Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3903 Jan 17-31 2020 | Page 24

T Jan 17-31, 2020 VOL.39 • ISS.3 Zero Delta Smelt Found in CDFW Fall Midwater Trawl Survey Two Years in a Row he Delta smelt, once the most abundant species on the Sacramen- to-San Joaquin River Delta, continues its long slide towards extinction. For the second year in a row, the CDFW in its annual fall midwater trawl survey in 2019 found zero Delta smelt during the months of September, October, November and December. Found only in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, the smelt is an indicator species that shows the health of the ecosystem. Decades of water exports and environmental degradation under the state and federal governments have brought the smelt to the edge of extinction. In spite of portraying their adminis- trations as “green,” Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom did nothing to reverse the slide towards extinction. Meanwhile, the Trump administration recently finalized a plan that threatens the Delta smelt, salmon and other fish species even more than they already are by maxi- mizing Delta water exports to corporate agribusiness interests in the San Joaquin Valley. While the CDFW has not yet issued its annual memo analyzing the fall survey results, James White, CDFW Environ- mental Scientist, wrote in a memo about the September and October 2019 surveys: “No Delta Smelt were collected at index stations in September or October. The 2019 September-October index (0) is tied with 2016 and 2018 as the lowest index in FMWT history (Figure 1). No Delta Smelt were collected at non-index stations during September or October,” said White. A few smelt have turned up in other surveys on the Delta, but they also confirm the fish’s dramatic decline. “This low index is consistent with sampling by other monitoring surveys in fall of 2019,” wrote White. “Delta Smelt were collected by USFWS Chipps Island Trawl in September (n=2) and not in October (n=0). USFWS Enhanced Delta Smelt Moni- toring (EDSM) collected Delta Smelt in September (n=6) and October We carry Lead Free Pistol ammo for (n=7), having the hunter who wants to carry his conducted 1,348 handgun in Lead Free Hunting Zones. tows with catches in Suisun Bay, lower Available in a variety of calibers... Sacramento River, CALL FOR DETAILS! and SRDWSC THE LARGEST SELECTION OF AIR GUN PELLETS (data available at: USFWS Delta ON THE WEST COAST – GUARANTEED!! Juvenile Fish Moni- 10% toring Program).” OFF! 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H, Sacramento, CA 95838 The KFBK OUTDOOR SHOW 3819 1 Rated Outdoor Radio Show for 26 years! # with your host Bob Simms Fishing • Hunting • Destinations Conservation • History Dedicated to the Northern California Outdoorsman BOB SIMMS Listen Every Saturday Morning from 5 am to 8am CALIFORNIA’S LONGEST RUNNING OUTDOOR TALK SHOW! By Dan Bacher However, the indices for longfin smelt “The outlook for the Delta smelt were well above the lowest abundance population remains grim after these lows. year for the longfin, 2015, when only 4 Despite good conditions in spring 2018 fish were reported and 2016, when only 7 and 2019, the severely depressed number fish were caught. In contrast, 81737 smelt of adult spawners indicates a continuing were found in 1967. weak potential for recovery,” Cannon For the second year in a row, the trawl concluded. caught zero Sacramento spittail, a native The 8 surveys conducted by the CDFW minnow found only in the Sacramen- this spring produced a total of only 13 to-San Joaquin River Delta just like the Delta smelt. Survey #1 yielded 2 smelt, Delta smelt. With the exception of 2011 survey #2 produced 1 smelt, survey #3 when 11 longfin smelt were reported, the yielded 0 smelt, survey #4 produced 7 survey reported 0 to 1 fish each year over smelt, survey #5 yielded 1 smelt, survey the past 13 years. #6 produced 1 smelt, survey #7 yielded 1 The index for young of the year striped smelt, and survey 8 yielded 0 smelt. bass, a popular gamefish introduced While the water contractors blame from the East Coast 140 years ago, was the Delta smelt for restrictions on Delta 250. This is better than last year when pumping for San Joaquin Valley irriga- the abundance was 42, the lowest on tors, findings published in the journal San record, but well below the fish’s historical Francisco Estuary & Watershed Science abundance. By comparison, the index was in March 2019 reveal that water exports 19,677 in 1967, the year the State Water from the South Delta were limited by Project pumps went into action. infrastructure and water quality concerns The index for American shad was 1955, far more often than protections for endan- better than the index of 1064 last year. gered species. This contrasts with the record abundance According to the article, during the in the 2003 survey, 9360. 2010-2018 study period, 89% of Central Finally, the threadfin shad made a Valley water flowing into San Francisco jump from 198 last year to 343 in 2019. Bay was the result of salinity control and However, both of these surveys were just infrastructure constraints on water exports a fraction of the 15267 shad counted in compared to less than 1.5% caused by 1997. endangered species act safeguards specific These species are all victims of the to protection of Delta smelt from entrain- Pelagic Organism Decline, first coined by ment in the export pumps. federal state and scientists to document the “Safeguards for the San Francisco Bay steep decline of pelagic (open water) fish estuary’s six endangered fish species led and zooplankton in 2005. Scientists have to relatively small increases in freshwater pointed to Delta water export operations, flow to the Bay,” said Greg Reis, staff toxics, invasive species and pollution as scientist for The Bay Institute and lead the key factors in this decline. author of the research article. “In two of “Given the wet year we experienced in the nine years, we studied, protections for 2019, the numbers of Delta smelt, longfin Delta Smelt did not limit water exports smelt and splittail should have rebounded for even a single day -- the effect on water substantially, but instead it was another supplies of protecting this unique species, disastrous year for all three species,” which functions as an indicator of overall said Bill Jennings, Executive Director/ ecosystem health, is far less than what’s Chairman of the California Sportfishing commonly reported.” Protection Alliance (CSPA).. “Also given “Despite water quality regulations the wet year, striped bass, American shad that are intended to protect fisheries and threadfin shad should have rebounded and wildlife populations in general, and more than they did. Clearly, the state endangered species act protections for and federal Delta pumping operations the most imperiled fishes, the proportion are sending Delta fish species to the of Central Valley river flows that make guillotine.” it all the way to San Francisco Bay has In addition to the zero Delta smelt been declining for decades,” said Dr. results of the fall 2018 and 2019 fall Jonathan Rosenfield, Senior Scientist at surveys, spring Delta smelt 20-mm San Francisco Baykeeper and co-author of surveys conducted in both 2018 and 2019 this study. “Currently, Californians divert, revealed a record low number of the smelt on average, about 1/2 of the ecologically collected by Department scientists. critical winter-spring runoff that would According to independent fisheries otherwise flow into San Francisco Bay, biologist Tom Cannon in his California and the fish, wildlife, and water quality Fisheries Blog on the California Sport- that rely on this water are suffering as a fishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) result.” website, the Late April and early May 20-mm Surveys “provide an excellent picture of the status of Delta smelt popu- *Trolling lation in the estuary.” Motors “Since 2017, some *Fishfinders surveys collected *GPS no Delta smelt (Figures 1-3) in *VHF the San Francisco Radios Bay-Delta estuary. *Radar The 2018 and 2019 *Batteries survey catches are and a new low for Delta Chargers smelt, lower even than the 2017 survey ONE DAY SERVICE Largest Service catch and the lowest on Installations with appointment Center in the 1995-2019 in the West! survey period,” said Cannon. 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