Science activities
104 records
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| Title |
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| Lead |
California Department of Water Resource [DWR]
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| Description |
The North Delta Food Subsidies – Colusa Basin Drain Study monitors and evaluates the effects of the North Delta Flow Action on the Delta food web. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt,
Fish,
Flows,
Water management
|
| Updated |
June 13, 2024
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| Title |
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| Lead |
San Francisco Estuary Institute [SFEI]
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| Description |
This project summarizes existing research and knowledge around suitable rearing habitat for Chinook salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta;identifies areas of suitability for rearing salmon using a combined suitability analysis of four mapped habitat parameters;and provides recommendations for types of restoration needed to improve or restore rearing habitat, as well as to identify where in the Delta these restoration efforts could be prioritized. |
| Science topics |
Salmon rearing,
Salmon migration,
Habitat restoration
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Santa Cruz [UCSC]
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| Description |
Chinook salmon are an iconic part of California’s environment and heritage, and important both
economically and culturally. In the Sacramento River, the winter-run Chinook population is
endangered, and there is strong interest in restoring these populations. To do so, resource
managers need to better understand the pressures on wild populations. Predation by
nonnative predators affects survival of young salmon but may also affect the behavior of
salmon. Changes to salmon behavior also have costs but are not currently considered in
management. Managers need information on how predators affect juvenile salmon behavior,
how they might vary under different conditions, and how they scale up to affect populations. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Fishing
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| Updated |
November 17, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
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| Description |
This study aimed to investigate the response of the salt marsh harvest mouse to several threats of climate change, including extreme annual climate cycles and sea level rise. The study was based on ongoing population surveys in the Suisun Marsh, and a study of upland/elevated refuge throughout the species’ range, over the two-year study. It also involved the piloting of advance remote detection technology (camera traps, audio detectors, and digital mouse traps) and effective, affordable high tide refuge (islands and trellises). Finally, ongoing trapping efforts at established survey sites is providing data for ongoing analysis on the effects of weather patterns and space needs of populations. |
| Science topics |
Climate change,
Salt marsh harvest mouse,
Saltwater / freshwater marshes
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| Updated |
November 17, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Berkeley [UC Berkeley]
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| Description |
This research project aimed to improve understanding of the physiological requirements for survival and reproduction across the entire life history of longfin smelt (from egg to larvae to juvenile to reproducing adult). The overall goals of this project were to assist in developing a captive longfin smelt culture and assess longfin smelt responses to multiple stressors across all life stages, which has been difficult because of extremely low (<10%) larval survival of these fish. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt,
Longfin Smelt,
Salinity,
Temperature
|
| Updated |
November 17, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
California Department of Water Resource [DWR]
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| Description |
The Yolo Bypass Salmonid Habitat Restoration Project works to reconnect the floodplain for fish during the winter season and improve connectivity within the bypass and to the Sacramento River. The project provides seasonal inundation that mimics the natural process of the Yolo Bypass floodplain and improves connectivity within the bypass and to the Sacramento River. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Endangered species,
Green sturgeon,
Habitat restoration,
Salmon migration,
Salmon rearing,
Steelhead Trout,
Sturgeon,
White Sturgeon
|
| Updated |
July 22, 2024
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [USACE]
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| Description |
This study analyzes 12 notch scenarios in the Fremont Weir in terms of entrainment of juvenile salmon. The goal is to quantify the relative entrainment rates (between 0 and 1) across the suite of scenarios and to identify possible strategies for enhancing entrainment outcomes. This study does not predict future entrainment as models generally do not predict future outcomes so much as highlight trends |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Endangered species,
Water conveyance / infrastructure
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
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| Description |
This project aimed to use experiments to develop new otolith-based tools for longfin smelt and to then apply them to an extensive collection of archived wild Longfin Smelt specimens, to build a better understanding of longfin smelt life history, habitat use, and the interactions between stressors and abundance. In addition, the project aims to improve the understanding of how longfin smelt populations are affected by freshwater outflow. The project also aims to provide tools to support and evaluate habitat restoration, and facilitate development of a plan to recover this threatened species. |
| Science topics |
Longfin Smelt,
Outflow,
Salinity
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| Updated |
November 17, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
San Francisco State University [SFSU]
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| Description |
The project is to apply modern analytical methods, bioacoustic detection and particle tracking models to refine understanding of the vertical and longitudinal distribution of longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys) and how they are affected by flow and food availability. Funding will be used to conduct the research to protect and maintain the estuary's threatened longfin smelt population. |
| Science topics |
Longfin Smelt
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| Updated |
November 17, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Santa Cruz [UCSC]
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| Description |
While migrating through the Delta and its tributaries, Chinook salmon and steelhead move through diverse habitats, encounter predators, interact with highly dynamic flows, and are impacted by a multitude of human-made structures. Funding for this Project will be use to develop integrated system-level models that will effectively manage salmonid populations and other key resources in the California Central Valley. |
| Science topics |
Salmon migration
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| Updated |
November 18, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
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| Description |
Project is to conduct a study that will to determine whether observed salmon responses match the assumptions and expectations of habitat suitability and life-cycle models currently guiding resource management and habitat restoration in the Bay-Delta, while at the same time supplying much-needed quantitative information to improve these models. The broader purpose is to improve these models to allow more objective and accurate predictions of alternative management and restoration actions intended to recover Central Valley salmon populations.
The overarching goal of this project is to quantify the distribution, abundance, residence time and growth of juvenile salmon within the Bay-Delta. |
| Science topics |
None specified
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
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| Description |
The Project will improve scientific understanding of the North Delta ecosystem and to improve better basis for management and creation of restoration sites, as well as management of the region to benefit native fishes. The Project will improve scientific understanding of how fish populations are influenced by the interactions between wetlands and hydrology, geomorphology, water quality and food availability. Funding will be use to conduct water quality monitoring;hydrodynamic modeling;and fish and invertebrate surveys. |
| Science topics |
None specified
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
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| Description |
The Longfin Smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys) is a native forage fish, characteristic of the natural biological community of the San Francisco Estuary (SFE). This study will examine variation and interactions among hatch dates, instantaneous and total growth rates, habitat use, and timing of transitions among habitats with different salinities, and variation among years with very different climate and freshwater outflow conditions. This information is crucial for managing freshwater flows and can be used to evaluate the effects of tidal wetland restoration in the San Francisco Estuary. |
| Science topics |
None specified
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| Updated |
November 19, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
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| Description |
Water temperatures are increasing due to global climate change, and are predicted to reach levels that exceed the thermal tolerance of sensitive Delta species such as the Delta Smelt by 2050. Little is directly known about the differences in sensitivity between Inland Silverside and Delta Smelt to such stressors, or how either species responds to multiple stressors. Funding will be use to study how these two species respond to drought-induced stressors (temperature, salinity, and reduced dilution of contaminants) which will provide key insights, given that one is near extinction and the other is thriving under drought conditions. |
| Science topics |
None specified
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| Updated |
November 19, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Berkeley [UC Berkeley]
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| Description |
Purpose was to assess the potential importance of endocrine-disrupting chemical contaminants to salmon and other resident speices of waters that are discharged into the San Francisco-San Joaquin Delta. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
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| Description |
The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Stockton Fish and Wildlife Office, has since the mid-1980s conducted several multi-year release-recovery experiments with coded-wire-tagged juvenile
Chinook salmon. The objectives of the studies were (1) to estimate survival through the lower portions of the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems, the California Delta, and (2) to quantify the factors affecting survival. Four of these studies, listed more or less by their historical start dates, are the Delta Cross Channel, Interior, Delta Action 8, and VAMP experiments. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
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| Description |
The purpose of this project is to analyze the effects of the pollutants on the overall fitness of different life stages of the green and white sturgeon. This research will significantly enhance our understanding of stressors on sturgeon and allow further development of life history models. |
| Science topics |
Water temperature,
Salinity,
Pelagic fish,
Methylmercury,
Sturgeon
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
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| Description |
The purpose of this project is to perform a study to determine whether it is feasible to quantify entrainment losses of juvenile and adult delta smelt due to water exports. This information is critical to better understanding the movement of Delta smelt in the system. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
Goal was to test the relative importance of chemical stressors on population viability and genetic diversity for fall-run Chinook salmon (in association with environmental contaminant exposure in the Central Valley delta). |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
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| Description |
The purpose of this project will develop and implement a DNA sampling protocol for juvenile Chinook salmon captured at Chipps Island. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
California Department of Water Resource [DWR]
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| Description |
The purpose of this project is to provide information regarding the effect of bivalves in restored habitat by assessing patterns of invasive bivalve biomass. This research is important because these bivalves are invasive and dominant in the upper SF Bay-Delta system, which are considered to be a major sink of primary productivity in the system. |
| Science topics |
Bivalve
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
R2 Resource Consultants Inc.
