Actually Believe that the lives of delta smelt are on par with human life, you’re beyond reasoning with.
“Re”diculous, in fact.
It has nothing to do with being equal to human life. Humans will not die because they can’t raise as many crops as before. we’re talking about wiping out a species here because lifestyle is more important. It’s not beyond reason. Who are you to say that your species is more important? How do you know what their niche is in the enviroment? How can you possibly pretend you have any idea how to balance the environment when you think wiping out any species for any reason is at all ethical? I’m not beyond reason, you are. SELFISH, in fact. Humans can move, find a new job, find a new life elsewhere. The fish cannot move, or change anything, they are a native species. And farming them elsewhere will take away a potential food source for other wildlife, and the wildlife who eat their predators and so on. You then have created a situation where the entire food chain is effected. Why do you possibly think your the one who should decide that? Don’t try to compare fish life to human life, It’s fish exsistance to human lifestyle. 2 very different things.
Come live in Central Cali(Fresno) and you will see the impact. For the ones that don’t please don’t even comment.
One does not need to live in central california to understand that wiping out a species is wrong. I can’t understand why people don’t realise that this is bigger than them!!! This is about lifestyle (humans) vs. existance (fish). And the fish can’t change, people can. you could upset an entire ecosystem. California land is only fertile because water is being shipped in from the delta, otherwise it would be entirely unsuitable. So really humans just want to farm there and make money and are willing to cause exstinction in another species because it’s not important to them. I think that is the most selfish thing I have ever heard, It makes me wonder how you sleep at night. Shame on you, thinking you have the right to play god. Shame on all of you!!! I know you all want people to just shut up and give you your way, and that’s just too bad. Your wrong and selfish, bottom line.
Rebecca, please keep posting. Your comments give me the giggles more than anyone else’s by far!
well i’m glad you find human nature funny. i find it tragic.
Really….Is there any reason for an argument. It’s human food over a tiny fish and salmon. Which I don’t know about you guys but I don’t eat salmon more often then all the other Ag products produced from the valley including milk and meat from the Dairy’s.
this is what pisses me off about people…. it’s always about you, isn’t it? It’s not what can i do for my country or the environment….It what can it do for me? It’s that sort of selfish mentality that is the reason why everything is screwed up among us. No interest in coexsisting unless it benefits you in some way. Well let me tell you all something…. You are not going to go extinct if there is less water. Get over yourselves, put on your big girl panties and live with it. If not, you can always move somewhere else, and get your produce from mexico or florida. I’m not convinced that your lifestyle is better than the fish’s right to persue life, and neither is the Supreme Court. By the way, news flash: Salmon are a federally protected species and a HUGE part of the ecosystems within this country. They die, then so do bears and other predaters who depend on them as a food source, and the deer and herbavore populations explode, who then go and eat up all the crops anyway, and the aquatic ecosystems suffer as well….which eventually effects us all. It doesn’t matter that you don’t eat them…. Lots of other things do. Go read a book on ecology.
When salmon and delta smelt start farming and defending themselves in court, perhaps I’ll listen. Until then, I’m content to believe that we are the vastly superior species for a reason.
But have fun continuing to be hysterical, rebecca. It’s at least semi-amusing to watch.
Um news flash mockarena….They do defend themselves somehow don’t they? Otherwise you wouldn’t be whining about it on some god forsaken blog….. Looks like maybe us liberals are “loony” and like big government… so tell me, aside from thinking your somehow better, what are your other pass times? outlawing female voting? linching african americans? advocating child labor? what are your views about the healthcare bill? are you gonna start a blog about that too? whine all you want because like it or not the “stupid fish” is here to stay. As for a vastly superior species, we are more intelligent, yes. But but words like vastly superior should be saved for smart people, not yokels such as yourself and others like you who think your more deserving of earth’s resources that other species.
Um news flash, rebecca. No one asked you to comment on “this godforsaken blog” nor did they ask you to keep resurrecting a post that is MONTHS old. If you had any technological ability, you’d have all your answers about what we think about many of the topics you mentioned, because contrary to what you might think, this is just ONE POST on this blog. We have talked more about healthcare than any other topic, in fact. If you had the ability to navigate a page beyond this one, you’d have realized that before making your comment.
You can exhaust yourself protecting your precious little smelt all you want. You’re not convincing me that we need to completely turn California agriculture upside down to accommodate them.
Neat namecalling, by the way. My toddler would be impressed.
Umm, newsflash Rebbecca, Delta Smelt are not even indigenous to the Delta. So how did you like Obama throwing your environmentalist butt under the bus for health care votes?
BTW…There is a huge difference between environmentalist and ecologist…LEARN IT!
You honestly think I want to read all your crazy right wing crap? I think i’d rather dive off a cliff!!! I have a particular interest in this topic. You don’t speak of working for a solution to help all involved. you say SCREW THE SMELT!!! Well i say screw you. And I could care less what you think of me and my personal beliefs. And where do you get your info about what species are indignious to the delta? Fox news? I doubt any of your sources are reliable. have a nice day ladies, I’ll take this as a win.
Um, considering that you keep coming back here to read my responses to you, then yes, I’ll take that as a “you want to read our site.” But I’ll be happy to watch you take that cliff-dive. Just let me know when it’s happening.
More genius from California “environmentalists.” Water is now under political control.
Who is John Galt?
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=531662
Rebecca: Where do I get my info? Born and raised in the Central Valley of California. Still own property there and have two business.
Et tu Brute?
And you won what???? Precisely what? Obama threw your butt under the bus for health care votes, and he will throw the rest of it under the bus and open up the pipes to get the Hispanic vote.