Say goodbye to trout fishing on the Delaware if this happens

[wbranch]

If the flow does go down to a low cfs number on June 01 there is 1.60" of rain forecast between tomorrow and next Tuesday. That will help the flows.

I too have fished the WB before many forum members knew it existed. I first fished it in 1968 and back then you could legally park along Route 17 opposite Roods Diner. You could drive in at Monument Pool. You were able to legally park right in front of what is now the Delaware River Club. There were maybe a dozen parking spots along the river where we parked and were never molested.

The flows were up and down and every Saturday and Sunday the flow would go up and down in a single day. Go from moderately cool water to frigid water and you were shivering. I have seen the section below Monument and right in front of my cabin (before I owned it) where 50' of the stream bed was visible for days on end and if you knew where the underground springs were or the cold water seepages you could go there and see over 100 trout all strung out in a line trying to get into that cold water seeping in. As bad as it was the river always recovered. Of course I'm not saying a sustained low release is good for the river. I am saying that for a week or two the trout will find places to weather the low and possibly warm water.

 

[krayfish2]

As brookie said, it is an artificial fishery.....sorta. The rainbow trout were established way before the lakes existed. They managed to not only survive but thrive. The Beaverkill is a freestone and it also manages to support a decent population of wild browns and bows so it's clear that it can be done without cold releases...sorta.

Without the cold water releases, the fisheries get too warm to fish from June til September. If it's a hot or dry summer like last year, the river bakes and fish kills are going to happen.

If there are going to be releases, steady releases are important. Dropping flows from 1200cfs to 100cfs exposes large parts of the river. This strands trout fry, bait fish and insect larva to bake / perish.

Will they come to an agreement? Doesn't look good at this point. Will it completely destroy the fishery? Probably not but it will be pretty seriously hurt by a 45cfs release. Here's hoping that the parties are able to reach a last minute agreement. I'd hate to see it lost. I too am heading up Friday evening (I hope).

 

[mcwillja]

This really is a sad situation for all who love the upper D. I strongly advise anyone who loves this area to donate to FUDR (friends of the upper delaware) This group works tirelessly to help preserve this amazing fishery and any dontation will help. There isn't any reason a minimum 600 CFS realease starting june 1st can't happen. Its a shame it has come to this.

 

[timmyt]

Its a classic cut off your nose to spite your face situation on new jerseys behalf thats for sure. As someone who has a float trip booked for tomorrow i am REALLY hoping this gets worked out before tomorrow. If not i might be checking out the Beav!

 

[Big-Bass]

http://wnep.com/2017/05/30/fate-of-the-upper-delaware-river-hangs-in-balance/

 

[krayfish2]

Latest email update from FUDR......

No Decision yet on Delaware River Reservoir Plan

As of 5pm today, there is still no final outcome for the Delaware River reservoir management plan.

We're told that the Decree Party Principals met this morning and most of the conversation was about the details of a reversion to Revision 1.

We're also told that 4 of the 5 Decree Parties (NY, PA, DE, NYC) have already signed a one year extension of the current FFMP but New Jersey continues to hold out.

If New Jersey does not sign the one year extension agreement before midnight tonight, Revision 1 automatically takes effect tomorrow.

Under Revision 1, the release schedule from Cannonsville reservoir will be:

April 1 - June 14: 45 cfs
June 15 - August 15: 325 cfs
August 16 - October 31: 45 cfs
November 1 - March 31: 33 cfs

The release schedule from Pepacton reservoir will be:

April 1 - October 31: 70 cfs
November 1 - March 31: 50 cfs

There has been significant rain in the upper watershed and the reservoirs are predicted to spill through the weekend. The spills, the rain, and cool air temperatures may temporarily disguise the impacts of the low releases but their effect will eventually be evident.

** based on today's rains, I'd expect the lakes to start spilling again tomorrow and the BK to be pushing increased volume / dirty water. Things should be OK for a few days and hopefully a decision is reached.

 

[vcregular]

Its a shame


https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-jersey/articles/2017-05-31/new-jersey-balks-at-new-york-citys-delaware-river-plan

 

[Dave_W]

I'm assuming NJ did not budge.

Any news on this this morning?

 

[mcwillja]

NJ declined the other devree parties. Revision 1 takes effect. What a shame. This really could be disastrous for the fishery. I really hope the decree parties come back and make a decision to help the fishery.

 

[krayfish2]

Jason is correct. New email from FUDR just came out. According to Cannonsville phone message, it's a 305 release with 270 spilling. That could change though.

Email:
Delaware River Reservoir Plan Turned on its Ear

Hi Everybody,

It's official, the state of New Jersey declined to join the other Decree Parties on an extension of the existing plan for the NYC Delaware River basin reservoirs.

Revision 1 is now in effect and the Upper Delaware River is at the epicenter of the impact.

Water releases from the reservoirs will be dangerously low unless and until the Decree Parties come back to the table and negotiate a new deal.

We're going to need to raise our game even higher and continue to place pressure on the Decree Parties to protect the Upper Delaware River.

