http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/fish/images...turedSmall.jpg
The delta smelt is a 2-3 inch fish that's endemic to the Sacramento-San Joaquin estuary here in California.
http://polizeros.com/wp-content/uplo...to_delta_2.jpg <-all this right here. It is also an indicator species-one of the animals looked at to judge the overall health of it's environment. Other fish who share the delta smelt's environment and may rely on it as a food source include salmon and sturgeon.
It's also the center of a major debate in the state. Here's the issue.
Most of California's water are in the north and west of the state. A good part of California's agriculture is located in the drier central and southern potion of the state. This means we have to get water from
http://polizeros.com/wp-content/uplo...to_delta_2.jpg here
via a bunch of http://www.bcwaternews.com/Original_...lAque-CFWC.JPG this
to places that look like http://i.usatoday.net/news/_photos/2...16/drought.jpg this.
These guys http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/fish/images...turedSmall.jpg who live http://polizeros.com/wp-content/uplo...to_delta_2.jpg also happen to be endangered and are now under federal protection. Part of this protection involves limiting pumping water from http://polizeros.com/wp-content/uplo...to_delta_2.jpg to http://i.usatoday.net/news/_photos/2...16/drought.jpg in an effort to preserve the fish.
However, the lack of water is affecting farmers and leading to things like http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/860...0A760B0D811297 and http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_6DsDbl6DLM...u+%2823%29.JPG.
While the pumping restrictions in place do affect farmers, they may only be a small part of the problem. Many of the farms suffering from a lack of water are in dry, arid, temperate zones that see less than 12 inches of rainfall annually. California is still affected by a drought that started in 2006.
So who do you side with? Is there a middle ground somewhere that will protect both fish and farmers?

