Washington, D.C.— Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), along with fellow California Republicans Vince Fong, Tom McClintock, and David Valadao, introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution on March 21 to repeal the Biden Administration’s listing of the longfin smelt as “endangered” under the Federal Endangered Species Act.
The longfin smelt is a cousin of the Delta smelt, a fish that has been demonized by President Trump and MAGA Republicans like LaMalfa as a “worthless fish” in the California Water Wars.
Both fish species have declined dramatically in recent years, due to massive exports to corporate agribusiness and Southern California water agencies, along with other factors including toxics, pollution and invasive species. The Delta smelt has become virtually extinct in the wild, with the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fall Midwater Trawl Survey finding no Delta smelt in its native habitat for the past seven years.
LaMalfa claimed that this resolution, H.J. Res. 78, would “halt the proposed designation of critical habitat for this fish species, as well as ensure California’s water remains available for those who need it most, families and farmers.” In response, environmental and groups argue that the resolution, if enacted into would help drive the imperiled longfin smelt and other Delta fish species even closer to extinction.
“This listing is just another example of out-of-touch environmental policies making it harder to store and deliver water in California,” LaMalfa said in a statement. “We are already dealing with a maze of arcane and oftentimes conflicting environmental regulations that make it nearly impossible to manage our water supply effectively for Californians up and down the state. This is in addition to permanent, mandatory water rationing imposed on households by California regulators.”
He also said the longfin smelt’s listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during the Biden Administration, under pressure from environmental groups, “threatens California’s water supply by imposing new restrictions on the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP).“
“The Biden Administration’s unnecessary decision to list the longfin smelt as an endangered species is yet another example of an environmental policy not grounded in science that puts fish over people,” echoed Congressman Valadao.
But the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that pushed for the listing, slammed the bill, calling it a “fish extinction resolution.”
“LaMalfa’s fish extinction resolution is a cheap stunt to try to sabotage endangered species protections for critically imperiled fish and their dwindling habitat in the Bay-Delta estuary,” said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need Congressional actions to restore and recover our vitally important smelt and salmon populations, not cynical attempts to blame fish for California's water challenges.”
In a similar vein, Scott Artis, Executive Director of the Golden State Association, noted that the proposed resolution “aims to repeal the listing in order to increase water diversions from the Delta—actions that would further degrade #salmon habitat and water quality in the region.”
In January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to designate 91,630 acres of critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for the critically imperiled San Francisco Bay population of longfin smelt.
The proposal was the result of petitions first filed in 1994 and multiple lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity and San Francisco Baykeeper to compel protection of the fish.
“Critical habitat designation is a crucial tool under the Endangered Species Act that requires federal agencies to ensure their actions don’t destroy or damage areas essential for the survival of endangered species, whether or not that habitat is currently occupied,” the groups said in a press release.
“The areas to be protected for longfin smelt include the waters of San Pablo Bay, Suisun Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. These encompass the most crucial habitats that provide the necessary water flows, temperature, salinity, turbidity and substrate conditions for smelt spawning, rearing and feeding,” the groups wrote.
“Like most of the Delta’s native fishes, longfin smelt need high river flows to reach San Francisco Bay in the winter and spring,” said Jon Rosenfield, science director for Baykeeper. “The mixing in the Delta of fresh and salt water creates the habitat that smelt, salmon, sturgeon and countless other fish depend on for survival.”
“Continued unsustainable diversion of water threatens to extinguish the Bay’s longfin smelt and other native fish,” Rosenfield concluded.