For Immediate Release Sept. 28, 2010
For more information:
Dan Plummer, FUDR chairman
catskilldan@mac.com
(607) 363-7848
2010 Crisis Alert No. 4:
‘Reckless’ Watercrats Endanger Delaware Trout As West Branch Flow Is Cut 90 Percent Overnight
As the critical brown trout spawning season arrives on the upper Delaware River, the government water bureaucracy throttled back the flow out of Cannonsville Reservoir by 90 percent this week-a reckless and irrational act. “It is incomprehensible how the authorities charged with the stewardship of this famous fishery and its magnificent environment could be so reckless,” says Al Caucci, vice president of Friends of the Upper Delaware River, a nonprofit environmental conservation group. “Under current conditions, more than 50 miles of prime wild trout water on the West Branch and main stem Delaware, from Deposit to Callicoon, N.Y., is in serious jeopardy.”
Water releases from Cannonsville were cut from 1,100 cubic feet per second to 115 cfs overnight Sunday. Within hours, gravel beds were exposed downstream.
LINK (Via: Dwyer's Fly Fishing and Fly Tying)
Friends of the Upper Delaware River has images of the impact of the dramatically reduced flow.
The Delaware River Basin Commission is the group that manages the flow. You can contact them @ clarke.rupert@drbc.state.nj.us to express your concern at this blatant disregard for the health of the fishery and the associated businesses.