Editorial: Missouri Operating Plan Is A Never-Ending Saga

The Corps’ latest Missouri River Annual Operating Plan (AOP) indicates that we have been right and the water wars will continue to plague the Missouri River basin. But there is a little twist in this controversy, unrelated to the Corps, that needs to be straightened out, and we will get to that later.

Recently the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to release water to provide unnatural rises in the Missouri River in 2006. If reservoir levels are not up to a certain level, those releases will not take place. Indications are, we’re told, that the reservoir levels are likely to be adequate. But Missouri stakeholders are unhappy with the new AOP and are threatening to sue.

The spark that keeps this battle going is the conflict between the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Flood Control Act of 1944. A recent court ruling confirmed that the Corps’ primary roles are to provide navigation water on the lower Missouri and control floods. The judge stipulated that if aiding wildlife gets in the way of these roles, then the ESA doesn’t apply. Only Congress, however, can change the law. So the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service still is required to enforce the ESA, and the Corps is required to provide flood control and navigation water.

Capt. Bill Beacom, of Sioux City, has been studying this issue for years. In his opinion, Missouri stakeholders should tone down the rhetoric and take the heat off of the state’s governor and legislators. He doesn’t think they should consider a lawsuit. They do not really understand what they have gained in negotiations, he said. A change in the AOP is that the Corps will include National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration three-day forecasts of precipitation in the daily river forecast, which works in the farmers’ favor. Previously, only rain that already had fallen was included. This change means that the Corps will be able to forestall exceeding flood control restraints. If enough rain is forecast to bring the river to levels that exceed restraints, the agency will not release water. If they are already in the process of releasing water, they may reduce the releases or stop them entirely. This three-day window is a benefit to farmers.

Now for that little twist. The key to the issue is the pallid sturgeon. The twist is that the endangered pallid sturgeon (illegally) and shovelnose sturgeon (legally) are harvested for their eggs—caviar. Because it is difficult to tell pallids and shovelnose apart, said Beacom, the prudent thing is for Missouri to ban sturgeon fishing altogether. According to him, conservation groups and the Department of Natural Resources in Missouri have urged the state to ban all sturgeon fishing. But the recommendation gets hung up in the state house where a commission refuses to accept it. Several states allow fishing for shovelnose. Pallid fishing is banned.

Fish biologists have caught pallid sturgeon in the 216-mile stretch of the Missouri River between Gavins Point and the mouth of the Platte (the centerpiece of this controversy), tagged and released them. Days later they have been netted again in the Mississippi River, indicating that their range is considerable. Even if the number of pallids in that stretch of the river could be increased, there is no assurance that they would stay. Some scientists say that 216-mile reach of the river is not the best suited for pallids.

So, while we are trying to save the pallids, we are at the same time harvesting them right along with the shovelnose for eggs. It is known fact that some fishermen are harvesting both. Beacom estimates that the price a commercial fisherman gets for those eggs is $15 or more per ounce. The weight of a 20-pound female pallid is about one-third eggs, or six to seven pounds. At six pounds (96 ounces) that’s almost $1,500 worth. Since eggs are not good for caviar until they reach a certain point in development (let’s call it ripeness), some fisherman cut into fish to see if the eggs are ready. If not, they throw the fish back into the river, hoping they will heal and the eggs will “ripen.” Fish cut like this have been found dead. But are we to believe that if a commercial fisherman happens to net illegally a 20-pound pallid carrying six to seven pounds of “ripe” eggs worth nearly $1,500 or more that he will throw the fish back? How many of the hundreds of thousands of eggs harvested for caviar would turn into live little pallids if the fish were allowed to spawn naturally?

By the state of Missouri’s own statistics, sturgeon harvests have increased steadily since 1900. Between 1998 and 2001, they increased tenfold, and since then have about doubled.

While Missouri is breaking no law by allowing the harvest of shovelnose sturgeon, it unwittingly aids and abets the illegal harvest of the endangered pallid sturgeon.

The water wars have cost millions of dollars over the decades. By banning sturgeon fishing, Missouri could put an end to the spring rise business that some say won’t help the pallids anyway.

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