[env-trinity] Delta Smelt and other fish species plummet to record low levels

[Dan Bacher]

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/01/05/1466156/-Delta-Smelt-and-other-fish-species-plummet-to-record-low-levels

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/01/05/18781526.php

Photo of Delta Smelt courtesy of California Department of Water  
Resources.

delta_smelt_-_dwr.jpeg

Delta Smelt and other fish species plummet to record low levels

by Dan Bacher

Fish species ranging from endangered Delta Smelt to Striped Bass  
continued to plummet to record low population levels in 2015,  
according to the annual fall survey report released on December 18 by  
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

Only 6 Delta Smelt, an endangered species that once numbered in the  
millions and was the most abundant fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin  
River Delta, were collected at the index stations in the estuary this  
fall. The 2015 index (7), a relative number of abundance, “is the  
lowest in history,” said Sara Finstad, an environmental scientist for  
the CDFW’s Bay Delta Region.

The Delta Smelt, a 2 to 3 inch fish found only in the San Francisco  
Bay-Delta Estuary, is an indicator species that demonstrates the  
health of the Delta, an estuary that has been dramatically impacted by  
water exports to corporate agribusiness interests and Southern  
California water agencies during the record drought, along with other  
factors including increasing water toxicity and invasive species.

The Fall Midwater Trawl Survey, used to index the fall abundance of  
pelagic (open water) fishes most years since 1967, conducts monthly  
surveys from September through December. The 2015 sampling season was  
completed on December 11.

“In September, the only Delta Smelt collected were from index stations  
in the lower Sacramento River,” said Finstad. “In October the only  
Delta smelt collected came from a non-index station in the Sacramento  
Deep Water Shipping Channel.”

In November, no Delta Smelt were collected - and in December, the only  
Delta Smelt collected were from index stations in Montezuma Slough and  
the lower Sacramento River, according to Finstad.

The population of striped bass, a popular gamefish, has also declined  
to record low levels. The 2015 abundance index (52) is the second  
lowest in history. Only 42 age 0 striped bass were conducted at the  
survey stations, noted Finstad.

Likewise, Longfin Smelt, a cousin of the Delta Smelt, declined to the  
lowest abundance index (4) in the history of the survey. Only 3  
longfin smelt were collected at the index stations throughout the  
three-month period.

The abundance index (806) for Threadfin Shad, an introduced species  
from the East Coast that provides forage for larger fish, reached its  
eighth lowest level in survey history. The biologists collected 634  
Threadfin Shad at the index stations.

Finally, the 2015 abundance index (79) for American Shad, a relative  
of the Threadfin Shad that is pursued by anglers on Central Valley  
rivers every spring, is the lowest in history of the survey. Only 59  
American shad were collected at the index stations.

Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing  
Protection Alliance (CSPA), said the fall survey shows the “continuing  
collapse of the estuary caused by the failure of the state and federal  
regulatory agencies to comply with the law.”

“Every survey conducted, including the 20 mm Delta Smelt, spring  
Kodiak trawl, summer tow net, and the fall midwater trawl surveys,  
shows record low levels of the fish surveyed,” said Jennings.

He emphasized that in spite of the continuing record drought  
conditions, that water exports south of the Delta through the state  
and federal pumping facilities averaged 7500 cubic feet per second  
(cfs) over the past week. “The State Water Project pumps are averaging  
5154 cfs, while the Central Valley Project Pumps are averaging 2360  
cfs,” said Jennings.

As fish populations continue to collapse, the California Department of  
Water Resources and Bureau of Reclamation are going forward with  
permit applications to the State Water Resources Control Board to  
change the point of diversion on the Sacramento River to implement  
Governor Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels Plan, the so-called “California  
Water Fix.”

Jennings and other public trust advocates point to these latest fish  
survey results — and the state and federal water agencies’ permit  
applications to divert more water from the Sacramento River at new  
diversion points — as just more evidence of the “capture of the  
regulators by the regulated.”

The current collapse of Delta fish species occurs as part of a long- 
term decline. The operation of the state and federal water projects by  
the California Department of Water Resources and Bureau of Reclamation  
Reclamation has brought fisheries to historic lows.

Since 1967, abundance indices for striped bass, Delta smelt, longfin  
smelt, American shad, splittail and threadfin shad have declined by  
99.7, 97.8, 99.9, 91.9, 98.5 and 97.8%, respectively. according to  
Jennings.

The natural production of Sacramento winter-run and spring-run Chinook  
salmon has declined by 98.2 and 99.3%, respectively, and are only at  
5.5 and 1.2 percent of doubling levels mandated by the Central Valley  
Project Improvement Act, California Water Code and California Fish &  
Game Code. To make matters even worse, over 95 percent of endangered  
juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon perished in lethally warm water  
conditions on the upper section of the Sacramento River in 2014 and  
2015, due to mismanagement by the state and federal water agencies.
§Fall Mid-Water Trawl 2015
by Dan Bacher Tuesday Jan 5th, 2016 8:55 AM

fmwt_2015_annual_memo.pdf
download PDF (127.0 KB)

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