U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) has introduced the Save Our Salmon (SOS) Act of 2016, which eliminates the doubling requirement established by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992 (CVPIA) for striped bass, a known predator fish of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.

The CVPIA mandated population doubling for all anadromous fish as part of an effort to protect the fish populations. Under this requirement, both native species and predator fish, specifically striped bass, are included. This law has led to sending millions of acre-feet of water to the ocean and millions of dollars being spent every year to protect fish populations across the Central Valley.

“Our devastating drought has been made worse annually by the Obama administration in conjunction with environmental extremists who prioritize fish over families,” said Rep. Denham. “Yet they push out millions of acre-feet and fail to address predator species, which their own estimates have shown eat 98 percent of endangered fish species. We must stop the crazy cycle of spending money on both the fish we want to save and the fish that kill them.”

Rep. Denham has previously introduced two other pieces of predation-related legislation: a bill to establish a pilot program to study predator fish on the Stanislaus River in 2013, and an amendment to make salmon and steelhead recovery plans more effective by ensuring focus on predation control efforts in 2015. Both years, his legislation passed the House.