Water Education Foundation

Delta smelt closer to extinction

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 1, 2008 at 5:59 am

From KGO, ABC 7, San Francisco:

There is more bad news for the bellwether of the Sacramento Delta. The Delta smelt continue to edge closer to extinction. It is not good news for environmentalists or for the farmers and Southern Californians who count on the Delta for water. ABC7 News went along for this season’s fish count.

The California Department of Fish and Game has been casting nets in the Delta for the last couple of weeks. It is not so much about what they catch, as what they don’t.

Since 1967, biologists have searched the murky waters of the Delta looking for what is left of the once thriving fish populations. They take detailed notes on everything, from what they catch, where they catch it, to the temperature of the water.

“We sample from San Pablo Bay up to the lower Sacramento River and through the San Joaquin,” said Dave Contreas with the California Department of Fish and Game.

But again, the number of fish the department catches is extremely small. “What we started noticing were downward trends particularly at the start of 2000, 2001,” said Contreas.

Read more or watch the video from KGO ABC 7 by clicking here.

December 1, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Judge Wanger delta smelt ruling, Other Delta Issues

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Supporters of delta smelt lose legal bid to cancel water deals

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 20, 2008 at 7:23 am

From the Fresno Bee:

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a request by environmentalists that could have slowed the flow of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to agricultural interests to the south. The 92-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger is the latest in a case involving the tiny delta smelt, which environmentalists say is facing extinction largely because of reduced water coming into the delta, and from increased pumping.

The environmentalists wanted Wanger to cancel long-term contracts for more than a dozen west-side water districts that get water from the delta. But Wanger’s ruling said that it would be pointless to renegotiate the contracts to help the smelt, because the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation already has the ability to stop water deliveries to the affected districts to satisfy requirements of the Endangered Species Act.

The districts — which include the James Irrigation District, centered on the town of San Joaquin, and the adjacent Tranquillity Irrigation District — said Wanger’s ruling gives them a sense of stability.

It also likely sets a legal precedent for nearby water districts with similar contracts that the environmentalists didn’t challenge. That includes the massive Westlands Water District on the Valley’s west side.

Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

November 20, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Judge Wanger delta smelt ruling

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Urgent efforts a race against time; Freezing smelt DNA, tweaking genetics explored

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 30, 2008 at 6:22 am

From Stockton’s Record:

Delta smelt may be threatened, but thousands of the little guys swim circles in dark tanks near the pumps that ship water to Southern California. Can these fish, bred mostly for research, be bolstered in number and someday released to the wild?

A report issued last week says this strategy should be considered, along with possibly freezing and preserving smelt DNA or tweaking the fish’s genetics to make it more adaptable to the Delta’s rapidly changing environment.

Some kind of solution is urgent. Not only are smelt a bellwether for the health of the Delta overall, but the well-being of the fish is directly tied to how much water farmers and cities south of the Delta receive. The fish are imperiled by many factors, including the pumps, exotic clams that eat their food and toxins in the water.

Some biologists are skeptical that a refuge population or other far-reaching plans would be successful. “Those are all acts of desperation,” said Peter Moyle, a fisheries biologist at the University of California, Davis, “There’s no substitute for fixing the environment” in which the fish live.

Read more from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.

October 30, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Other Delta Issues

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Smelt threaten irrigation projects; Lawsuit could junk scores of valley water contracts

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 19, 2008 at 6:05 am

From the Capital Ag Press:

Contracts for 42 irrigation districts that rely on Central Valley Project water could be tossed because of the tiny delta smelt.

U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger heard arguments late last week over whether to require the Central Valley Project to rewrite the contracts because each was based off a flawed ruling that the water promised to both farmers and urban dwellers would not harm the endangered fish.

