Bay Institute Purchases Aquarium at Pier 39

[Martinez_Mitch]

Today the SF Chronical has an article on the aquarium at Pier 39 being purchased by "the Bay Institute" (TBI). I have been a member and financial supporter of TBI since the early 90's, when I was active in the CSBA. They do some fantastic work, and have been a primary in the legal battle to get Friant dam to release some water in to California's 2nd largest river, the once mighty San Joaquin (it's been basically dry for over 100 miles below Friant dam since the dam was constructed. Ferry boats used to be able to get to Fresno prior to this water grab, of which 100% of that water goes ONLY to Ag).

Anyway, while talking with a friend, the question came up about the Packard foundations financial support of the aquarium, and would they (TBI) be influenced by the Packard's political agenda (shut down fishing basically). So I wrote to the executive director of TBI, Dr. Tina Swanson, and asked her that exact question.

She provided a very comprehensive response, but the bottom line is "no". They have never taken request by any org, nor will they. Their goal is the health of the Bay and Delta and the rivers feeding both, and reducing water exports. And that will not change, and they will not be influenced away from that. Their foundation was started because nobody at that time viewed the Bay & Delta and the rivers that feed it, as one single system.

I encourage people to check them out at www.bay.org and support them.
Anyway, they're one of the good guys.

They will feature marine life that is local to our waters and use the aquarium as a teaching tool. If you watch the first video linked below, you'll see why that is a GREAT thing!

Very Quick Video On What TBI is About (PLEASE VIEW):
http://www.youtube.com/bayorg

SF Chron Article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...33QL.DTL&tsp=1

Aquarium Video Tour by Animal Planet:
http://www.aquariumofthebay.com/visi...10048&n=225854

 

[AbsoLoot]

That sounds like great news and its refreshing to know that they aren't knuckling under to the Packard Foundation. Is TBI the same folks that operate the Bay Model in Sausalito?

 

[Flutterby]

Dave, the Bay Model is owned and operated by docents for Army Corp of Engineers, who designed and built it. The docents took over to save it from destruction when its functions were taken over by computer modeling.

http://www.spn.usace.army.mil/bmvc/

 

[Flutterby]

Thanks, Mitch, for posting! Along these same lines.......

http://www.contracostatimes.com/localnews/ci_12520360?nclick_check=1

New restrictions placed on Delta water

By Mike Taugher
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 06/04/2009 12:55:11 PM PDT
Updated: 06/05/2009 06:33:53 AM PDT

Federal regulators levied sweeping new rules on Delta water deliveries Thursday to prevent the thirst of California's farms and cities from rendering extinct several salmon runs, steelhead, green sturgeon and a Pacific Northwest population of killer whales.

The suite of regulations would ensure more cold water is available for spawning fish, and that water operators make it easier for fish to swim from upstream spawning grounds through San Francisco Bay and back again.

The National Marine Fisheries Service estimated the new regulations would cut water supplies from the Delta beginning next year by about 5 percent to 7 percent, or roughly 330,000 acre-feet a year, enough water for a city of about 2 million people. Most of the water loss is due to measures to help steelhead migrate down the San Joaquin River, officials said.

The hit to Delta water supplies comes on top of rules put in place in December to prevent Delta pumps from driving another fish, Delta smelt, to extinction.

One major farming district, the Westlands Water District, immediately announced it would sue and called the new rules, "a death sentence for large parts of California's economy."

"I think you're going to see less reliable water, particularly as it relates to farming in the Central Valley," said Don Glaser, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The 844-page analysis and permit, known as a biological opinion, is required under the Endangered Species Act and spells out rules by which water managers operate two sprawling water delivery systems that run from Shasta and Oroville reservoirs in Northern California all the way to the Southern California desert.

It is the second of two major permits issued in the past six months that are meant to reverse a dizzying decline in the Delta, part of the West Coast's largest estuary and the bottom of a watershed that drains 40 percent of California on its way to San Francisco Bay.

Those projects had been governed by two permits issued in 2004 that allowed record levels of water to be extracted from the Delta but proved ineffective in preventing or slowing the steep decline of smelt, salmon, steelhead and sturgeon.

The permit that was supposed to protect salmon and steelhead was altered by a Bush administration official who reversed the conclusions of agency scientists who found water operations could drive those fish extinct. The result was declining fish populations and tough criticism from a federal inspector general, two science review panels and a federal court that in April 2008 ordered the permit be rewritten.

The other permit, which was written to protect Delta smelt, was also invalidated by a federal judge.

During the time those permits were in effect, several fish species nose-dived toward extinction and even previously abundant fish, most notably the commercially valuable Sacramento River fall-run chinook salmon, declined steeply. Salmon fishing is closed for the second consecutive year, threatening a 150-year-old fishing industry and costing the state's economy an estimated $279 million this year.

The new rules require more cold water be held in reserve and regulate how flows are managed. They also require water managers by the end of 2016 to study fish ladders or other mechanisms to allow fish to pass dams that block of most of their historic spawning grounds.

"This is the beginning of the process of rebuilding what was lost during the Bush Administration," said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez.

Of the fish to be protected under the permit issued Thursday, the most imperiled is the Sacramento River's winter-run chinook salmon, which numbered nearly 100,000 during the 1960s. But with Shasta Dam blocking access to spawning grounds, those numbers were down to fewer than 200 fish in the 1990s. By 2006, winter run salmon had rebounded to more than 17,000 fish but then plunged to fewer than 3,000 in the last two years.

"What is at stake here is not just the survival of species but the health of entire ecosystems and the economies that depend on them," said Rod Mcinnis, southwest regional director for The National Marine Fisheries Service.

Environmentalists and salmon anglers were generally pleased.

"The big issue now is getting it enforced and sitting down and working with the water guys to find something that's sustainable," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.

Grader's organization represents commercial salmon fishermen who are enduring their second consecutive year of oceans closed to salmon fishing because of the collapse of fall-run salmon, which had been abundant until recent years.

Water agencies continually argue that other factors besides pumping are to blame for the decline in fish, and scientists and environmentalists agree.

But regulators have concluded that water operations in the Delta have exacerbated the other problems, including pollution and invasive species.

The permit issued Thursday concluded the winter-run salmon, Central Valley spring-run, Central Valley steelhead, California's green sturgeon population and a population of several dozen orcas that reside in Puget Sound — and depend on California salmon part of the year — all could go extinct without changes to water operations.

The fisheries service then imposed a series of requirements to prevent that from happening.