A bill approved by a legislative committee Tuesday would require the state to build hatcheries to breed threatened Delta smelt. Critics warn it may undercut the state Endangered Species Act.
Senate Bill 994 by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, is backed by a who's who of powerful water agencies. A weighty list of conservation groups has made the bill a top priority to defeat this year.
Smelt play a key role in Delta water management. Because the fish lives for only a year and depends on precise water quality conditions, its health hinges largely on the timing and amount of water diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The finger-length smelt is unique to the Delta and is protected by state and federal endangered species acts. Yet it stands at the edge of extinction after four years of population declines.
Florez's bill would require the state to budget unknown permanent funds for up to three hatcheries, and to build at least one by 2010.
Florez did not respond to several requests for comment.
"This is a fish in a lot of trouble and the purpose of the bill is to provide a stopgap," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, a supporter along with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Westlands Water District and others.
Water agencies would provide additional hatchery funding to create a "mitigation bank." In short, this would substitute hatchery-raised smelt for the wild smelt routinely killed by the Delta's water export pumps.
In return for their payments, water agencies would get an "incidental take" permit absolving them of legal penalties under the Endangered Species Act for killing wild smelt.
Doug Obegi, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the bill may circumvent normal scientific review by requiring Fish and Game to issue an incidental take permit.
It's unclear whether the bill is compatible with federal law. Hatcheries also may not be compatible with restoration plans still being drafted.
"This could just be a huge boondoggle that wastes state taxpayer money," Obegi said.
The Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee approved the bill Tuesday in a bipartisan vote.
Quinn said the bill would not undermine existing laws. "There will be commitments of billions of dollars by water agencies toward a comprehensive recovery plan," Quinn said.
UC Davis scientists have operated a smelt breeding laboratory near Tracy for 15 years. Their main task is to breed smelt for experiments to learn how environmental factors affect the fish.
This spring, they began breeding a refuge population of smelt in case the species goes extinct in the wild. But they warn it is premature to release hatchery smelt.
"They could mate with wild fish and actually reduce the chances for recovery of the small population of wild fish out there," said Joan Lindberg, co-manager of the UC Davis lab.
Hatchery smelt may suffer the same fate as wild fish unless ecological problems are fixed first.
"Life expectancy of the animals would be short, probably measured in days or hours," Peter Moyle, a UC Davis fisheries professor, said in a committee analysis of the bill.
Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264.
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