Delta smelt are considered to be the bellwether species in the estuary, which forms the hub of California’s water system - and smelt numbers have been crashing for several years. Water exports are one of several causes of the smelt’s decline and environmentalists have been suing various state and federal agencies to restrict water flows from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Should the contracts be invalidated, it would likely mean that farmers would get less water and on a different schedule than they receive now. How much less and on what sort of delivery schedule would be up to the individual districts as well as the federal government - and the smelt.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the midst of rewriting the biological opinion concerning the smelt. The degree of damage a new series of water contracts could do to the Central Valley farming community will hinge on how much water government scientists say the smelt need.

Read more from the Capital Ag Press by clicking here.

September 19, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Judge Wanger delta smelt ruling

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Smelt decline indicates overall system failure; Water pumping restrictions cost $350 million

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 4, 2008 at 6:43 am

From the Antelope Valley Press:

What is two inches long, smells like cucumber and costs $350 million?

It’s the Delta smelt, a tiny fish that is native to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and is threatened with extinction. Its survival is at the heart of a battle to change how the state operates its massive water distribution system, potentially affecting cities, farms, fishing and recreational uses as well as the fragile ecosystem on which they all depend.

The delta is the hub of the state’s water distribution system, formed where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers join, and Delta smelt are only found in the open waters of its upper reaches. The delta, once a rich, biologically diverse habitat for wildlife and abundant fish populations, carries water to the State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project pumping facilities that provide water to 25 million people and more than 3 million acres of farmland.

In the process, a large volume of fresh water is diverted out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, affecting the habitat of the Delta smelt, salmon, bass and other native fish. The huge pumps that send the water south also suck up the Delta smelt and other fish, killing millions each year.

Steps taken to protect the threatened species resulted in recent court-ordered cutbacks from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta into the California Aqueduct. That sent water agencies across the state scrambling to find new water supplies and caused an economic loss estimated at $350 million.

Why so much effort to protect a tiny fish that many refer to as “bait”?

The Delta smelt lives its entire life cycle in one year, and its population numbers can show the overall health of the delta, said Alex Pitts, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As such, the Delta smelt - whose numbers are about 92% less than a decade ago - is called an “indicator species.”

“One of the hallmarks of an indicator species is it indicates to you something is wrong. And often species more sensitive than ourselves are our first warning we’re causing environmental changes that may come back to bite us,” said Jeff Miller, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, a private, nonprofit conservation organization.

Delta smelt are at the bottom of the food chain, and without them “there’s a whole lot of other fish that aren’t going to have adequate food,” Pitts said.

A declining population of Delta smelt is “a clear indication that the ecological condition in the system is getting worse and this is an ecological system that many more species than Delta smelt depend on: Chinook salmon, striped bass, sturgeon and a bunch of other native species,” said Tina Swanson, executive director of the San Francisco-based Bay Institute.

Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.

August 4, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Judge Wanger delta smelt ruling

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Comment period opens on delta smelt federal uplisting; Formal decision on endangered listing expected next year

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 19, 2008 at 3:19 pm

From the Capital Ag Press:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made an initial finding on a petition to uplist the delta smelt from threatened to endangered and is seeking comments from the public in preparation for a formal decision, which could come sometime in the next year. The service made the finding on July 10 in response to a petition from The Bay Institute, Center for Biological Diversity and Natural Resources Defense Council, Fish and Wildlife reported.

Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Al Donner said the agency is seeking as much information as possible in the 60-day comment period from scientific and commercial interests on the impacts of a potential uplisting. “We’re looking for the data that we can analyze, so that’s the key aspect of it,” he said.

Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the petitioning groups made the request for a change in federal listing in 2006.

While pleased with the latest action by the service, they point out the finding is 25 months late and a final listing determination is already 13 months overdue. “They’ve been delaying quite a bit on processing the petition,” Miller said, which he attributes to the Bush administration. “Their MO has been not to respond to petitions.”

Read more on this story from the Capital Ag Press by clicking here.

July 19, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt

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Another View: A smelt hatchery can save the fish

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 14, 2008 at 6:12 am

From the Sacramento Bee, this commentary, written by Steve Thompson, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for California and Nevada. He is responding to the June 30 editorial “Little fish, big bad idea / Smelt hatcheries would just be a waste”:

An editorial about Senate Bill 994 implied that hatchery rearing of Delta smelt is a “nutty” idea, and that we should not waste “our money on smelt factories.” People should not be so quick to dismiss a Delta smelt hatchery.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency charged with conservation of the nation’s fish and wildlife, has used captive propagation to bring a number of species back from the brink, including the California condor, black-footed ferret, whooping crane, Lake Superior lake trout, Gila trout in New Mexico and winter-run Chinook salmon in the Sacramento Valley. A goal of the Fish and Wildlife Service is to restore fish populations to self-sustaining levels. We operate a national fish hatchery system of 70 facilities throughout the nation. Many of these facilities use the latest in aquaculture technology and genetic research to produce fish to help restore a number of imperiled and depleted species.

To be successful, restoring Delta smelt populations would also require improving its habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But, just as releasing Delta smelt into a degraded Delta will fail to restore them to self-sustaining levels, so will habitat restoration efforts fail if there are not enough fish to rebuild the population. Unfortunately, that is a very real possibility because current data suggest Delta smelt populations might already be so low that they cannot be recovered without supplementation.

Read more of this commentary from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

July 14, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Other Delta Issues

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Fish affect California water supply

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 11, 2008 at 7:06 am

From the New York Times, an article regarding the recent move by the Fish & Wildlife Service to move the Delta smelt from the ‘threatened’ list to the ‘endangered list’:

California is in a quandary because two-thirds of its residents get water through the pumps that have been killing large numbers of smelt. This year, for the first time, a federal judge’s order kept state and federal water agencies from collecting their usual part of the river water flowing from melting snow from the Sierra Nevada. Water users from the Bay Area to San Diego were affected by the resulting reductions of 20 percent to 30 percent.

This is taking place after a spring that has been one of the driest on record, leaving even less water for the fiercely competitive interests fighting for a share of a dear commodity.

“A comprehensive approach to conserving this fish is going to require onerous restrictions in pumping,” said Timothy Quinn, director of the Association of California Water Agencies. The distribution of water used to mean “that you killed fish,” Mr. Quinn said, adding, “Now the fish have very strong legal protection, to the point where they are becoming a dominant policy consideration. To protect the fish means losing massive amounts of the water supply.”

Read more from the New York Times by clicking here.

July 11, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Endangered Species & Wildlife, Other Delta Issues

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Editorial: To the defense of delta smelt

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 11, 2008 at 7:02 am

From the San Francisco Chronicle, this editorial:

There is no surprise in the news that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a proposal to add delta smelt to the list of “endangered” animals. The smelt population has plunged in the years since it was listed as “threatened” in 1993, and most experts say that it will be completely extinct within a few years. The smelt are an indicator of the delta’s (ill) health, and the state is well aware of their plight: A sportfishing group sued the state Department of Water Resources in 2006, claiming that the agency had illegally killed tens of thousands of them in the water pumps that send water to southern California. More recently, a judge ordered the state to shut the pumps down temporarily in order to save the smelt - and with the fish, the health of the delta.

So the latest push from U.S. Fish and Wildlife should come as no surprise to the state’s powerful water interests. And yet, their initial reaction to the proposal has been to continue pushing the same old line: That “other factors” are causing the death of the smelt other than the water pumping that has devastated the delta’s ecosystem. Odds are they will call for yet another “blue ribbon commission” to be set up in order to produce “solutions” for the delta. It would be so thoughtful if the state, and the many interests that have benefitted from the pumping, would spare us the endless hand-wringing and delaying tactics that have allowed them to continue the status quo.

The situation in the delta is dire, and it’s not going away. If it takes federal action to do what should have been done at the state level years ago, then so be it.

Read the full text of this editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.

July 11, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Other Delta Issues

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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposes to put smelt on endangered list

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 10, 2008 at 6:31 am

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The delta smelt, a tiny but important fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, could officially become “endangered” under a proposal announced today by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Smelt are an indicator of the delta’s health, and nearly 750,000 acres of farmland and 25 million people from the Bay Area to Central and Southern California rely on water from the delta. The smelt population has plummeted with the decline of the delta’s health, and in 1993 it was listed as threatened.

“There’s a lot of fighting going on over this species,” acknowledged Al Donner, a spokesman for the service. “It’s often viewed as the signature species with regard to the condition of the delta.”

The wildlife service is asking scientists to submit information about the smelt during the next 60 days. A decision to upgrade the status to “endangered” could come early next year. The smelt, once ubiquitous in delta waters, is now close to extinction and could disappear entirely within two years. The debate over its status follows a federal court order last year to reduce delta pumping and to study the inadvertent killing of smelt at two giant pumping stations near Tracy, where fresh delta water is diverted throughout California.

The wildlife service maintains that changing the official status of the fish will make “very little difference” on regulations, as the fish is officially protected whether it is threatened or endangered. But environmental groups hailed the decision to consider action as an important step in the ongoing water battle.

“The condition of this species is really, really dire,” said Tina Swanson, executive director of the Bay Institute, the Novato-based environmental group that monitors San Francisco Bay. “Its precipitous decline is a clear indication that we have a serious problem in the delta.”

Read the full text of this story from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.

July 10, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt

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A fishy odyssey through the Delta; blogger visits the Skinner Fish Facility

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 8, 2008 at 7:47 am

From the Quest blog, a post about how the Skinner Fish Facility tries to keep fish out of the pumps at the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Facility:

Every year, millions of fish make a strange and harrowing detour through the Skinner Fish Facility, part of the State Water Project’s facilities in the Delta.

In my last post, I wrote about my visit to the Banks Pumping Plant, whose giant pumps slurp water from the Delta to help quench California’s thirst. As the volumes of water are sucked up, both resident and migrating fish come along for the ride. The Skinner Facility, in operation since 1968, was built to protect fish from being killed at the pumps–an effort that sadly is not as successful as one would hope (more on that below).

The writer discusses all the various barriers and techniques designed to keep the fish out, but there are some definite problems with the process:

Here’s the rub. Many fish caught in the pull of the pumps are lost to predation before even reaching the screening facility. Then, the facility does not effectively screen fish smaller than about 1.5 inches, meaning that littler, less powerful species and juveniles are still vulnerable to the pumps. For the fish that make it to the holding tanks, the process is such a trauma–with big and little fish squashed together in the tanks, buckets, and trucks–it’s no surprise there are casualties; in fact, the delicate delta smelt often do not survive. And even for fish that make it through the entire process and out the other end, there’s a final, fatal hurdle: the trunks routinely dump salvaged fish at the same locations, where more predators have learned to cluster for a free lunch.

Read more from the Quest blog by clicking here.

July 8, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Other Delta Issues

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Hatchery program breeds delta smelt

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 7, 2008 at 6:48 am

From the Redding Searchlight:

A tiny fish at the heart of the big Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water controversy is being bred at a north state hatchery.

The delta smelt — the 3-inch long subject of lawsuits over water supplies, bellwether of delta health and recipient of federal species protection — is part of a pilot program at Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery, a small hatchery on the Sacramento River near the base of Shasta Dam.

There hatchery workers are employing techniques on the finger-long fish that long have been used for retrieving sperm and eggs from salmon, said Scott Hamelberg, project leader for the Coleman National Fish Hatchery Complex, which includes Livingston Stone. “What they have done here is pretty incredible,” he said.

A crash in the number of delta smelt during the last five years led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of California at Davis to start work on the pilot program, which is aimed at developing a system to breed the small fish, which was listed by the federal government as a threatened species in 1993. “There is a great concern about the numbers of these fish left in the environment,” Hamelberg said.

But that doesn’t mean these fish will be going wild.

Currently there is no plan to reintroduce the 20,000 smelt raised at Livingston Stone into the delta, said John Rueth, assistant hatchery manager. Rather, they are being kept as a safety net in case the ongoing population crash causes extinction of the species in the wild. “They’ll be held primarily as a back-up population,” he said.

Read more from the Redding Searchlight by clicking here.