|
| Description |
The purpose of this project is to develop a statistical modeling approach to the two Central Valley Chinook Salmon species that incorporates mortality in all phases of salmon life history, and includes the effects of uncertainty in assessing population status, guiding future research, and making management decisions. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Geological Survey [USGS]
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| Description |
Juvenile Chinook salmon emigrating from natal tributaries of the Sacramento River must negotiate the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta where they disperse among the Delta's complex channel network. Natural processes and water management actions affect the fraction of the population using different
migration routes through the Delta and survival within those routes, but quantifying these relationships has proven difficult. Since 2006, acoustic telemetry techniques have been used to quantify both movement among migration routes and survival within routes, providing the first insights into how route-specific survival contributes to population-level survival in the Delta. In this project, we propose to use existing acoustic telemetry data from multiple sources to 1) Quantify factors affecting migration routing of juvenile salmon emigrating from the Sacramento River, 2) Quantify factors affecting survival of juvenile salmon within
specific migration routes, and 3) Simulate population-level survival through the Delta under a limited number of historical and operational scenarios. Collating telemetry data from multiple sources over numerous years offers a unique opportunity to identify important relationships that might otherwise be difficult to detect for any particular study in a given year. Quantifying such relationships is critical to informing resource management that seeks to balance use of water resources with recovery of endangered salmon populations. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
University of California - Berkeley [UC Berkeley]
|
| Description |
The American River provides spawning/rearing habitat for Chinook salmon and steelhead, yet passes through 30 miles of dense urban development. Urban runoff contains pyrethroid insecticides that cause the river to become toxic to standard testing species with every storm event. This study will go beyond observed toxicity, and address toxicity to chironomids, caddisflies, and mayflies, key diet components of juvenile fish in the
river. A bioenergetic model will be used to evaluate effects of food web changes on young salmonids. Our key approach is the use of river-side systems with flowing river water that allow us to replicate realistic pesticide exposures, while controlling other variables. We will determine sensitivity to pyrethroids and fipronil of salmonid prey taxa, and expose them, as well as standard testing species, in the flow-through systems through six storm events. We will maintain experimental streams containing riverine benthic invertebrate communities, and measure response to the pyrethroid pulses. To supplement analyses of the indirect, food
web-mediated effects, we will measure endocrine effects through vitellogenin induction in salmon and steelhead. Finally, one treatment includes river water from which organic contaminants have been removed by activated charcoal, to help establish cause of toxicity. The goal is to determine if known toxicity in the
American River is a threat to benthic invertebrates and, through the food web, to salmon and steelhead. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Above-highwater refugia,
Other discharge contaminants,
Food webs
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
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| Description |
The proposed project directly addresses priority research detailed by the Delta Science Program to protect native fishes that depend on the Bay-Delta system focusing on adaptations to local habitats and physiological tolerances to key environmental stressors;in delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus). Temperature and salinity changes associated with anthropogenic climate change are likely to further exacerbate delta smelt population declines. We hypothesize that delta smelt tolerance to forecasted temperature rises and salinity intrusions into the Bay-Delta system can be assessed at a mechanistic level, and that acclimation thresholds can be established by means of genomic responses. This proposal builds upon successful development of a cDNA microarray for
delta smelt containing approximately 2000 individual gene fragments, and the subsequent application of biomarkers for assessing the effects of chemical stressors on larval development with links to swimming behavior. We propose to develop a Next Generation oligonucleotide microarray in delta smelt, with ca. 15K genes, in order to assess mechanistic tolerance to changes in gemperature and salinity. Genomic studies will be conducted integrating effects on energetic activity and swimming performance
studies, in an interdisciplinary approach that will permit the establishment of links between tolerance mechanisms and adverse outcomes. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt,
Water temperature,
Salinity,
Turbidity
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
San Francisco State University [SFSU]
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| Description |
The purpose of the project is to increase understanding of the foodweb supporting delta smelt and other estuarine species. This research is important because: 1) it could lead to increased foodweb support for the threatened delta smelt and 2) identify potential mechanisms underlying relationships of abundance or survival of some fish to freshwater flow. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
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| Title |
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| Lead |
U.S. Geological Survey [USGS]
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| Description |
The purpose of this project is to quantify how tides in the Delta influence survival of juvenile salmon. Juvenile salmon survival increases when there is more flow and the river is less tidally influenced. We hypothesize that the increase in survival is because of reduced travel times causing less exposure to predators. This project will test this hypothesis using multiple models including ones that can predict how management actions that modify tidal patterns affect juvenile salmon survival. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Salmon migration,
Surface water / flow,
Tides,
Water management
|
| Updated |
June 17, 2024
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-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
Invasive aquatic vegetation (IAV) acts as an ecosystem engineer by changing habitat conditions and water quality. This negatively affects the survival of native species. Over the past 15 years, IAV has more than doubled its footprint in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta waterways. The State of California spends millions of dollars each year to control IAV in the Delta-Suisun region and costs are likely to continue to rise. Gaining a better understanding of the spread, life history characteristics, and potential vulnerabilities of these species can lead to more effective control strategies.
The recent launch of the Sentinel-2 satellite can fill temporal gaps left by annual airborne surveys. This study will create a data pipeline for sustained, low-cost satellite-based monitoring of aquatic and marsh vegetation year-round. To quantify one of the Delta Plan performance measures, the time and degree of floodplain inundation for the Yolo Bypass will be measured. This study will result in new metrics to measure progress toward habitat goals in several restoration sites. |
| Science topics |
Aquatic vegetation,
Invasive / non native species
|
| Updated |
November 18, 2022
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-
| Title |
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| Lead |
San Francisco State University [SFSU]
|
| Description |
Much research in the Delta has focused on foodweb dynamics, stimulated by evidence that low productivity of plankton is linked to declines in several fish species including the endangered delta smelt. Pseudodiaptomus forbesi is the most abundant copepod (small crustaceans) in the Delta in summer. It is an important food source for many fishes and makes up about half of the food of delta smelt.
This study focuses on the feeding, reproduction, and growth of copepods as essential foodweb support for fishes. This work investigates four diverse habitats including two open-water channels and two shallow habitats. The researchers will measure copepods´ feeding rates on microscopic plants and animals, and relate feeding to their rates of growth and reproduction. Computer models will be used to estimate their movement and death rates. These results will show the sources of nutrition used for growth and reproduction of these key organisms. Results will inform how food webs respond to large scale changes in the Delta ecosystem, for example, restoration and the Sacramento wastewater treatment plant upgrade. |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
Michigan State University
|
| Description |
This study will improve our ability to protect the diversity of traits in Chinook salmon. The diversity of Chinook salmon migration timing is decreasing in the Central Valley. A key roadblock to protecting diversity is the current inability to rapidly and inexpensively identify large numbers of individuals from different populations during their migration to the ocean.
This study addresses this information gap by leveraging pre-existing genomic data to develop a new technique that will allow scientists to identify individuals to life history type and location. For example, this study will potentially be able to identify Fall Run Chinook that are from the Sacramento versus the San Joaquin River basins. This information, in combination with data on water temperature and river flows, can determine the relationship between environmental conditions and juvenile salmon life history diversity. The information generated by this work will provide managers with the ability to accurately monitor the effect of key management actions on the different Central Valley Chinook salmon populations. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Estuaries,
Fish,
Habitat restoration,
Resilience,
Salmon rearing
|
| Updated |
November 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Santa Cruz [UCSC]
|
| Description |
The purpose of this project is to explore the ways in which different stream hydrology and temperature can affect the growth and maturation of steelhead trout. Model examination will incude various stream flow management regimes may affect trout population dynamics region-wide. |
| Science topics |
Steelhead Trout
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| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
Santa Clara University
|
| Description |
Ecological restoration in the Bay-Delta watershed provides increased access to hunting opportunities for recreational hunters in the region in addition to benefitting native flora and fauna. While increased hunting is not always considered an economic benefit, it is a dividend from investments in habitat restoration. This research will quantify in dollars the economic impact of restoring sites and opening them for hunting. The study will survey members of the public at restored sites in the Bay-Delta and Sacramento River regions that have resulted in new and/or improved hunting access. In addition to the economic analysis, the survey will shed light on two other issues: 1) whether there is a tradeoff among recreational usage, carbon storage, and habitat quality for restored sites, and 2) whether current users perceive an unmet need for recreational access in the region. These analyses will be useful in explaining multi-benefit restoration projects to stakeholders and policymakers, and informative to future decision-making. |
| Science topics |
Hunting
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| Updated |
December 7, 2022
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-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
State Water Contractors [SWC]
|
| Description |
This study combines detailed model predictions with salmonid tracking data to inform how river flows affect steelhead movement through the Delta. This project leverages an existing 6-year data set to support analysis of salmonid behavioral responses across a broad range of water years. The study will evaluate behavior relative to flow under existing regulatory requirements (Old and Middle River Flow and the Inflow to Export ratio), evaluate five new potential water management metrics identified by the Collaborative Adaptive Management Team Salmonid Scoping Team, and improve the understanding of what conditions affect survival. |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
Salmon and other native California fishes are in decline and increasingly targeted for enhanced conservation. Acoustic telemetry technologies have emerged, allowing researchers to track fish routes through the Central Valley. Yet while the use of acoustic telemetry has widened, little synthesis has occurred on the large, growing, and expensive datasets that already exist. The main goal of the project is to conduct a synthesis study of existing and high priority telemetry datasets for native and non-native fishes in the Central Valley. Using synchrony of movement rates, through space and time, we will develop a novel behavior-based statistical framework to gain understanding into the environmental conditions that promote movement/passage of diverse native fishes in the Central Valley. The project includes a Technical Advisory Group, composed of members of multiple conservation teams. The group will inform each step of study, strengthen syntheses, and enable rapid communication of results to decision makers. In total, the project will analyze 10 to 15 high-quality telemetry datasets encompassing a range of native fishes and life stages. This synthesis will yield major insights into water management practices that could help improve survival of native fish. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Fish,
Salmon migration,
Steelhead Trout,
Sturgeon,
White Sturgeon
|
| Updated |
December 4, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Santa Cruz [UCSC]
|
| Description |
Green sturgeon is a listed species under the federal Endangered Species Act. This project supports the recovery and management of the southern distinct population segment of green sturgeon by improving population and migration monitoring. Improved monitoring is recommended in multiple initiatives to help protect this species, such as the Green Sturgeon Recovery Plan. There is some uncertainty on whether the most appropriate green sturgeon monitoring techniques are being used.
This project compares the different estimation and monitoring techniques to identify the superior protocol. To compare the effectiveness of different techniques, scientists will monitor green sturgeon in the Sacramento River using sonar technology. Monitoring data will be used to estimate the population size and death rates due to by-catch. This project will also review and synthesize past acoustic telemetry data to determine if the data can be modeled to improve population size estimates. |
| Science topics |
Green sturgeon
|
| Updated |
June 3, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
This study focuses on understanding how restored tidal wetlands with different physical configurations function as refuge and rearing habitat for fishes, including native and imperiled species such as delta smelt and juvenile Chinook salmon. This research will assess the spatial distribution of predation risk as it varies within and across tidal wetlands.
The proposed research will generate a statistical model that helps predict predation outcomes from various restored tidal wetland designs and channel configurations. This will be a powerful tool for managers to forecast how proposed habitat restoration or water management actions may impact native fish populations. |
| Science topics |
Tidal wetlands
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Berkeley [UC Berkeley]
|
| Description |
The goal of this research is to better understand how climate change will affect fishes with different life histories and habitat associations across the San Francisco Estuary. Existing datasets will be incorporated in synthetic analyses and cutting-edge statistical models to identify fish community responses to climate, flows, and habitats along the estuarine salinity gradient.
This synthesis-science project will use rich long-term datasets that have been collected by Bay-Delta researchers for decades that will then be analyzed in a reproducible and open science framework. It will also support efforts by the Interagency Ecological Program’s Climate Change Project Work Team. |
| Science topics |
Estuaries
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
Our proposal seeks to add four elements, telemetry, genetics, physiology, and modeling, to an existing research effort on splittail. The study addresses the hypothesis that there is no difference in population dynamics between the two distinct splittail populations. To address this hypothesis we are conducting a collaborative, interdisciplinary study that includes an intensive field effort combined with state-of-the-art laboratory tools that can determine the natal origins, historical habitat use, feeding, and general health of adult splittail. With this proposal we seek to leverage additional funds that were not previously available to add the four new elements. The telemetry component will take advantage of the expansive existing array of receivers deployed in the estuary to evaluate the movements and migration of splittail. The genetic component will provide a precise means to assign individuals to their respective population, determine sex ratios, and to estimate the effective size of the populations. The physiology component will determine if the newly discovered Petaluma/Napa population of splittail exhibits different requirements and tolerances than the Central Valley population. The modeling component will apply the cumulative information gained by the overall study to evaluate the sensitivity of splittail persistence to demographic variability in population dynamics. This work will directly address the Priority Research Topics presented in the PSP. |
| Science topics |
Sacramento Splittail
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
The purpose of this project is to determine the survival and movement patterns of late-fall Chinook salmon smolts and steelhead smolts as they migrate downstream. This information is important to better understand how salmon move through the system. |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of Washington [UW]
|
| Description |
The purpose of this project is to construct a multi-stock salmon population model and management strategy evaluation (MSE) tool that addresses the cross-linkages between water use and fishery ecosystem response. Recent federal court judgment concluded that insufficient evidence was provided for prescribing specific flow
restrictions in two recent conservation measures. The inability to provide adequate evidence was a byproduct of not having the correct quantitative tools at hand. We propose to build these tools by furthering technological developments of previous analyses of Central Valley Chinook population dynamics. Specifically, our work will integrate multiple salmon populations together into a single model that can reconstruct historical population dynamics such that environmental conditions and water resource use can be
used as predictors of biological responses of multiple populations. Our goal is to integrate populations into a single model so that the effect of water management and fishery management policies can be examined in light of all fish populations simultaneously. This pertains to the biological interactions between the populations as well as the way in which fisheries impact individual populations depending on growth and maturation rate of each population. All analysis will be framed in the context of historical and proposed water use patterns. |
| Science topics |
Flows
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
Suisun Marsh remains one of the most productive regions of the San Francisco Estuary (SFE), fueling interest in the Marsh as a model for restoring estuarine function to the region in the future. The UC Davis Suisun Marsh Fish Survey has 30 years of data on physical structure, water quality, benthic and pelagic invertebrates
and fish. We will use these and other data to explore patterns of fish abundance in relation to zooplankton, slough geomorphology, and regional hydrodynamics. Our goal is to understand and predict the kinds of physical variability and structure that create attractive habitat for fish, in order to 1) serve as a template for wetland and subtidal habitat restoration in the Estuary and 2) anticipate the effects of sea level rise, levee failure and salinity increases that are expected to have a large impact on the Marsh in the near future. A comprehensive literature and data search will pull together known information for synthesis. Cluster analysis
will identify slough complexes into types of functional habitat. Predictive maximum likelihood, hierarchical and multivariate autoregressive models will be used to predict how foodwebs and fish respond to environmental factors. Finally, coupled hydrodynamic-life history models for zooplankton will demonstrate
how production is regulated by slough morphology. Results will be integrated as a white paper on the history, current functioning, and future of the Marsh. |
| Science topics |
Levees,
Climate change
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
San Francisco State University [SFSU]
|
| Description |
The purpose of this project is to develop an individual-based particle-tracking model examining population behavior of Delta smelt under different scenarios. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
Description
The Diet and Condition study has provided information on the food habits of pelagic
fishes in the estuary since 2005. We focus on the temporal and spatial differences in
diet composition and feeding success of Delta Smelt, Striped Bass, Threadfin Shad,
Longfin Smelt, Mississippi Silversides, and American Shad.
