Endangered Sacramento River winter run-Chinook salmon, protected under both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts, are swimming up the Sacramento River toward their spawning grounds.
Unfortunately, many of these fish, once one of the most abundant runs of fish on the Sacramento, are taking a wrong turn into a drainage ditch in the Yolo Bypass – a mistake that eliminates their chance of spawning and endangers future generations.
Over 60 adult salmon were found dead recently in a drainage canal in the Yolo Bypass. The dead salmon, weighing between 5 and 30 pounds, were scattered along the banks and in the water. The cause of death was not immediately known, but the adult salmon were lost in a drainage system guaranteed to block their successful reproduction.
n 2013, an estimated 600 winter run salmon, the most endangered of the Central Valley salmon runs, swam into the canal. About half were captured by CDFW and relocated to the river but none successfully reproduced.
As one who played a prominent role along the late Fish Sniffer magazine publisher, Hal Bonslett, in pressuring the state and federal governments to list these species as "endangered," I find it appalling that these fish are still being killed 25 years after they were first listed under the ESA.
“To have adult spawners fail to contribute to the next generation, especially endangered winter run, is a real tragedy with real economic consequences for California,” said John McManus of the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), a coalition representing sport and commercial salmon fishermen. “Fishermen are penalized with fishing restrictions when winter run numbers are low, even though fishermen are not the source of the problem.”
According to Severn Williams of Public Good PR, "Keeping the salmon on course would require a low-cost, easy engineering fix on the part of the California Department of Water Resources and the Federal Bureau of Reclamation, but these public agencies are dragging their feet, and more fish are lost each day. If DWR and BOR act soon with a simple fix, this endangered species could have a greater chance of recovery in the years to come."
Rather than coming up with a simple fix to this problem, the Department of Water Resources continues to focus its efforts instead on rushing the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build the peripheral tunnels, the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history. The construction of the massive tunnels would hasten the extinction of Central Valley Chinook salmon and steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, as well as threaten the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers.
Below is the news release from the Golden Gate Salmon Association, Public Good PR, California Trout and Cal Marsh and Farm:
For Immediate Release: December 22, 2014
Contacts:
Severn Williams, Public Good PR (415) 336-9623 sev@publicgoodpr.com
Michael Coats, Golden Gate Salmon Association (707) 935-6203
Jacob Katz, California Trout (707) 477-9978 jkatz@caltrout.org
John Brennan, Cal Marsh and Farm (530) 870-6625
Fish Kill Caused by Drainage Canals Near Davis
Simple fix would keep migrating salmon alive
Woodland, Calif. – Over 60 adult salmon were found dead recently in a drainage canal in the Yolo Bypass. The dead salmon, weighing between 5 and 30 pounds, were scattered along the banks and in the water. The cause of death was not immediately known but the adult salmon were lost in a drainage system guaranteed to block their successful reproduction. Here is a link to photos of the fish killed: https://californiatroutinc.app.box.com/...
Migratory salmon have been taking a wrong turn in the Delta and entering dead-end Yolo Bypass drainage canals for weeks. Working together, local farmers, drainage districts and salmon advocates, including Cal Marsh and Farm, California Trout and the Golden Gate Salmon Association, have proposed a relatively easy fix to the canal system that would redirect the salmon back to the river and safety, averting the need to manually rescue individual lost fish.
This problem is well-known to state and federal agencies charged with protecting the welfare of these natives species as well as those responsible for managing public infrastructure – like weirs and levees – in the region. To date, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has rescued more than 600 adult salmon this fall.
A small fish trap built to capture the fish was overwhelmed by high water from recent storms, forcing the trap to be temporarily removed. Without the trap in place nothing stops salmon, including endangered winter run, from swimming up the drainage ditches for nearly a hundred miles. The drainage ditches in question in Yolo Bypass and the Colusa Basin provide no place for them to spawn, thus robbing California of part of its future salmon generation.
“Adult salmon that make it through the perilous trip to sea and back only to fail because of a wrong turn in the final leg of their journey is just wrong,” said Jacob Katz of California Trout, a non-profit organization that advocates for the recovery of the state’s threatened native fish. “Now that endangered winter run salmon are starting to make their way up river, it’s urgent that the California Department of Water Resources and Federal Bureau of Reclamation do their part to keep these fish in the main stem river.”
Born in freshwater, salmon travel to the ocean to mature and then return, swimming upstream to their natal streams to reproduce. Canals, levees, dams and other manmade water infrastructure interrupt migrations and are a major factor in the dramatic decline of Central Valley salmon species. Winter run Chinook salmon are listed as a federally endangered species.
“To have adult spawners fail to contribute to the next generation, especially endangered winter run, is a real tragedy with real economic consequences for California,” said John McManus of the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), a coalition representing sport and commercial salmon fishermen. “Fishermen are penalized with fishing restrictions when winter run numbers are low, even though fishermen are not the source of the problem.”
