Just 18 Delta smelt were found in the Delta during the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fall Midwater Trawl, making it the second lowest index in the history of the trawl. American Shad were also found at their second lowest numbers and striped bass index was tied for its third lowest since the survey’s inception in 1967.
The Fall Midwater Trawl indexes the fall abundance of pelagic fishes by sampling 100 locations throughout the Delta monthly from September through December using the same equipment and techniques so that the indices can be compared across time. Six species are sampled for, with the annual abundance index being the sum of the individual monthly indices.
The longfin smelt fared the best of all the species sampled, being found in numbers that made it the eighth lowest in the history of the trawl, with over half of the total catch occurring in September. The index for Threadfin Shad is the fifth lowest in history, and the sixth in a series of very low indices. The results for the splittail were not released.
“It’s disappointing to see the numbers so low,” said Carl Wilcox, a Delta policy adviser at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife told the Stockton Record. “I think it’s primarily a reflection of the water conditions last year for all species.”
But others had a different explanation. “Excessive water diversions from the Delta by the State and Federal Projects and the failure of state agencies to enforce water quality standards have created an extended fish drought that can only be characterized as a biological holocaust,” said CSPA Executive Director Bill Jennings. “And the same agencies that orchestrated and chaperoned this biological meltdown are not only proposing a scheme to divert massive quantities of fresh water flows via tunnels under the Delta, under the guise of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), but they ask us to trust them to build the tunnels now and figure out how to operate them later.”
Salmon, a species not measured in this survey, also have experienced difficulties this year. Abrupt reductions in flow in the Sacramento River in November is believed to have caused up to 40% of the fall-run salmon eggs to perish, although the full extent won’t be known until three years from now when this year’s young salmon return to spawn.
Jennings says the estuary is already hemorrhaging from a lack of water, and the BDCP is not the answer. “Given the agencies abysmal track record, there can be no trust and no tunnels until Jerry Brown takes affirmative steps to end his fish drought.”
- Read the memo here: DFW 2013 FMWT Memo
- Find out more about the Fall Midwater Trawl by clicking here.
Written by Chris “Maven” Austin
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