Need
Data from this project has been used to inform the Fall Low Salinity Habitat Program
(FLaSH), Directed Outflow Project (DOP), and Management, Analysis and Synthesis
Team reports, as well as life history models used for the conservation of fish and their
habitats. Understanding what prey are utilized for food in the context of available prey,
with the associated body-condition of fish, helps clarify the existence and timing of food
limitation for young pelagic fish in the estuary. This work began as part of the Pelagic
Organism Decline investigations and continued as a contributor to FLaSH investigations
during which we in collaborated with the Fish Health Monitoring Project. Recently staff
completed Longfin Smelt diet investigations as part element #296 (Longfin Smelt
Investigations – in response to a litigation agreement) that will also contribute to the
Longfin Smelt Conceptual Model and Synthesis effort (element #320). Finally, we will
process Delta Smelt diets from investigations prompted by the Delta Smelt Resilience
Strategy, and as part of the DOP.
Objectives
1. What are the diets of pelagic fishes (especially Delta Smelt and Longfin Smelt) in
the estuary and do they vary regionally or temporally?
2. Is there evidence of reduced feeding success spatially or temporally in the
estuary?
3. Is feeding success associated with changes in relative weight or condition of
fish?
4. Is there seasonal and regional overlap of diets between species (with a focus on
age-0 Delta Smelt, Longfin Smelt, Striped Bass, Prickly Sculpin, Pacific Herring,
and Threadfin Shad)? |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
Description
The Aquatic Habitat Sampling Platform (AHSP) is an integrated aquatic species and
habitat sampling system that can effectively monitor aquatic organisms and reveal
habitat associations while having minimal or no “take” of sensitive species. Further
development and deployment of the AHSP will expand data collection to shallow and
off-channel habitat, while offering the capability to transition to deeper and open water
habitats, providing reliable sampling efficiency estimates (e.g., probability fish detection)
and “catch” per unit effort (i.e., number of individual species per volume of water
sampled) and improving our knowledge about populations, habitat associations and
major stressors of key organisms within the San Francisco Estuary (Estuary).
Need
Within the Estuary, numerous monitoring techniques are used. However, monitoring
weaknesses for determining fish status and trends include: 1) restricted locations
available for some techniques;2) limited ability to simultaneously assess zooplankton
and fish larvae;and 3) difficulty in estimating fish population size due to lack of gear
efficiency information (Honey et al. 2004). Furthermore, past attempts at integrated
abundance indices from more than one sampling method have had limited success.
Although there continues to be considerable collaborative monitoring and research
devoted to understanding Central Valley fish species, coordination among activities has
been difficult. Other issues include permitting take of listed species and time-consuming
monitoring with extended periods of down time due to sample post-processing of fish
and invertebrate species. Identification of key microhabitats for each lifestage and
attributes and linking associated physical parameters such as habitat features (e.g.,
depth, structure, channel type) and water quality is needed.
Objectives
• Test AHSP operation within the Estuary while providing information highly
relevant to pressing Delta management issues (IEP 2016);
• Provide detailed information on distribution and approximate abundance of adult
Delta Smelt within identified habitat types (Biological Opinion on the Long-Term
Operational Criteria and Plan for coordination of the Central Valley Project and
State Water Project;https://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/documents/SWPCVP_OPs_BO_12-15_final_OCR.pdf);and
• Assess habitat associations and diurnal behavior of Delta Smelt and other fishes
(Durand 2015). |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
Description
This work will include tasks to rapidly identify winter-run Chinook juvenile salmon at the
CVP/SWP salvage facilities, process juvenile salmonid tissues from various CVPIA and
IEP fish monitoring stations, and support coordination of genetic monitoring across the
CVP and SJRRP programs.
PIs:
Josh Israel (USBR);Scott Blankenship (Cramer Fish Science);Ken Bannister
(USFWS);John Carlos Garza (NOAA-Fisheries);Brett Harvey (DWR);Noble Hendrix
(QEDA);Rachel Johnson (NOAA-Fisheries);Mariah Meek (UC Davis);Kevin Reece
(DWR)
Need
This study is needed due to the limited accuracy of Lenght at Date stock identification.
Inaccurate identification of Chinook salmon is problematic because it compromises the
management value of data collected from standard monitoring programs. This project
will improve the science and management value of the Central Valley salmon
monitoring network, supported through IEP and Central Valley Project Improvement Act
(CVPIA) monitoring stations, by accurately determining stock identification of multiple
Chinook salmon stocks across their distribution. Classification tables will be developed
to characterize monthly and seasonal accuracy between
length-at-date and genetic race assignment at IEP and BiOp monitoring locations. This
multi-year dataset will be used to evaluate the likelihood of accurate assignment and
potential biophysical explanatory variables influencing genetic accuracy.
Objectives
Improve accuracy of CVPIA and IEP monitoring programs by providing genetic stock
identification information for tissues collected from Red Bluff, Knights Landing, DJFMP,
salvage facilities and San Joaquin River fish monitoring stations. Samples will be
collected from all four runs of Chinook salmon based on length-at-date (i.e., samples
will be collected from Chinook of various sizes throughout the sampling period). |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA]
|
| Description |
Description
This project tracks the movement and survival of wild and hatchery juvenile Chinook
salmon with a large acoustic receiver network (JSATS), including real-time receivers,
and the development of real-time metrics and retrospective modeling of juvenile salmon
migration data.
Need
There is a well-documented need for improved detection and associated modeling of
salmon migration and survival in the Central Valley. Understanding salmon survival and
movement dynamics in the Delta and its tributaries is critical to the operation of state
and federal water projects, recovery of ESA-listed species, and sport and commercial
fisheries management.
Objectives
• Maintain 20 real-time JSATS receivers: will provide information on migrating
salmon smolt location and timing of Delta entry and exist, which is key for
informing time-sensitive decisions
• Deployment of autonomous JSATS receiver array: this will provide fine-scale
reach-specific survival and movement rates
• Development of new metrics for the real-time data: this will inform key
management relevant questions, such how many fish are entrained at critical
junctions
• Development of real-time website to convey movement and survival rates of
acoustic tagged juvenile salmonids at various real-time locations in the
Sacramento River and Delta. |
| Science topics |
Salmon migration
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Water Resource [DWR]
|
| Description |
Description
Due to the continued population decline of Delta Smelt and the threat of extinction,
conservation efforts may include future supplementation practices using the refuge
population of Delta Smelt at the Fish Conservation and Culture Laboratory (FCCL) in
Byron, CA to assist in maintaining the wild population. Prior to any supplementation
planning, it is first critical to determine if Delta Smelt with varying levels of domestication
indices (i.e. level of hatchery ancestry) respond differently, both physiologically and
behaviorally, to various habitat conditions. This project aims to provide a better
understanding of the effects of domestication on captive Delta Smelt (Hypomesus
transpacificus) by assessing the refuge population at the FCCL. Three studies will be
conducted exploring if domestication index (i.e. the level of hatchery ancestry) affects
the physiological and behavioral performance of Delta Smelt in response to physical
handling and climate change stressors.
Need
Physiological and behavioral changes of hatchery fish due to domestication could lead
to unintended detrimental effects in the wild;therefore, research characterizing the
alterations of hatchery Delta Smelt across levels of domestication indices are warranted
to understand the effects of captivity and how they might shape future supplementation
and conservation strategies. For example, identification of differences among groups of
Delta Smelt with varied domestication index may create the need for domestication
management and the implementation of altered hatchery practices. This project will
provide relevant and timely information for conservation managers and adaptive
restoration strategies and dovetail with the recommendations from the 2017 Delta Smelt
Supplementation Workshop. As such, this study is included in the supplementation
studies work plan which came out of that workshop. Specifically, this project fits within
two topics in the IEP Science Strategy: Effects of Climate Change and Extreme Events
and Restoring Native Species and Communities.
Objectives
1. To characterize domestication effects on hatchery Delta Smelt by synthesizing
existing/historical datasets on growth and reproduction of fish at the FCCL since
the start of the hatchery program.
2. To identify the impacts of domestication index on the physiological stress
response of Delta Smelt following handling stress.
3. To determine the effects of domestication index on individual and group
swimming behavior, responses to predation, and responses within the context of
climate change factors including warming and increased salinity. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt
|
| Updated |
June 13, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA]
|
| Description |
Description
We propose to develop an eDNA metabarcoding protocol to complement existing IEP
monitoring surveys and assess the effects of management activities such as habitat
restoration or flow alteration. We will develop a reference sequence database for native
and invasive fish, mussels, and other macroinvertebrates present in the San Francisco
Estuary (SFE). We will optimize a molecular and computational pipeline for
metabarcoding and ground truth the method against three SFE monitoring efforts, each
using different sampling gear. We will investigate the relationship between eDNA
sequence read count and fish biomass or abundance (EDSM survey). Finally, we will
determine the ability of metabarcoding to detect fish and macroinvertebrate
assemblages across large and small spatial scales and over time.
