TROUT OF BOUNDS TOTAL FISHING BAN SOUGHT IN WATERS OF VENTURA RIVER.Byline: ERIC LEACH Staff Writer LAKE CASITAS Lake Casitas is a lake in Ventura County, California. It was formed by Casitas Dam on Coyote Creek, two miles (3 km) before it joins the Ventura River. Santa Ana Creek and North Fork Coyote Creek also flow into the lake. -- State and local water district officials spent millions of dollars to build a fish ladder in the Ventura River The Ventura River is a river in Ventura County, California. The river forms at the confluence of Matilija Creek and North Fork Matilija Creek, 15 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean. to save the endangered steelhead trout, and recent sightings of fish swimming through the ladder seem to indicate success. Now, the Casitas Municipal Water District is waging a battle against another possible hurdle for the trout -- the fish hook. District officials are asking the state to prohibit fishing on a new stretch of the river just north of the ladder, and plan to send a letter this week emphasizing that the millions of dollars they spent to build and maintain the ladder will be wasted without a ban on all fishing. A draft of the letter says allowing anglers above the fish ladder ``seems counter-productive to all of the efforts that are now being undertaken to assist the endangered steelhead.'' Fishing would be prohibited in the river, but not in Lake Casitas, which is nearly a mile west and contains a half-dozen varieties of fish popular with anglers. Lake Casitas is about five miles southwest of Ojai. The California Trout California Trout is a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) conservation group dedicated to “protecting and restoring wild trout and steelhead waters throughout California”. organization, or CalTrout, formed to protect the state's trout and trout habitat, has also asked for the ban on fishing in the river above the fish ladder. ``Now that we know the ladder is functioning, we need a uniform approach to protect these priceless fish,'' said Jim Edmondson, CalTrout's Westlake Village-based Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, manager. ``You sometimes can't tell the difference between a rainbow trout rainbow trout Species (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of fish in the salmon family (Salmonidae) noted for spectacular leaps and hard fighting when hooked. It has been introduced from western North America to many other countries. and a steelhead. We don't want to see these steelhead become like the grizzly bear grizzly bear or grizzly, large, powerful North American brown bear, characterized by gray-streaked, or grizzled, fur. Grizzlies are 6 to 8 ft (180–250 cm) long, stand 3 1-2 to 4 ft (105–120 cm) at the humped shoulder, and weigh up to , which is seen only on our state flag.'' The new concern is the result of sightings this spring of about eight trout in the ladder, which was completed in December 2004 for $8 million -- $4 million each from the state and the local water district -- with an additional million dollars in improvements planned nearby to help the steelhead go up and down the river. ``The Casitas Municipal Water District has committed hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in operational and research costs to help with the recovery of the steelhead population in the Ventura River watershed,'' district officials said in a written statement advocating the ban on fishing. In addition to the fish recently seen in the ladder, another new development is a rise in the Lake Casitas water level, which is less than a foot below the spill level at nearby Casitas Dam Casitas Dam is a dam on Coyote Creek that forms Lake Casitas near Ojai, California. The dam is located two miles above the junction of Coyote Creek and the Ventura River. Water from the Ventura River is diverted to Lake Casitas as well. . This is good for the steelhead recovery effort because water from the lake is sometimes needed to keep the ladder flowing. ``The lake level is good for the fish and good for the people, and we're very excited and happy to see the fish passage operating as it was designed to do,'' said Ron Merckling, a spokesman for the water district. ``The fish we've seen (in the ladder) are pretty large trout, about 14 inches or so.'' He noted that it's unknown whether the fish seen in the ladder are young steelhead coming upstream from the ocean or smaller rainbow trout that live their lives in the river. Mary Larson, a fisheries biology specialist with the California Department of Fish and Game, said fishing is already banned on the river below the fish ladder to the ocean. Her department is in the process of putting in a request to the California Fish and Game Commission to ban fishing on the river upstream from the ladder to Matilija Dam and Wheeler Gorge along Highway 33. ``We're pleased to see fish going through the ladder, and if they are steelhead, we need to close the waters above to protect the fish and be consistent with the federal Endangered Species Act The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (16 U.S.C.A. §§ 1531 et seq.) was enacted to protect animal and plant species from extinction by preserving the ecosystems in which they survive and by providing programs for their conservation. ,'' she said. The fish passage was developed to allow the steelhead to get around the massive concrete Robles Robles is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning oaks, and may refer to:
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. The Board of Supervisors is the body governing counties in the U.S. has also approved an environmental impact report for razing the 168-foot-high Matilija Dam northwest of Ojai so the steelhead can reach habitat at higher elevations in the Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a forest located in southern and central California, which includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland. Elevations range from sea level to 8,831 feet. blocked by the dam for almost 60 years. But if approved, the $130 million project probably wouldn't be completed until 2011, officials have said, so in the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile they hope the steelhead will at least be able to swim up the river and Matilija Creek to the base of the dam. Some officials estimate there were once as many as 5,000 steelhead in the river before the Matilija Dam was built in 1948, and Ventura County Supervisor John Flynn, 73, recalled standing in the river when he was a boy and watching the steelhead swim between his feet. But before the ladder opened, the steelhead had just about disappeared, particularly in the upper reaches of the river near Ojai, which is why biologists are excited about the recent discoveries. Some biologists and fish advocates hope the restoration of a steelhead population in the river will encourage the fish to migrate into the Santa Clara River Santa Clara River may refer to:
The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. , and into Malibu Creek Malibu Creek is a year-round stream in western Los Angeles County, California. It drains the southern Simi Hills and the westernmost San Fernando Valley, flows south through the Santa Monica Mountains, and enters Santa Monica Bay at Malibu Lagoon, in Malibu. , where there are already steelhead living below the old Rindge Dam. eric.leach(at)dailynews.com (805) 583-7602 CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1 -- 4 -- color; 1, 2 and 4 -- ran in Simi edition only; 3 -- color in Simi edition only) Above, Taden Goulden of Ojai makes his way onto a fishing dock at Lake Casitas, top, Wednesday morning. Trout are now swimming up the $9 million fish ladder built near the lake and the Ventura River. At right, fishermen try their luck in the Wadliegh Arm area of the lake, while, below, fishing boats await customers near the boat ramp at Lake Casitas. (5 -- ran in Simi edition only) A fisherman tries his luck at Lake Casitas on Wednesday. Trout, some believed to be steelhead, are swimming up the fish ladder built near the lake on the Ventura River. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion