Category Archives: Delta

Delta, Environment

Troubled Waters On The Delta

Picture courtesy of the California Department of Water Resources
Delta–Picture courtesy of the California Department of Water Resources

– By Bill Wells
The fabulous California Delta is within an hours drive of the Bay Area, yet you will feel you are in a different world.

The Delta is formed by the confluence of two major California rivers; the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, and covers some 500,000 acres in the central part of the state. It is home to 225 species of birds, 54 fish species, and 52 species of mammals. The Delta produces some $2 billion in annual crop revenue.

You can spend years exploring the 1,000 miles of local waterways by boat. If you travel by car, motorcycle, or bicycle, there are hundreds of miles of back roads, villages, and towns to visit.

You can ride on some of the only remaining ferry boats in California. Bird watching, wine tasting, local museums, antique shops, and art galleries are but a few of the points of interest you will encounter.

The Delta is also noted for it’s excellent fishing and duck hunting. The Rio Vista Bass Festival attracts 15,000 fishermen and friends each year It has been in existence.

Unfortunately, all is not well in this treasure we call “The Heart of California”. The State Water Project and the Central Valley Project divert much of the Delta water to Central and Southern California. The lower water flows in the Delta caused by the diversions have contributed to the decline in fish populations and proliferation of invasive plants that have clogged waterways over the last few decades.

Now with the administration’s plans to divert the Sacramento River around the Delta via twin 40 foot diameter tunnels, it is possible that what is left of the Delta will be destroyed.

Many local grass roots organizations have banded together to fight the project and the Environmental Protection Agency wrote a scathing letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service which has sent the California Natural Resource Agency back to the drawing board to modify the plan to make it less harmful to the estuary.

We are hopeful that the tunnels will never be built and that water flows will be restored to a level that will be beneficial to the native fish and plant life. With a finite water supply and an ever increasing population, California needs to look at ways of creating new water – not reallocating it from one area to another.


Bill Wells is the Executive Director of the California Delta Chambers & Visitor’s Bureau and has been active in the fight to preserve and protect the California Delta. He served for two plus years on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) public meeting panel and is currently a member of the Delta Protection Commission Advisory Committee.

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Delta, Fishing

Kill All the Striped Bass in the Delta – Bay Delta Canal Plan (BDCP) Update

Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia

By Bill Wells

350 angry striped bass fishermen met with Department of Fish  & Game (DFG) officials at the Portuguese Hall in Rio Vista recently.  Marty Gingras a biologist with the DFG spoke of their plans to eradicate the striped bass due to its predation on the salmon.  The reality, as we have explained before is the striped bass and salmon lived in harmony in the Delta from 1879 until recently when the amount of water exported has increased dramatically.  In recent years both species of fish have declined.  Ironically in 2011 when we had plenty of rainfall and runoff all fish and wildlife in the Delta have rebounded.  Striped bass sportfishing is a huge industry in California with licenses alone bringing in over $12 million per year.  Their plan is to eliminate the striped bass, which will theoretically increase salmon populations, which will build a case to export more water from the Delta and cause further declines in fish populations.

Gingras and the DFG are basically stooges of an organization called Coalition for a Sustainable Delta whose goal is anything but sustaining the Delta.  Their contact Michael Boccadoro appears to be the president of a lobbying organization called The Dolphin Group.  Coincidentally the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta and The Dolphin Group share the same address, 915 L Street in Sacramento.  The judge that ruled in favor of wiping out the striped bass is none other than Oliver Wanger who has ruled in favor of water exporters many times.  You have probably seen Wanger’s name recently when he retired from the bench and shortly thereafter went to work as an attorney for Westlands Water District, a major exporter of Delta water (he has since resigned from the position).  If you think I am trying to write a John Grisham novel about California Water thieves you are wrong.  I could not make this stuff up.  Well, if the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta wants to wipe out the striped bass you can only imagine what the Dolphin Group would like to do to dolphins.

I guess the DFG folks were expecting trouble at the meeting, according to my sources there were no fewer than eight armed game wardens at the gathering.  This is a record number of armed guards for water related meetings I have attended.  Generally even when I have been at meetings attended by department heads they have only had two or three California Highway Patrolmen as bodyguards.

While I was researching this matter I ran across this interesting email from Michael Boccadoro to Lester Snow (former head of the Natural Resources Agency, Joe Grindstaff (a member of the Delta Stewardship Council), and John Moffatt (a member of acting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s staff)  dated June 03, 2010.

“Just wanted to make sure you saw the most recent letter to CDFG on striped bass from NMFS.  Very powerful letter.  Does anyone in the administration think this is a priority and maybe deserves some action? This is going to go public very soon since the lawsuit is being heard next week in (Judge Oliver) Wanger’s court.  Fish and Game does not seem to have their act together.  I would very much like to get a response on this.

It was signed: Michael Boccadoro President, The Dolphin Group 925 L Street, Suite 800

Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 441-4383

Bill Wells
Bil Wells

Bill is a writer and his articles appear in the  www.yachtsmanmagazine.com

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Boating - Sailing, Delta

Rambling around the California Delta

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By Bill Wells
Reprinted at the request of Bill, first published in Bay & Delta Yachtsman Magazine

Doug with a nice striper caught at Snug Harbor
Doug with a nice striper caught at Snug Harbor

Fishing is Great

I have to tell you the fishing in the Delta lately has been great.  I think it is because of all the rain this year keeping the rivers full.  I met Dillon Pitts, Alex Chatoian, and Andrew Chatoian at Vieira’s Resort.  They had just finished a day of fishing downstream on the Sacramento River.  They had four nice striped bass to show for their efforts.

The folks at Snug Harbor have likewise been seeing some large stripers caught just offshore from the resort on Steamboat Slough.  My man in Oakley, Chris Lauritzen of Lauritzen Yacht Harbor reports excellent fishing down that way too.

Diablo Sail & Power Squadron

Ox Bow Marina in Isleton was the destination for the Diablo Sail and Power Squadron on the weekend of May 14 & 15.  I had been emailing back and forth with member Geoff Goselin for a while and he invited Sue and I to join them.  Eight boats including a Hunter 340 sailboat made the trek from the Bethel Island area to enjoy the guest docks at Ox Bow.  On Saturday the 14th they held a barbecue and games on the marina grassy area near the office.  Sue and I arrived in the area just as things were winding down.  Yacht broker Nina Ankele attended the lunch and told us that we missed a great meal.

The Diablo Sail & Power Squadron is one of 450 local squadrons of the United States Power Squadron (USPS).  The organization started as a power boat squadron at the Boston Yacht Club about 1913.  Later the USPS split off as a separate organization and today has about 45,000 members nationwide.  Active members may fly the USPS flag in lieu of the yacht ensign or the U.S. flag in U.S. waters.  The flag has 13 alternating vertical blue and white stripes with a red canton containing a circle of 13 stars surrounding a fouled anchor.

We took a walk out on the dock and met several of the members and got to look at some of their boats as well as talk to the crews.  We met Ralph Price, Gary Smith, Pepper Wardle, and Les Johnson all Diablo members and former district officers of the USPS organization.  Later, at 1800 hours we were invited to join the club for dinner at the Ox Bow clubhouse.  After cocktails we enjoyed an excellent dinner prepared by squadron chef Mark Galbraith and his lovely wife Brenda.  They cooked a large amount of mouth watering ribs and chicken as well as salad, rolls, and potatoes.  For dessert we had cake and coffee.

We met Guy Schwartz the commander of the club.  I inquired and they said the power squadrons have commanders instead of commodores as most yacht clubs.  The Power Squadron is heavily involved in boater education and has many courses ranging from basic boat familiarity all the way to advanced navigation.  The Diablo Sail & Power Squadron has been around since 1958 and invites all sailors and power boaters in the San Francisco Bay and Delta areas to join and participate in their activities.

Many people believe as I do that you can never have enough education and are constantly honing their skills as mariners.  The USPS has courses and seminars covering almost every aspect of boating from reading a chart to weather forecasting and everything in between.  Here is a way to get more education and hang out with some great folks at the same time.    You can check out their website at: www.diablosquadron.org

Headed to Franks tract for the high speed run
Headed to Franks tract for the high speed run

A View to a Thrill

Hydro Dave Hernandez invited me to take a ride on his race boat.  Hydro is one of the coolest people in the Delta, just having a name like Hydro Dave makes you stand out from the crowd.  He was in Bethel Island for a few days helping his lady friend Cathy Whitlock do some work on her boat collection.  It had been fairly windy for a few days but when I met Dave on a Friday at noon there was just a light breeze that barely stirred the water surface in Frank’s Tract.

I walked down to the dock and Dave and Cathy had just returned from a ride.  I heard them coming from several hundred yards away thanks to the over the transom exhaust on Dave’s boat.  He pulled close to the dock and killed the engine a few feet away and coasted right up to the pier.  The boat has a Casile V-drive with a crash box type of transmission with forward and neutral and no clutch or reverse gear.  In a race the engine is revved up to a few thousand rpm in neutral and then shoved into gear, naturally this causes a lot of wear on the moving parts.  Dave leaves it in gear when he is not actually racing to save wear and tear on the unit.  Dave said he had originally built the boat from a Brendella hull in 1979 and built the motor in 1989.  The boat looks brand new and had a beautiful custom paint job that Dave created himself.  If you have seen a few of Dave’s paint jobs you will recognize his distinctive style with scallops and symbols that are meaningful to him.  Looking at one of Dave’s boats is like looking at a Van Gogh or Picasso painting.  They are all different but you instantly recognize the artist by the style of the work.

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