Need
Our overarching goal is to develop a non-invasive, low cost monitoring tool that can be
used in conjunction with existing IEP monitoring programs or used alone to assess
biological community composition at locations of interest in the SFE. This proposal is
related to the 2020 – 2024 IEP Science Strategy by creating a new monitoring tool that
can assist in two main areas: 1) Restoring
Bay-Delta native fishes and community interactions and 2) assessing effects of flow
alteration on Bay-delta aquatic resources. Broadly, this study will inform management
decisions by supporting and augmenting existing monitoring surveys in the SFE. It will
also lead to a richer and more complete understanding of SFE ecology. This study is
not explicitly required by law or agreement, and to our knowledge is neither a
recommended action nor a result from an IEP review or synthesis effort.
Objectives
Objective 1: Develop robust molecular methods and a computational pipeline for
detection of SFE fish and macroinvertebrates by eDNA metabarcoding of water
samples.
Objective 2: Compare eDNA metabarcoding head-to-head with existing and historical
monitoring data from three ongoing ecological surveys using diverse conventional
sampling gear and evaluate accuracy of fish abundance and biomass estimates from
eDNA metabarcoding data.
Objective 3: Evaluate factors that influence eDNA detection of species of interest (e.g.
rare or invasive species) and suites of species (e.g. benthic fishes and invertebrates) on
two spatial scales, within and between habitats, along with temporal variation. |
| Science topics |
Fish
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Geological Survey [USGS]
|
| Description |
Description
The overarching goal of this project is to determine if predation by piscivorous fishes is an important explanatory driver of survival of juvenile Chinook Salmon emigrating
through the north Delta. To achieve this goal, we seek to determine if variation in reach-specific characteristics of predation dynamics covary with survival of acoustictagged juvenile Chinook Salmon collected during the study period. This will be accomplished by comparing reach-specific characteristics of the piscivore community
and its observed and modeled consumption of juvenile Chinook Salmon across a range of environmental conditions.
Need
This is not a mandated study but it addresses an important research need.
Objectives
• How does the piscivore community (species composition, size structure, and abundance) vary across specific migratory pathways (river reaches) in the North Delta?
• To what extent do environmental conditions (e.g., water temperature, turbidity, and discharge) control the consumption of juvenile Chinook Salmon?
• Do characteristics of the predator community explain variation in survival of acoustic tagged salmon collected during the study period? |
| Science topics |
Predation
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
Description
The Direct Field Collections element (-089) provides funding support for expanded field
collections, allowing CDFW to provide other, IEP-approved researchers access to
research-capable boats and experienced operators, and thus the ability to safely
sample the upper San Francisco Estuary. This element most recently facilitated
investigations associated with the Fall Low Salinity Habitat (FLaSH) project and the
Directed Outflow Project (DOP).
Need
This element allows CDFW and thus IEP to provide boat and operator time to assist
collaborating researchers leading approved IEP projects with “on-the-water” sampling.
There is no mandate for this element.
Objectives
To provide CDFW operational flexibility to assist collaborating researchers leading
approved IEP projects with access to CDFW boat operators and boats to complete "onthe-water" sampling. |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
Description
This is a continuation of a five year project funded by CDWR and CDFW and the
Central Valley Project Improvement Act in 2017. The objective of the project is to
improve estimates of population abundances for fall, winter and spring run juvenile
Chinook Salmon at Sacramento and Chipps Island by improving efficiency estimates
using data from releases of coded wire tags (CWT), acoustic tags (AT), and by
genetically sampling the trawl catch in 2018. The project will (1) develop statistical
models for estimating trawl efficiencies using 2016-2018 data for paired AT-CWT
releases of winter run and fall-run Chinook Salmon;(2) use 2018 genetic sampling of
trawl catch in combination with efficiency estimates to estimate population abundances
of fall, spring and winter run at Sacramento and Chipps Island in 2018;(3) implement
trawl efficiency studies for multiple salmon runs in 2018 informed by the 2016 and 2017
results and in coordination with hatcheries for inclusion of AT fish with existing CWT
releases;and (4) combine trawl efficiencies with genetic samples of trawl catch to
provide estimates of fall, spring and winter-run salmon abundance (with estimated
precision) entering and exiting the Delta in 2018.
Need
There is growing appreciation that a salmon monitoring network that could quantitative
estimates of abundance is desirable to improve our knowledge and resolution of life
stage success and movement across the landscape (Salmon SAIL conceptual models
2016).
Objectives
(1) Estimate the population-level status and trends for winter run;and status of spring
and fall run;(2) evaluate production estimates for juvenile winter-run Chinook Salmon
entering the Delta used in water project take development;(3) provide estimates of
winter and fall run-specific freshwater cohort strength to support ocean harvest
management decisions;(4) establish a time series of winter, spring and fall run-specific
production estimates at key locations for incorporation into life cycle models. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
Description
Life history diversity buffers salmon populations over space (e.g. the use of natal and
non-natal rearing habitats and time (e.g. variable migration timing resulting in greater
probability of meeting optimal ocean conditions). Historically the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta provided critical salmon rearing habitat, but urban expansion, water
diversions and species introductions have resulted in inhospitable conditions unlikely to
meet rearing needs. This study fills critical data gaps regarding Delta rearing by juvenile
Chinook salmon – primarily to determine the annual migrant portfolio (proportion of
different populations and life stages) and the relative success of Delta vs. natal rearing
(inferred by rearing duration, growth rate, diet and condition). We quantify the extent to
which Delta rearing contributes to salmon population resiliency under different
environmental conditions, including drought (2014-15) and flood conditions (2017,
2019), and provide baseline data to provide insights into population-level responses to
future habitat restoration and climate change. The study uses annual collections of fall &
late fall run salmon samples from sites upstream (Mossdale/Sherwood Harbor), within,
and downstream (Chipps Island) of the Delta sampled by the IEP Delta Juvenile Fish
Monitoring Program (DJFMP).
Need
Annual monitoring surveys routinely sample salmon entering and leaving the Delta, but
the extent to which these juveniles rear there is virtually unknown, and has been
highlighted as a critical data gap for parameterizing the NMFS Chinook salmon life cycle
model (S. Lindley NOAA pers. comm.). There are limited tools available to monitor
habitat use by native fishes, with most efforts providing a snapshot of fish
presence/absence or abundance. Tagging studies provide key information about
migratory pathways and survival through stretches of the Delta, but are typically limited
to larger individuals and often use hatchery smolts with different rearing needs and seareadiness to the smaller individuals most likely to use Delta habitats. Otoliths represent
a unique tool to reconstruct fish age, natal origin, growth history, movement patterns,
and habitat use, even in fry <40mm fork length.
Objectives
We will use juvenile salmon collected by the IEP Delta Juvenile Fish Monitoring
Program to assess:
1. Contributions of different rivers & hatcheries to sites upstream, within &
downstream of the Delta.
2. Delta habitat use (frequency, duration) and success (growth rates, condition and
diet).
3. Mechanisms governing juvenile salmon outmigration timing from the natal
tributary. |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
Description
The Enhanced Delta Smelt Monitoring (EDSM) program is a year-round monitoring
program comprised of multiple crews trawling concurrently at multiple sites in predefined strata within the San Francisco Estuary. Post-larval Delta Smelt are targeted
approximately April through June using 20mm trawling gear, and Kodiak trawling gear is
employed the remainder of the year. Gear efficiency experiments and shallow water
sampling elements are incorporated when possible.
Need
The declining Delta Smelt population has highlighted the need to keep improving the
array of information that supports our understanding of the factors affecting Delta Smelt
population dynamics and management decisions to minimize adverse effects of water
operations on the population. EDSM has biological significance and potential
conservation benefit by providing data to resource managers on nearly all life stages of
endangered Delta Smelt and near-real-time data on the juvenile and adult life stages.
EDSM data is provided to the Smelt Working Group and other managers in near realtime to help inform management decisions during the entrainment season.
Objectives
• To estimate the total abundance of Delta Smelt, along with standard errors or
confidence intervals, on a weekly to bi-weekly basis for various life stages (postlarvae, juveniles, sub-adults, adults) throughout the year;
• To estimate the spatial distribution of Delta Smelt at a management relevant
temporal and spatial resolution;and
• To provide data that support management decisions and address scientific
questions to further understanding of sampling efficiency, drivers of Delta Smelt
population patterns, and other conservation and management-relevant topics. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
Description
The Directed Outflow Project (DOP) is a continuing collaborative effort among a dozen
state, federal and non-governmental groups. The DOP will employ a focused spatial
and temporal approach to evaluate mechanistic hypotheses directly related to the
rationales provided for the summer Delta outflow action and Yolo Bypass Toe Drain
action to benefit Delta Smelt, with direct relevance to the fall outflow action. Paired data
collections (same location and time) of abiotic and biotic habitat constituents to test
specific hypotheses will assist in avoiding prior shortcomings of using data collected for
different studies/hypotheses and/or across variable spatial/temporal scales (as
discussed in MAST [2015] and elsewhere). Sampling will occur during the Delta Smelt
juvenile rearing-stage, a period known to be associated with the location of the low
salinity zone (LSZ). Results should strengthen our understanding of the mechanisms
and drivers impacting Delta Smelt vital rates and associated habitat features with a
focus on outflow conditions. Results should assist in evaluating the benefit and
feasibility of future flow augmentation actions for managers and decision makers.
Results from this and other related studies will inform evaluations on which particular
outflow-related action or group of actions provides the most benefit for Delta Smelt.
Need
Requests and plans for water management actions related to augmentation of Delta
outflow have proceeded and are expected to proceed in the future. However, there is
uncertainty and disagreement regarding the mechanistic relationship of Delta outflow
during the rearing period to Delta Smelt vital rates and habitat, and the hypothesized
benefit of outflow alteration for Delta Smelt. Delta outflow has experienced reductions
in recent years, coinciding with the collapse of the Delta Smelt. Reduced outflow has
been linked to reductions in habitat suitability in Suisun Bay and Marsh and movement
of the LSZ to the Confluence of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River where little
connection to shallow open water habitats exists.
Objectives
The DOP’s main objective will be to evaluate the hypothesized benefit of outflow
alteration for Delta Smelt and its habitat in coordination with all stakeholder groups. The
following process and product related sub-objectives will facilitate progression toward
this evaluation objective.
• Test mechanistic hypotheses addressing the rationale behind outflow-based
actions to benefit Delta Smelt.
• Concurrently sample fish and measure abiotic/biotic habitat conditions at each
randomly selected location along the salinity and habitat gradient of the north to
western Delta along the Sacramento River during the summer and fall. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
Description
The aim of this pilot effort is to begin assessing methods and developing protocols for
incorporating measurement of fish body condition (Fulton’s Condition Index, K) into
standard Delta Juvenile Fish Monitoring Program (DJFMP) sampling.
Need
The goal of this study is to examine the utility of fish body condition as a measure for
DJFMP to evaluate underlying factors driving fish health and survival in the Sacramento
and San Joaquin River-Delta system. This will provide a more complete assessment of
how condition metrics vary for common fish species that are sensitive to differences in
environmental conditions, filling a fundamental data gap in our existing monitoring
program.
Objectives
• Establish a pilot sampling design and methods for collection of data from fish
sampled through DJFMP.
• Assess the utility and expand the use of body condition to include up to 7 species
of commonly sampled fishes.
• Develop protocols for incorporating new methods into DJFMP sampling. |
| Science topics |
Fish
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
Description
The purpose of this study is to expand IEP monitoring and inference to other dominant
near-shore, littoral habitats not sampled by beach seines through the use of boat
electrofishing. To accomplish this we will sample key littoral fish species across various
near-shore habitats in order to determine how best to estimate abundance, occupancy,
capture probabilities, and related environmental drivers.
Need
Expanding DJFMP sampling to other habitats throughout the Delta will allow our
program to detect and monitor fishes and ecological trends through time, alleviating a
recognized data gap. Current sampling relies on data collected through non-random
fixed point sampling of unobstructed habitats, which limits the utility of our data to inform
management decision.
Objectives
• Design boat electrofishing survey methods to expand DJFMP’s monitoring into
habitats and locations not sampled by beach seining.
• Design and develop field and data analysis methods for estimating capture
probability and abundance using boat electrofishing techniques.
• Predict spatio-temporal distribution of habitats occupied by key littoral species. |
| Science topics |
Habitat
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
The San Francisco Bay Joint Venture (SFBJV) brings together over one hundred environmental organizations, governmental agencies, landowners, and the business community to achieve a common goal and vision: protect, restore and enhance wetlands throughout the nine Bay Area counties, for the benefit of wildlife and people.
The San Francisco Bay Joint Venture (SFBJV) is one of twenty-two habitat-based Migratory Bird Joint Ventures (JV) that cover nearly all of the U.S. and Canada and much of Mexico. The SFBJV coordinates strategic habitat conservation throughout the nine San Francisco (SF) Bay Area counties in accordance with the SFBJV Implementation Plan. SFBJV partners work to protect, restore and enhance habitats through project implementation and by advancing related science, policy and communication priorities. The Joint Venture program provides opportunities to develop and deliver creative solutions to our current conservation challenges through the power of collaboration and partnership.
The SFBJV is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and grants from other partners and programs. |
| Science topics |
Hunting,
Agriculture,
Urban development,
Recreation & tourism,
Surface water / flow,
Flood,
Mudflats,
Intertidal / transition zones,
Above-highwater refugia,
Main channels,
Sloughs,
Backwater,
Submerged aquatic vegetation,
Floating aquatic vegetation,
Seasonally flooded,
Open water,
Managed ponds,
Riparian wildlife,
Delta islands,
Pacific flyway,
Waterfowl,
Shorebirds,
Gulls,
Saltwater / freshwater marshes,
Habitat,
Non-resident / overwintering birds
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
Point Blue Conservation Science
|
| Description |
PFSS is a coordinated multi-partner monitoring program led by Point Blue Conservation Science designed to guide the management and conservation of wintering shorebirds in the Pacific Flyway. The PFSS contributes data to the Migratory Shorebird Project, the largest coordinated survey of wintering shorebirds on the Pacific Coast of the Americas spanning 10 countries from Canada to Peru. |
| Science topics |
Hunting,
Flood,
Mudflats,
Intertidal / transition zones,
Above-highwater refugia,
Sloughs,
Submerged aquatic vegetation,
Floating aquatic vegetation,
Seasonally flooded,
Open water,
Managed ponds,
Riparian wildlife,
Forests,
Non-forested vegetation,
Delta islands,
Pacific flyway,
Shorebirds,
Saltwater / freshwater marshes,
Habitat,
Non-resident / overwintering birds
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
Audubon Canyon Ranch
|
| Description |
Our current work focuses on the effects of climate change and human disturbance to heronries. |
| Science topics |
Intertidal / transition zones,
Seasonally flooded,
Open water,
Managed ponds,
Riparian wildlife,
Forests,
Waterfowl,
Shorebirds,
Saltwater / freshwater marshes
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA]
|
| Description |
There is a well documented need for improved detection and associated modeling of salmon migration and survival in the Central Valley. We propose to address this need through an expanded acoustic receiver network and associated real-time and retrospective modeling of the data. The proposed work includes (1) the deployment of real-time receivers that will provide timely information on migrating salmon smolt location and timing, (2) expansion of the existing autonomous acoustic array to increase the coverage and detection efficiency;(3) development of new metrics for the real-time data for key management relevant questions such as entrainment estimates at critical junctions (Georgiana Slough and Delta Cross Channel);and (4) a retrospective analyses directly geared toward improving the quality and robustness of an existing forecasting model - the NMFS enhanced particle tracking model. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) conducts the 20-mm Survey annually to monitor the distribution and relative abundance of larval and juvenile Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) in the upper San Francisco Bay Estuary. The survey began in 1995 and supplies near real-time catch data to water and fisheries managers as part of an adaptive management strategy to limit the risk of Delta Smelt entrainment during water exports
Data collected: temperature, electro-conductivity, water transparency, turbidity, water volume, tidal stage, fish, and zooplankton. |
| Science topics |
Stage,
Tides,
Other zooplankton,
Water temperature,
Turbidity,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon,
White Sturgeon,
Delta Smelt,
Longfin Smelt,
Sacramento Splittail,
Benthos
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Pesticide Regulation [DPR]
