This year’s World Water Day theme is “Accelerating Change.” The theme was chosen to help meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal to update and safely manage water systems and sanitation globally by 2030—which is exactly what is needed in California and, unfortunately, the opposite of what is happening on the ground.
Last week, in a sign of dire water times, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council moved to close California and parts of Oregon to salmon fishing in 2023 because of the species’ low numbers due to water mismanagement in the Central Valley rivers. This is only the second time in California’s 174-year history that a salmon fishing closure has happened. Salmon are a keystone species and indicators of overall watershed health. The low number of salmon returning to their spawning rivers this year is yet another signal that the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary is facing an extinction crisis.
Facing Weather Whiplash, California Must Change Water Management
Last week, in a sign of dire water times, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council moved to close California and parts of Oregon to salmon fishing in 2023 because of the species’ low numbers due to water mismanagement in the Central Valley rivers. This is only the second time in California’s 174-year history that a salmon fishing closure has happened. Salmon are a keystone species and indicators of overall watershed health. The low number of salmon returning to their spawning rivers this year is yet another signal that the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary is facing an extinction crisis.
Facing Weather Whiplash, California Must Change Water Management