Saving the Tuolumne River's native salmon

After reading The Bee's recent editorial about the Tuolumne River's native salmon population being at "high risk" of extinction, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report, Modesto Irrigation District general manager Allen Short wanted to talk over a few things. 

Over sandwiches, he agreed that the native salmon are in crisis. He just didn't agree with a USFWS scientist that much higher water releases from Don Pedro Reservoir would improve the salmon's situation. Instead, Short pointed to six "stressors" for salmon, and emphasized his belief that predation (other fish making meals of salmon trying to swim to the ocean) is among the most significant. Bass, in particular, he pointed out, like to eat young salmon. There is no doubt this is true. It's also true that certain areas of the river, especially the old rock quarries west of LaGrange, have become salmon "killing zones" due to the large number of bass living in the deep holes. 

Among other suggestions, Short would like to see more fishermen on the Tuolumne catch more bass -- and keeping as much as they can catch. He believes removing limits from bass would reduce the population. Knocking down the number of bass, he says, would enhance the chances of salmon to make it at least to the delta. There, unfortunately, they would face a host of other lethal problems -- dissolved oxygen, the irresistable force of the state's massive pumps, introduced toxins and an even greater number of predators. He says the California Department of Fish & Game was told to address the predation issue a decade ago, but has so far not offered any workable solution.

It's unlikley that any single solution will save the salmon. If it was that easy, smart people like Short and the USFWS's Carl Mesick would most likely be on the same page. It's important that public discussions of these issues begin. Because there is one thing that Short and Mesick and The Bee agrees on: We should -- and can -- save the Tuolumne's native salmon.