|
| Description |
In California, DPR has been studying endangered species protection issues with federal funding since 1988. DPR activities include mapping sites occupied by federally listed species, evaluating pesticide exposure risks to inhabited sites, classifying risk and developing protection strategies to minimize risk as needed. There are currently 359 federally listed species in California including federally protected endangered and threatened species, proposed endangered, proposed threatened and Category 1 candidate species (that await only administrative processes to become protected species). Collectively, the federally listed species may occupy about 16 million acres, or about 16 percent of the land area of the state, albeit at very low densities. Of all federally listed species in California, the San Joaquin kit fox has by far the greatest overlap with agricultural areas, accounting for about 10 million acres in 14 counties, mostly in the agriculturally rich southern San Joaquin Valley. Other species that are interspersed with agricultural areas include birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans and many plants. |
| Science topics |
Agriculture,
Urban development,
Insecticides,
Rodenticides,
Herbicides,
Fungicides,
Chinook Salmon,
Delta Smelt,
Benthos,
Shorebirds,
Giant garter snake,
California tiger salamander,
Insects,
Other species,
Fish,
Mammals,
Birds,
Amphibians and reptiles
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
The California Recreational Fisheries Survey (CRFS) mission is to collect fishery-dependent data on California’s marine recreational fisheries, and to accurately estimate catch and effort in a time frame and on a scale that meets management needs. CRFS collects the data necessary to estimate catch and effort for California’s diverse recreational finfish fisheries which range from the California-Mexico border to the California-Oregon border extending over 1,100 miles of coast, and is surveyed at over 400 sampling sites. Annually, CRFS conducts over 7,000 sampling assignments and contacts over 68,000 fishing parties. High sampling rates produce confidence in estimates with a 20 percent sample rate of private boat anglers during salmon or groundfish seasons. CRFS collects the data to produce the estimates for all sport-caught finfish. |
| Science topics |
Fishing
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
The FMWT was initiated to determine the relative abundance and distribution of age-0 striped bass (Morone saxatilis), delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus), longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), American shad (Alosa sapidissima), splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus), and threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense) in the estuary. FMWT has sampled annually since it's inception in 1967, with the exceptions of 1974 and 1979, when sampling was not conducted. The FMWT samples 122 stations each month from September to December and a subset of these data is used to calculate an annual abundance index. |
| Science topics |
Stage,
Mysis,
Other zooplankton,
Water temperature,
Turbidity,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon,
White Sturgeon,
Delta Smelt,
Longfin Smelt,
Sacramento Splittail
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
To better understand emigration, California Department of Fish and Wildlife is undertaking a collaborative effort with University of California Davis Biotelemetry Laboratory to capture and acoustically tag 100 green sturgeons and 100 white sturgeons per year for three years. CDFW staff conducted sampling by deploying and tending 33-m variable mesh gill nets anchored with 18-kg pyramid weights. Juvenile sturgeon are surgically implanted with Vemco® V9 69 kHz acoustic transmitters and released near the point of capture. An array of Vemco® acoustic receivers deployed throughout the SFBDE collect detection data for acoustically tagged juvenile sturgeons. To date, (January 2018) CDFW and UCD staff tagged 16 juvenile green sturgeon and 11 juvenile white sturgeon over 159 days of sampling effort. |
| Science topics |
Green sturgeon,
White Sturgeon
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
The California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) is an inventory of the status and locations of rare plants and animals in California. CNDDB staff work with partners to maintain current lists of rare species, as well as to maintain an ever-growing database of GIS-mapped locations for these species.
The CNDDB is a "natural heritage program" and is part of a nationwide network of similar programs overseen by NatureServe (formerly part of The Nature Conservancy). All natural heritage programs provide location and natural history information on special status plants, animals, and natural communities to the public, other agencies, and conservation organizations. The data help drive conservation decisions, aid in the environmental review of projects and land use changes, and provide baseline data helpful in recovering endangered species and for research projects. |
| Science topics |
Mudflats,
Intertidal / transition zones,
Above-highwater refugia,
Main channels,
Sloughs,
Backwater,
Submerged aquatic vegetation,
Floating aquatic vegetation,
Seasonally flooded,
Open water,
Managed ponds,
Riparian wildlife,
Forests,
Non-forested vegetation,
Delta islands,
Pacific flyway,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon,
White Sturgeon,
Delta Smelt,
Longfin Smelt,
Sacramento Splittail,
Pelagic fish,
Benthos,
Salt marsh harvest mouse,
Waterfowl,
Shorebirds,
Gulls,
Giant garter snake,
California tiger salamander,
Insects,
Mollusks,
Crustaceans,
Striped bass,
Corbicula/Potamocorbula,
Nutria,
Water hyacinth,
Brazilian waterweed,
Spongeplant,
Giant reed,
Yellow star thistle,
Saltwater / freshwater marshes,
Habitat,
Other species,
Fish,
Mammals,
Birds,
Amphibians and reptiles,
Invertebrates,
Invasive / non native species,
Non-resident / overwintering birds
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
CDFG uses Rotary Screw Traps (RST) sampling to quantify emigrating juvenile salmonids by counting the number of fish captured within a known volume of water passing through the RSTs over time. Regular trapping is implemented and reported from Tisdale Weir and Knights Landing. These are the primary sources of data for salmon emigrating from the Sacramento River. There are approximately 30 other RSTs that operate in California, but these two are the prominent and consistent Sacramento River traps. |
| Science topics |
Surface water / flow,
Water temperature,
Turbidity,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
The federal hatcheries mark and tag fish that are released into the river or bay using a combination of coded wire tags (CWT) and adipose fin clipping. The number of fish tagged and the identifiers are reported to the RMPC which is part of the RMIS.
The Regional Mark Processing Center (RMPC) provides essential services to international, state, federal, and tribal fisheries organizations involved in marking anadromous salmonids throughout the Pacific region. These services include regional coordination of some tagging and fin marking programs, maintenance of databases for Coded Wire Tag Releases, Recoveries, and Locations, as well as the dissemination of reports of these data in electronic or printed form when requested. These databases are known collectively as the Regional Mark Information System (RMIS).†|
| Science topics |
Water temperature,
Dissolved oxygen,
pH,
Turbidity,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Conductivity
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
CDFW uses a stratified sampling design to interview anglers and check catches in the Delta and throughout the Sacramento system. Focus of the program is on salmonids, but they also record striped bass and sturgeon data, as available. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon,
White Sturgeon,
Fish
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
East Bay Municipal Utilities District
|
| Description |
The Mokelumne River supports Central Valley fall-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) (fall-run), which is the only salmon run known to naturally occur in this waterway (Clark 1929). Fall-run are listed as a Species of Concern under the federal Endangered Species Act (NMFS 2004).
Camanche Dam, which impounds Camanche Reservoir is the upper limit of anadromous fish migration in the Mokelumne River. East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) initiated construction of Camanche Reservoir in 1963. As mitigation for blocking access to spawning grounds for salmonids, EBMUD provided funding for the original construction of the MOK in 1964.The MOK is located on the south bank of the Mokelumne River at the base of Camanche Dam. While EBMUD provides funding for fall-run production, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) administers and operates the hatchery. The Commercial Salmon Stamp Fund provided funding for an additional MOK building built in 2002 and continues to financially support the MOK. On an annual basis the MOK produces fall-run for mitigation (Mitigation Element) and for ocean salmon enhancement (Ocean Enhancement Element). The annual MOK production goal is 6,400,000 fall-run smolts (3,400,000 for Mitigation Element and 3,000,000 for Ocean Enhancement Element).
The hatchery operations are involved with tagging and monitoring fish to assess the success of the hatchery program. |
| Science topics |
Surface water / flow,
Salinity,
Water temperature,
Dissolved oxygen,
pH,
Main channels,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
East Bay Municipal Utilities District
|
| Description |
EBMUD operates 2-3 RSTs downstream of the Mokelumne Fish Hatchery. |
| Science topics |
Surface water / flow,
Water temperature,
Dissolved oxygen,
pH,
Turbidity,
Main channels,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Sacramento Splittail,
Striped bass,
Fish,
Water intakes, fish screens & passage
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
The Red Bluff Fish and Wildlife Office (RBFWO) established a juvenile fish monitoring program using rotary-screw traps at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam (RBDD) in 1994.