July 7, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt

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Editorial: Little fish, big bad idea: Smelt hatcheries would just be a waste

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 30, 2008 at 7:03 am

From the Sacramento Bee, this editorial that questions the wisdom of building smelt hatcheries:

Florez, who represents the farm region of Kern County, wants the state to build up to three hatcheries for Delta smelt, including one by 2010. Costs are unknown, but taxpayers would pick up the tab for construction. Water users would pay the ongoing costs of propagating smelt – getting mitigation credit for continuing to kill fish in the pumps.

This idea is nutty. Even if these hatcheries helped water users dodge a bullet in court, they’d do nothing for other troubled Delta species – including longfin smelt and shad.

It also probably would do little to help the Delta smelt. “Trying to keep Delta smelt going by raising them in hatcheries and releasing them is like trying to raise sheep in a drought-seared pasture surrounded by a forest full of wolves,” wrote Peter Moyle, one of the state’s leading fish biologists, in an analysis of the bill.

Despite such warnings, the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee approved Florez’s legislation Tuesday and now Senate Bill 994 is headed to the appropriations committee. It shouldn’t go further than that. During a budget meltdown, lawmakers shouldn’t be wasting their time and our money on smelt factories. Fishy business, indeed.

Read the full text of this editorial from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

June 30, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt

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PCL Insider: Assembly Committee passes bad delta smelt bill

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 28, 2008 at 7:26 am

From IndyBay.org:

Bad news for the delta - Assembly committee passes SB 994, GUTTING PROTECTIONS FOR DELTA SMELT

Despite strong opposition from the environmental community and concern from fish biologists, SB 994 (Florez, Ashburn, Steinberg) received enough votes to pass out of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife this morning and is now headed to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

SB 994 attempts to sidestep environmental protections for the threatened Delta Smelt, which have been in severe decline for the past eight years. If passed, the bill would create a loophole allowing water diverters to comply with endangered species protection laws without providing habitat restoration, water quality improvements, and necessary freshwater flows within the ailing Delta as required by those same laws. Instead, SB 994 would tie the hands of the Department of Fish and Game by requiring the department to issue necessary environmental permits as long as water diverters simply pay into a fund for a massive Delta Smelt hatchery.

The committee analysis includes a stinging criticism of the bill’s approach by fish biologist Dr. Peter Moyle, the foremost expert on Delta Smelt. “Trying to keep Delta Smelt going by raising them in hatcheries and releasing them is like trying to raise sheep in a drought-seared pasture surrounded by a forest full of hungry wolves,” explains Moyle.

When pressed this morning in committee about the lack of evidence that a Delta Smelt hatchery would actually help restore the species, Senator Florez responded that the bill’s intent was simply to establish an “interim” and “experimental” hatchery. Yet the bill has no sunset clause or time limitation, and it allows diverters to base compliance with environmental laws on the experimental hatchery.

Read the full text of this story from IndyBay.org by clicking here.

June 28, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt

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Measure would set up hatcheries for endangered Delta smelt

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 26, 2008 at 7:31 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

A bill approved by a legislative committee Tuesday would require the state to build hatcheries to breed threatened Delta smelt. Critics warn it may undercut the state Endangered Species Act.

Senate Bill 994 by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, is backed by a who’s who of powerful water agencies. A weighty list of conservation groups has made the bill a top priority to defeat this year.

Smelt play a key role in Delta water management. Because the fish lives for only a year and depends on precise water quality conditions, its health hinges largely on the timing and amount of water diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The finger-length smelt is unique to the Delta and is protected by state and federal endangered species acts. Yet it stands at the edge of extinction after four years of population declines.

Florez’s bill would require the state to budget unknown permanent funds for up to three hatcheries, and to build at least one by 2010.

“This is a fish in a lot of trouble and the purpose of the bill is to provide a stopgap,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, a supporter along with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Westlands Water District and others.

