Environmental groups say Delta longfin smelt also on the brink of extinction

From Dan Bacher at IndyBay.org:

In the latest development in the battle to save the California Delta, three conservation groups on August 8 petitioned the state and federal governments for endangered species protection for the longfin smelt.

A cousin to the Delta smelt, the longfin smelt has dropped to record low numbers in the San Francisco Bay-Delta and is nearing extinction in other northern California estuaries. Unlike the Delta smelt that lives only in the Bay-Delta Estuary, the longfin is historically found from Monterey Bay to Prince William Sound in Alaska.

The Bay Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, and Natural Resources Defense Council simultaneously asked the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Bay-Delta population of longfin smelt under the federal Endangered Species Act and the California Fish and Game Commission to list the species statewide under the California Endangered Species Act.

The longfin smelt is one of four pelagic species, including Delta smelt, juvenile striped bass and threadfin shad, that have dropped to record levels in the past several years, as documented through ongoing monitoring and analysis by a team of federal and state scientists. The fish grow to about 4 inches long and typically live two years.

The ecosystem collapse has occurred during a period of massive increases of federal and state water exports out of the Delta exceeding 1,000,000 acre feet of water of water per year. Rather than reducing exports as fishing and environmental groups have requested, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is promoting a plan to build the peripheral canal and more dams as the “solution” to the Delta’s problems.

To read the rest of this article on IndyBay.org, click here.

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