In late November and early December, saving late-arriving fall run salmon was particularly important due to the extended drought. Drought-induced elevated river temperatures are believed to have killed many of the fall run salmon eggs laid earlier in the fall. Now temperatures in upriver spawning beds are cool enough to successfully hatch salmon eggs.
“We don’t have any extra winter run fish we can afford to lose in drainage ditches,” said Katz.
Salmon navigate largely by smell. Because the drainage water flowing out of the canals originates in the Sacramento River basin, it can confuse salmon, luring them into canals and ditches where they become stranded and die. The number of salmon lost each year is unknown because high muddy water in winter usually makes it hard to observe fish in the canals.
“Salmon straying into the Yolo Bypass and the Colusa Drain is clearly a large problem and it is in everybody's interest to fix it. Making the necessary changes is not very complicated,” said local rice farmer and landowner John Brennan. “There are only two ways into the Colusa drainage system. Both can be fixed quickly and inexpensively to prevent fish from straying into the canals.”
The California Department of Water Resources and US Bureau of Reclamation are working on a long term plan to restore more salmon-friendly habitat to the Yolo Bypass, where the canal and lost fish are located. These planning efforts are likely to take a decade or more to complete. In the meantime, efforts to upgrade the canal infrastructure and solve the immediate problem of salmon being falsely attracted into the drainage canals have suffered repeated delays.
In 2013, an estimated 600 winter run salmon, the most endangered of the Central Valley salmon runs, swam into the canal. About half were captured by CDFW and relocated to the river but none successfully reproduced.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
Why does it matter if a few fish don’t manage to reproduce this year?
Winter run Chinook Salmon, begin their spawning migration in December. These are the most endangered run in the Valley and their numbers have direct effect on multibillion dollar industries important to the California economy. If the same number of adult winter run Chinook salmon taken in the Drains in 2013 were caught at sea, the National Marine Fisheries Service could have shut down the $1.4 billion dollar ocean salmon fishery. If 20% of the offspring from these adult fish were sucked into the Delta pumps, the National Marine Fisheries Service could be forced to shut down the Central Valley and State Water Projects which provide water to tens of millions of Californians.
The drainage canals also entrap fall run Chinook salmon which support the commercial and sport fisheries. Like all salmon fall-run need cold water in order to successfully reproduce. California is in its fourth year of drought. Water levels are down and water temperatures are up. As their name suggests fall-run begin spawning in autumn and most of the run has already spawned.
Those fish caught in the trap over the last several weeks are relatively late arrivals. Ensuring that they are saved and successfully spawn is particularly important because elevated river temperatures caused by drought are believed to have killed many of the salmon eggs laid earlier in the season. Only with the arrival of the winter rains have temperatures in upriver spawning beds cooled enough to successfully hatch salmon eggs.
What effect has the drought had on overall salmon populations in the Central Valley?
Central Valley salmon runs are adapted to drought. Under natural conditions salmon would adapt by using the cold-water habitats where and when they are available. But human alteration of the valley, especially construction of dams which cut salmon off from high elevation cold water habitats in the hills and mountains and levees which limit food production on floodplains, has degraded the river habitats on which salmon depend. Many of the native Central Valley salmon runs are now imperiled and this drought could be the last straw.
How many fish have been caught and transported out of this canal to date this fall?
Over 600 have been captured at this one location alone in the last month. Many more are showing up each day. Genetic samples taken from each fish will definitively assign the fish to the different runs, but those samples take some time to be analyzed. While it is thought that most of the fish captured but to this point are fall run, endangered winter run Chinook salmon are expected to begin arriving now.
Where is the drainage canal in question located?
Beginning near Red Bluff and ending in the Delta, the network of flood protection and ag drainage canals stretches for over 100 miles down the west side of the Sacramento Valley. Attracted by the water flow coming down the canals, fish leave the Sacramento River and swim into the drainage system in the southern Yolo Bypass near Liberty Island. The trapping location, at Wallace Weir on Knaggs Ranch, is 30 miles north near the town of Woodland. If the trap is not in place, salmon can continue upstream into the Colusa Drain, a maze of ditches which extends approximately 80 miles north.
What fixes have been proposed to state and federal agencies that would prevent these types of wrong turns in the future?
Local stakeholders including drainage districts, environmental conservation organizations and farmers have long advocated for a upgrading the obsolete Wallace Weir to include gates that would block salmon and sturgeon from swimming up the canals.
Why haven’t these improvements been made?
The improvement projects are relatively inexpensive and are supported by a large and diverse group of all major stakeholders. However, there has been a lack of political will to align the local, state and federal agencies needed to make these improvements on the ground. The California Department of Water resources and the Unites States Bureau of Reclamation, as lead state and federal agencies, need to step up and build a permanent fix.