[env-trinity] Article Submisssion: Delta smelt reaches new record low in fall survey

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.fishsniffer.com/blogs/details/delta-smelt-reaches-new-record-low-in-fall-survey/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/09/1356714/-Delta-smelt-reaches-new-record-low-in-fall-survey

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/01/09/18766643.php
"The 2014 Delta Smelt index is 9, making it the lowest index in FMWT  
history," wrote Steven Slater, CDFW environmental scientist, in a memo  
revealing the results of the survey. "Delta Smelt abundance was  
highest in 1970 and has been consistently low since 2003, except in  
2011."

800_1280px-hypomesus_tran...
original image ( 1280x742)

Delta smelt reaches new record low in fall survey

by Dan Bacher

The Delta smelt, an indicator species that demonstrates the health of  
the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, reached a new record low  
population level in 2014, according to the California Department of  
Fish and Wildlife's fall midwater travel trawl survey that was  
released on Friday, January 9.

The smelt was once the most abundant fish in the Bay-Delta Estuary. It  
is considered an indicator species because the 2.0 to 2.8 inch long  
fish is endemic to the estuary and spends all of its life in the Delta.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has conducted  
the Fall Midwater Trawl Survey (FMWT) to index the fall abundance of  
pelagic (open water) fish, including Delta smelt, striped bass,  
longfin smelt, threadfin shad and American shad, nearly annually since  
1967. The index of each species is a number that indicates a relative  
population abundance.

The dramatic decline of fish species this year is part of a long term  
decline of fish species, due to massive water exports out of the  
Delta, increases in toxic chemicals and the impact of invasive species.

Scientists and leaders of fishing groups, Indian Tribes and  
environmental organizations pinpoint the export of massive amounts of  
water to corporate agribusiness interests on the west side of the San  
Joaquin Valley, Southern California water agencies, and oil companies  
conducting steam injection and fracking operations in Kern County as  
the key factor behind the fishery collapse.

"The 2014 Delta Smelt index is 9, making it the lowest index in FMWT  
history," wrote Steven Slater, CDFW environmental scientist, in a memo  
revealing the results of the survey. "Delta Smelt abundance was  
highest in 1970 and has been consistently low since 2003, except in  
2011."

Found only in the upper Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the fish  
mainly inhabits the freshwater-saltwater mixing zone of the estuary,  
except during its spawning season when it migrates upstream to  
freshwater following winter "first flush" flow events from  
approximately March to May.

Because of its one-year life cycle and relatively low fecundity, it is  
very susceptible to changes in the environmental conditions of its  
native habitat.

The survey also revealed the continuing collapse of striped bass,  
longfin smelt, threadfin shad and American shad in the Delta, the  
largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

The 2014 age-0 striped bass index is 59, making it the third lowest  
index in the survey's history. Age-0 striped bass abundance was  
highest at the survey’s inception in 1967, according to Slater.

The index for longfin smelt, a cousin of the Delta smelt, is 16,  
making it the second lowest index in history. Longfin smelt abundance  
was also highest in 1967.

The 2014 threadfin shad index is 282, the sixth lowest in history and  
the seventh in a series of very low abundance indices. Threadfin shad  
abundance was highest in 1997, a year of high outflows into San Pablo  
and San Francisco bays.

"The 2014 American Shad index is 278, which is the second lowest in  
FMWT history and only slightly higher than the 2008 index of 271,"  
said Slater. "American Shad abundance was highest in 2003."

Delta advocates pointed to mismanagement of Central Valley reservoirs  
and the Bay Delta Estuary by the state and federal governments as the  
primary reason for the decline.

"These crashes in fish populations show that the Delta was not managed  
for fish protection in 2014," responded Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla,  
Executive Director of Restore the Delta. "We know from research that  
outflows to San Francisco Bay were needed to stop salinity intrusion  
at the state and federal export pumping facilities."

"Thirty years of overpumping have led to the destruction of our fish  
species during the current severe drought. The question is whether  
proposed federal drought relief legislation proposed in Congress is  
going to even worsen the bad management practices and destroy Bay  
Delta fisheries in 2014," Barrigan-Parrilla stated.

The surveys were initiated in 1967, the same year the State Water  
Project began exporting water from the Delta. The surveys show that  
population indices of Delta smelt, striped bass, longfin smelt,  
threadfin shad and American shad have declined 95.6%, 99.6%, 99.8%,  
97.8%, 90.9%, respectively, between 1967 and 2013, according to Bill  
Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection  
Alliance (CSPA) and Board Member of the California Water Impact  
Network (C-WIN).

Both the 2013 and 2014 indices for Sacramento splittail, another  
native fish, were not released, but results from 2012 reveal that  
splittail indices have dropped 98.5% from 1967 levels. In 2011, the  
Brown administration presided over a record "salvage" of 9 million  
splittail in 2011, a record year for exports by the federal and state  
projects.

The release of the survey takes place as Governor Jerry Brown  
continues to back the controversial Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP)  
to build the twin tunnels under the Delta. The plan is based on the  
premise that taking more water from the Sacramento River above the  
Delta will "restore" the collapsing estuary.

The $67 billion plan will hasten the extinction of Central Valley  
salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish  
species, as well as imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on  
the Trinity and Klamath rivers.

You can read the full report with graphs at: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentId=92840
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