We will send out more information later today.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

Considering just how important summer tourism dollars are to NJ, it would seem that we as fishermen might be able to exert a little pressure by boycotting NJ until they get with the program. I for one usually spend at least a couple long weekends down the shore and countless mornings/evenings of striper fishing. That adds up to a couple grand each year. I can just as easily spend that money in the Poconos or NY or CT.

 

[ryansheehan]

I'm not convinced that NJ is in the wrong, this stand off could lead to better, more regular flows. Only time will tell.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

NYC, NY, PA, and DE have agreed to tell NJ to screw off and have approved a contingency plan to release 325 from Cannonsville and 150 from Pepacton, and 110 from Neversink, per NYC Environmental Protection press release of just a little bit ago.

And if you aren't convinced NJ was (if not in the wrong) stupid about this, the revision guaranteed them less water than they were already getting. So they cut off their nose to spite their face, and NY, NYC, PA and DE then slapped their noseless face.

I still won't be spending $$$ in NJ until they get this fixed.

 

[krayfish2]

My take on the situation.....

Last year, I remember seeing a news story where the reporter walked around a nearly dry lake in NJ. They reported how the state's water supplies were depleted due to the abnormally dry summer and they were at risk of having no water. Based on that, I see why NJ was fighting to get water (not in the river but from NYC's stash in the Catskills). Drought panic is pretty common out west and now has come to visit us on the east coast. NJ's issue may have been the weather, insufficient water storage or mismanagement....who knows.

NJ has no interest in the $$ generated for region as they don't get a cut since they are too far south. 325 cfs release isn't anything to get excited about unless you are comparing it to the woeful offer of 45 cfs. If they would have gone to revision 1, the WB under the 191 bridge might have been smaller than Spring Creek at Paradise which would not be a good situation.

Just keep your fingers crossed for a wet / cool summer and things should be OK. I still think that the Main will have huge areas of the riverbed exposed and dry for a good bit of the summer.

Here's something that really hit the discussion during this fiasco.... the salt line. IF NJ was willing to burn that fishery to the ground to make a point that they needed more water from the lakes, don't they also have a stake in keeping the salt line from encroaching north? What about the Montague gauge having to be kept at 1750 cfs? If they were willing to have 500 cfs rolling south at Callicoon, where was the other 1200 cfs going to come from? Were they hoping that Wallenpaupack would drain itself dry? Maybe the PO would be running at 1000 cfs all summer (

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

"I'm not sure Jersey put all that much thought into their decision and how it might impact them in other ways."

This. NJ didn't game this out at all. No thought to consequences, just fingers-in-ears "la-la-la-ing" trying to hold everyone else hostage. It sounds like the kind of thing a "strongarm" type leader would do--"either do it my way, or we'll just burn it down and start over"--and it's having the same result, a total loss of bargaining power going forward. Once the other stakeholders knew that NJ was irascible, they just moved ahead without them before any real damage could be done.

What is telling is that PA, DE, NY, and of all groups NYC had no trouble working together once the mierda hit the fan today. It is encouraging that they were able to do the right thing by the wildlife.

 

[afishinado]

The voluntary flow agreement by NY, NYC, PA, DE without NJ is detailed here.

SurfCowboyXX wrote:
...NYC had no trouble working together once the mierda hit the fan today...

Learned a new word from Surf this morning...

Good mierda. It's refreshing to see politicians actually get together to the right thing...for once.

 

[mcwillja]

The contingency is better but not good for the main stem. Like Andy said with a 325 release the main will have exposed rocks and riverbed. Not good at all.

 

[Fredrick]

Make the Upper Delaware great again by bringing it back to its original glory as a warmwater fishery .

 

[JeffK]

As a NJ guy here is my take. I think Kray is right on. The issue is a looming water shortage for central NJ. NJ water shortage has a short horizon, so they are upping the ante hoping PA would back them. SE PA may develop a water shortage, but further out in the future. View was to help get more downstream water now, rather than later. PA isn't in a bind now so they didn't get fully on board, but NJ needs water so they are more aggressive. NJ has been in a 7 year rain deficit and the central NJ reservoirs are low right now. It has been a slow slide, but NJ storage is low. This wet spring hasn't filled them like the NYS reservoirs.

Min releases from the dams or trout fishing aren't factors.

NJ takes most of its Delaware water at Bull's Island, far above the salt line, and feeds the central part of the state from the old Raritan Canal. PA and DE have salt line issues; NJ doesn't. Southern NJ is OK for now.

I don't see that this alters the minimum flows at Montague and Trenton.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

Sooner or later we are going to wake up and start building desalinization plants along the coasts near our big cities. Three or four along the East Coast and two or three along the lower West Coast, and there wouldn't be much left to talk about. A big one in SoCal could conceivably used to pump water via pipeline to Vegas and Phoenix, two cities that are destroying the Colorado River. Nobody ever talks about this, and it's very do-able. Hell, NJ could build their own plants and sell water to NY and DE to pay for them. But that would take leadership and foresight, and the political will of idiots who only want lower taxes without fewer services.