Cyndi's Two Cents

Fish or famine?

Commentary.

Who are you going to vote off the island? A finger-sized bait fish or Uncle Bill and his extended family? Federal and state governments and a slew of environmentalists have cast their vote for the fish.

In mid-March, a federal appeals court sided with environmentalists over farmers when it upheld delta smelt protections. Those federal guidelines limit water diversions to protect the Delta smelt, and have cut deliveries of Northern California water to the productive agricultural land in the Southland and San Joaquin Valley.

The 3-inch Delta smelt is an endangered species. Efforts to protect it have had a major impact on agriculture in this country’s most populous state. No one knows exactly how many jobs it has cost to protect this fish. A 2009 United States Department of Agriculture study estimated 5,000, while other estimates are in the tens of thousands.

One thing we do know for sure is that restricting water in an effort to protect this fish has hurt the agricultural sector in the state of California with the devastation of hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland.

Ken Anderson with the Brownfield news team recently reported that Harris Ranch, one of the largest agribusiness entities in the western U.S., will be forced to idle two-thirds of its 17-thousand acres of farm ground this year due to a lack of water.

Michael Smith, representative for the California-based Harris Ranch testified before a House Agriculture subcommittee in Washington, D.C.

“In my home state of California, we’re suffering through one of the worst droughts in recorded history,” Smith said. “Make no mistake, however, this drought is made even worse by the actions taken by federal and state governments to restrict the rightful allocation of water to farmers and cattle producers throughout California—especially those in the Central Valley, a region of the state that grows well over half of the fruits and vegetables in this country.”

“As a net result, this year’s zero—to possibly five percent—allocation of water will result in Harris Farms fallowing over 11-thousand acres of some of the most highly productive crop ground in the United States.”

Smith says they would normally grow tomatoes, onions, melons and other fruits and vegetables on that ground.

The entire state of California and much of the western United States is suffering under drought conditions. The direct and indirect economic costs are out of this world. The California Farm Water Coalition said last month that 800,000 acres of farmland has been left idle and 20,000 jobs in agriculture have been lost.

Economists have been telling us for some time now that the world is going to need 70% more food by 2050 to feed the 2 billion more people on our planet. While it is always in the best interest of farmers and ranchers to be good stewards of the air, land, water and animals, I believe the human condition should be a higher priority than a fish that’s only known purpose is as bait.

I believe that certain species reach a natural evolutionary end.

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  It is estimated that 99.9% of the species that have ever existed on Earth have become extinct. Perhaps the delta smelts time is up.

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  Those of us that live on and work the land do understand how important it is to be good stewards of our environment, but to refuse the farmers the water they need for the crops that feed our people is terrible. I agree with Sheila, and it may be time for the smelt to go the way of the dinosaurs.

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