Water agencies would provide additional hatchery funding to create a “mitigation bank.” In short, this would substitute hatchery-raised smelt for the wild smelt routinely killed by the Delta’s water export pumps. In return for their payments, water agencies would get an “incidental take” permit absolving them of legal penalties under the Endangered Species Act for killing wild smelt.

Read the full text of this article from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

June 26, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Other Delta Issues

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Ammonia pollution could be biggest threat to Delta smelt

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 11, 2008 at 6:31 am

From Stockton’s Record:

Maybe it’s not the giant pumps at Tracy that send Delta water to the southlands that are killing the Delta smelt.

Maybe it’s toxic levels of ammonia released from upstream wastewater treatment plants, according to two recent studies. If that’s the case, look for more expense as those plants are upgraded.

Ammonia, a common byproduct of human urine and feces, is entering the labyrinth of waterways that make up the estuary from one primary source: Sacramento. That city’s regional sewage treatment plant is the largest single source of ammonia in the Delta. It discharges treated wastewater from nearly 1.4 million people into the Sacramento River near Freeport without removing ammonia. In fact, the ammonia load in Sacramento’s wastewater has more than doubled since 1985 due to rapid urbanization and is now more than 125,000 gallons per month. That’s 10 times more than the Stockton sewage plant.

Ammonia is the primary culprit in fish kills. A report released last fall based on data from the Environmental Protection Agency alleged Stockton violated its wastewater discharge permit 50 times in 2005, with ammonia levels exceeding its permit by anywhere from 23 percent to 1,245 percent.

Stockton officials disputed the figures when they were released but point out that a $42 million upgrade to the plant, including equipment that uses bacteria to eat ammonia before it is discharged into the river, has alleviated the problem. Not so in Sacramento.

Read more on this story from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.

June 11, 2008 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Other Delta Issues

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U.S. Fish & Wildlife & National Marine Fishery Service consult on CVP & SWP

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 5, 2008 at 6:44 am

From the California Farmer:

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fishery Service has been asked to begin formal consultation on Central Valley Project and State Water Project. A Federal judge invalidated a water plan that would have allowed more pumping from the San Francisco Bay Delta at the expense of five species of protected salmon and steelhead trout (June CF page 4). The same Fresno judge Oliver W. Wanger made a similar ruling in August 2007 to protect the delta smelt.

And as if that it not enough, the FWS has determined that a petition has presented enough information to initiate a status review to consider listing of the Longfin smelt under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Since last December, Fish & Wildlife Service officials have been meeting regularly with the Bureau of Reclamation & Department of Water Resources, working on salmon and smelt issues.

Salmon:

By regulation, FWS and NMFS have 135 days to complete the Biological Opinion, a clock that starts once all additional information is submitted and the Biological Assessment is complete. The Biological Assessment will describe the factors that may affect winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon and critical habitat. A significant factor affecting all listed salmon in the Central Valley is the loss of spawing and rearing habitat upstream of the major dams. Factors include, but are not limited to, high water temperatures, low flows and flow fluctuations and fish passage.

Delta Smelt:

The Service has determined that the following recommendation will be protective of delta smelt. The projects will implement a 7-day average target of -2,000 Cubic Feet per Second (cfs), and to maintain the flap gates on the agricultural barriers in the open position.

The smelt recommendations are meant to help with maintaining proper water temperature for spawning. Also, entrainment of smelt has been increasing, and they still have been found in the vicinity of the export pumps.

Find out more in this article from California Farmer by clicking here.

June 5, 2008 · Filed Under Central Valley Project, DWR & State Water Project, Delta smelt, Endangered Species & Wildlife, Salmon

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Agencies issue biological assessments on pumping; 900-page document ‘just a starting point’ in Bay-Delta fish protection project

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 25, 2008 at 7:57 am

From the Capitol Press:

California’s Department of Water Resources and the federal Bureau of Reclamation have issued biological assessments on their Bay-Delta water-pumping operations in answer to a court decision last year that limited water exports because of impacts on fish species. The assessments, made public May 16, are part of the State Water Project and Central Valley Project joint operations criteria and plan, according to DWR.

