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News Round-Up
AN ANGLER DROPPED A FOOT-AND-A-HALF-LONG SILVERY FISH on the desk of Cal Fish & Game's Jim Starr in late October and said he and his buddies had been catching fish like this all year. Starr thinks the fish was probably an aquarium-bred tilapia, though this African intruder hasn't yet been identified in the Delta or caught at the State Water Project fish facility, which could indicate that their introduction has been fairly recent. Fish & Game will be investigating for a potential invasion of this highly fecund species. (209)948-7800
SCIENTISTS NETTED FIVE CHINESE MITTEN CRABS in the South Bay recently, enough to conclude the Chinese delicacy is living and breeding in the Bay (three were females laden with eggs). The crab invaded German waters in the 1930s, climbing up spillways and even onto city streets, where they blocked roads and entered homes. In its native China, the 6-inch-long, hairy-clawed crab has been known to crawl 800 miles upriver and feed on the shoots of young rice plants. Biologists are worried that California's rice fields - only 200 miles upstream - could be at risk and that the crab's burrowing could undermine Delta levees. The crab also carries Oriental lung fluke, a parasite that can give humans who consume inadequately cooked crab lung problems similar to tuberculosis. Scientists suspect someone who likes to eat the crabs intentionally released them into the Bay. Contact: (415)364-2760
INTERIOR SECRETARY BRUCE BABBITT PRESENTED JEAN AUER WITH THE HIGHEST HONOR he can bestow on a private citizen this November - Interior's Conservation Service Award. Auer was recognized for her two decades of service on water management boards and commissions; her outstanding leadership in the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program; her important contributions to the S.F. Estuary Project, the Commonwealth Club, the League of Women Voters and the State Water Resources Control Board; and her infinite patience in developing consensus among water users.
THE CCMP IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE VOTED TO SUPPORT BAIR ISLAND'S PURCHASE for the S.F. Bay National Wildlife Refuge this fall. Restoring the Bay's Ruth Gravanis says the island's addition "would bring the refuge to critical mass" and protect California clapper rail habitat. In her appeal to the committee for support, Gravanis said development now threatens some 2,000 acres of the 3,000-acre site, which she called the South Bay's largest remaining parcel of restorable wetlands. Despite some members concern about eminent domain issues, the committee voted 11 to one to endorse the proposed acquisition with four abstentions. In other action, the Committee supported a proposed Medford Island Habitat Conservation Area and formed a watershed management committee. No new members were added to the Committee pending a decision from the Executive Council. (510)286-0780
MONO LAKE WON ITS WATERSHED BACK this September after twenty years of pleading its case in board rooms and on bumper stickers. An agreement was reached to raise the long-sinking lake level over a 20-year period from the current 6374 feet above sea level to 6392. To make up for the 90,000 acre feet that will now flow from Mono Basin streams into the lake instead of to City of Los Angeles faucets, two new Southern California water reclamation projects are to be built. The reclaimed water, along with conservation measures, should make up for the loss of the Mono Basin diversions without placing more strain on other water sources. State water officials are confident that their agreement will meet L.A.'s water needs without transferring the problem to the already ecologically stressed S.F. Bay-Delta - another L.A. water source. (818)972-2720
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