Last year, Judge Oliver Wanger issued a decision in federal court limiting pumping operations because they were harming species like the dwindling delta smelt. Wanger’s decision found that biological opinions issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service didn’t adequately protect fish species in the delta, which necessitated new biological opinions for both the State Water Project and Central Valley Project.

As part of an Endangered Species Act re-consultation, Wanger ordered the agencies to develop by Sept. 15 new and more protective biological opinions, according to DWR. Until a new biological opinion is developed, the water projects are living under Wanger’s decision, which has resulted in water export reductions, said Jerry Johns, DWR’s deputy director.

Sue Sims, a DWR spokesperson, said the document is the first step in a formal process. “This biological assessment from our standpoint is clearly just the starting point,” with more work to be done, said Sims.

Read the full text from the Capitol Press by clicking here. You can read the biological assessment at the Bureau of Reclamation website by clicking here.

May 25, 2008 · Filed Under Delta Issues, Delta smelt, Judge Wanger delta smelt ruling, Salmon

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Smelt hatchery a ‘misplaced band-aid’ says editorial; it won’t fix the problem

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 2, 2008 at 5:09 am

From the Chico Enterprise-Record, this editorial:

Say this for legislators: They sure know how to avoid a problem.

The latest example is a proposal by a state senator from the San Joaquin Valley, Dean Florez, who wants to spend $5 million of water-bond money to make a hatchery for delta smelt. Is that why voters approved the multibillion-dollar water bonds, so legislators can spend it on glorified aquariums for two-inch fish? Or was the bond intended to improve the state’s water supply and water quality?

The latter would certainly work better. See, if water quality in the delta and the water supply south of the delta improved, the tiny delta smelt likely wouldn’t be a threatened species, on the way to becoming endangered. But that’s where we are.

Until the environmental problems in the delta are identified and improved, and until the pumps near Tracy that send water south to cities and farms stop grinding up the smelt, we can grow all the hatchery smelt we want. It won’t to any good. Letting them loose in the delta is like releasing a bunch of kittens in mountain lion territory — or putting a flock of canaries in a coal mine.

Read the rest of this editorial from the Chico Enterprise-Record by clicking here.

May 2, 2008 · Filed Under Delta Issues, Delta smelt

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Smelt hatchery plan draws fire

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 29, 2008 at 6:27 am

From Stockton’s Record:

A southern San Joaquin Valley lawmaker wants to help restore the endangered Delta smelt by dramatically increasing a tiny hatchery operation in the Delta town of Byron, but the proposal has drawn immediate fire from the environmental community.

State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, has sponsored a bill to use $5 million in water-bond funds to help the state Department of Water Resources expand hatchery operations for the little fish, possibly on Stockton’s Rough and Ready Island. Florez sees his measure as a way to restore a species that has suffered greatly from the giant pumps near Tracy, which chop up thousands every year. That loss has forced the state to curtail pumping operations, reducing the amount of water available to the south San Joaquin farmers Florez represents.

So what’s the problem?

Tina Swanson of the Bay Institute doesn’t think much of Florez’s idea. “It avoids the problem,” Swanson said. It is hardly wise to spend money to put smelt into an ecosystem that will kill most of them, she noted. Water quality, water flow, nonnative predators such as the largemouth bass and other factors all affect smelt populations in addition to the pumps. What’s more, population levels of threadfin shad, salmon, green sturgeon, steelhead trout, striped bass and several other species are in trouble, too.

Swanson, who has studied the Delta smelt, said large-scale breeding of the fish may or may not be feasible. A small hatchery run by the University of California, Davis, near Byron has been successfully raising smelt for 15 years, but even those scientists are skeptical about the notion of restocking the Delta with hatchery smelt.

So is state Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden, one of the Legislature’s experts on water issues. Machado says Florez’s idea is misplaced. “I think in concept it’s a nice idea, but it’s being applied to the wrong set of circumstances. It, in effect, just camouflages the problem,” Machado said.

Read the full text of the article from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.

April 29, 2008 · Filed Under Delta Issues, Delta smelt

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