The primary objectives of this project at present are to (1) obtain juvenile winter Chinook production indices and to correlate these indices with estimated escapement from adult estimates provided by the winter Chinook carcass survey, (2) define seasonal and temporal patterns of abundance of winter, spring, fall and late-fall run Chinook salmon and steelhead trout passing RBDD and (3) obtain relative abundance information (catch per unit volume) for green sturgeon and lamprey to monitor trends in abundance. |
| Science topics |
Water conveyance / infrastructure,
Surface water / flow,
Stage,
Velocity,
Water temperature,
Turbidity,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon,
Water intakes, fish screens & passage
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
The Central Valley Chinook Salmon In-river Escapement Monitoring Plan is a science-based collaborative approach to improve monitoring of adult Chinook salmon returning from the ocean to spawn in CV streams (escapement) and harvested in freshwater. Accurate estimates of escapement are critical to sound management of ocean and inland harvest and monitoring the recovery of listed stocks. A result of requests from fisheries resource managers, the development of this plan was funded in 2007 by the CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program.
The comprehensive monitoring plan includes a spatially and temporally balanced sampling protocol that when implemented will allow for statistically defensible estimates of population status. The plan incorporates an adaptive management strategy, and recommends a standardized database structure, as well as standardized reporting techniques. |
| Science topics |
Main channels,
Chinook Salmon
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Water Resource [DWR]
|
| Description |
The Fisheries Branch Anadromous Assessment Unit compiles annual population estimates of Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. Estimates are based on counts of fish entering hatcheries and migrating past dams, carcass surveys, live fish counts, creel census data, and ground and aerial redd counts. |
| Science topics |
Main channels,
Sloughs,
Backwater,
Seasonally flooded,
Open water,
Chinook Salmon
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
To meet the need for consistent statewide anadromous distribution data, CalFish cooperators have initiated a series of projects to begin pulling existing distribution data together for select anadromous species. We began developing Coho Distribution in 2002, published the first publicly available version in July 2007 and most recently updated with new information in June 2012. We extended this effort to Steelhead in the Fall of 2004, first published the data in the Fall of 2007 and updated it in Fall 2009 and most recently June 2012. Additionally, we are seeking funding to further extend this effort to Chinook in the very near future. |
| Science topics |
Fishing,
Main channels,
Sloughs,
Backwater,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Water Resource [DWR]
|
| Description |
There are 24 fixed discrete stations within the San Francisco Estuary that are monitored at high water slack tide. The stations are primarily accessed by the Research Vessel Sentinel, or vehicle transport. Discrete sampling is completed once a month due to the intensity of collecting a wide collection of physical parameters (e.g. water temperature) and grab samples for laboratory analysis (e.g. nitrogen and phosphorous). The data from the discrete sampling is helpful to document long-term changes within the estuary. |
| Science topics |
Algae,
Ammonia,
Benthic,
Benthos,
Bivalve,
Carbon,
Chemistry,
Chlorophyll A / B,
Climate change,
Conductivity,
Corbicula/Potamocorbula,
Crustaceans,
Cyanobacteria,
Delta islands,
Detritus,
Dissolved oxygen,
Docks and ports,
Drought,
Environmental drivers,
Estuaries,
Food webs,
Harmful algal blooms HAB,
Invasive / non native species,
Invertebrates,
Jellyfish,
Main channels,
Mollusks,
Nitrogen,
Nitrogen / ammonia,
Nutrients,
Open water,
Other species,
Other zooplankton,
pH,
Phosphorous,
Phytoplankton,
Primary production,
Salinity,
Sediments,
Sloughs,
Surface water / flow,
Suspended sediment,
Temperature,
Tidal wetlands,
Tides,
Turbidity,
Water,
Water conveyance / infrastructure,
Water management,
Water operations / exports,
Water temperature,
Zooplankton
|
| Updated |
August 28, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
The Summer Townet (STN) Survey was initiated in 1959 to determine relative distribution and abundance of young of the year (age-0) striped bass (Morone saxatilis) in the Delta. To predict fishery recruitment, the survey calculates an index to measure age-0 striped bass year class strength. This index is based on abundance when age-0 striped bass attain a mean length of 38.1 mm. In contrast, the delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) index is the average of the first two survey indices. The delta smelt index was developed about 1990 in response to declining delta smelt abundance. It has proven valuable in gauging the health of the estuary;delta smelt abundance trend data was used as supporting evidence for their listing as threatened in 1992 under the Federal and State Endangered Species Acts. It appears that zooplankton data are also collected. |
| Science topics |
Mysis,
Other zooplankton,
Main channels,
Sloughs,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon,
White Sturgeon,
Delta Smelt,
Longfin Smelt,
Sacramento Splittail,
Striped bass,
Fish
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
The abundance of juvenile Chinook Salmon (all races) emigrating from the Central Valley's tributaries on their way to the ocean is estimated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Delta Juvenile Fish Monitoring Program that operates in and around the Delta. The Delta Juvenile Fish Monitoring Program (DJFMP) conducts annual monitoring of juvenile fishes, participates in multi-agency research activities, and contributes to several technical and management committees within the region. |
| Science topics |
Water temperature,
Dissolved oxygen,
Turbidity,
Main channels,
Sloughs,
Chinook Salmon,
Crustaceans,
Fish,
Invertebrates
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
The State Water Project (SWP), operated by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), and the Central Valley Project (CVP), operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, export water out of the San Francisco Bay Delta for urban and agricultural use in California. Salvage of fish at both facilities is conducted 24 hours a day, seven days a week at regular intervals.
Since 1957, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) has salvaged fish at the Tracy Fish Collection Facility (TFCF). CDFW's Fish Facilities Unit, in cooperation with DWR, began salvaging fish at the Skinner Delta Fish Protective Facility (SDFPF) in 1968.
Fish salvage and loss rates are used to determine the need for changes in operations in response to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regulatory requirements. Salvage and loss monitoring includes daily monitoring and reporting of estimated loss of salvaged fish, as well as monitoring and reporting of salvaged Coded Wired Tagged (CWT) hatchery fish. This information is widely used by West Coast fisheries agencies to collect information on natural and hatchery-reared stocks of salmon and steelhead.
Our state-of-the-art genetic analysis techniques are used to quantify salvage rates of listed runs of California's Central Valley juvenile Chinook Salmon. We also utilize advanced genetic analysis techniques to identify different populations of Central Valley juvenile Chinook Salmon, and actively participate in development of new analysis methods. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon,
White Sturgeon,
Delta Smelt,
Longfin Smelt,
Sacramento Splittail,
Striped bass,
Fish,
Invasive / non native species
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Water Resource [DWR]
|
| Description |
DWR conducts Feather River fishery studies to estimate adult abundance for both spring-run and fall-run Chinook salmon, and to conduct tagging studies using young fish from Feather River Hatchery.
Our program has expanded in recent years and also supports additional fishery studies commissioned for the Oroville Facilities relicensing through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The Feather River Fish Hatchery is a joint operation between CDFW and DWR. Generally, CDFW is responsible for raising and releasing the fish. DWR operates the fish traps and analyzes the data for returns and populations. According to their website, of the 5 hatcheries (Feather, Coleman, Nimbus and ??) Feather accounts for most ocean catch.
The hatchery also monitors and reports returning adults (https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/documents/ContextDocs.aspx?cat=Fisheries--FishProductionDistribution&sub=Anadromous_Fish_Trap_Counts) |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
California tracks the number of fishing licenses sold each year, by county. |
| Science topics |
Fishing,
Chinook Salmon,
Steelhead Trout,
Green sturgeon,
Pelagic fish,
Fish
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife [CDFW]
|
| Description |
California monitors the number of hunting licenses, including waterfowl, issued by year, county and type throughout the state.
They also produce annual hunting results documents that show the number of hunters, the number of animals caught, and other information pertaining to the animals, broken down by county. |
| Science topics |
Hunting,
Waterfowl,
Environmental drivers
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
California Department of Water Resource [DWR]
|
| Description |
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has operated a fisheries monitoring program in the Yolo Bypass, a seasonal floodplain and tidal slough, since 1998. The objectives of the Yolo Bypass Fish Monitoring Program (YBFMP) are to: (1) collect baseline data on lower trophic levels (phytoplankton, zooplankton, and aquatic insects), juvenile fish and adult fish, hydrology, and water quality parameters;(2) investigation of the temporal and seasonal patterns in chlorophyll-a concentrations, including whether high concentrations are exported from the Bypass during agricultural and natural flow events and the possibility of manipulating bypass flows to benefit listed species like Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) and Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).
The YBFMP operates a rotary screw trap and fyke trap, and conducts biweekly beach seine and lower trophic surveys in addition to maintaining water quality instrumentation in the bypass. The YBFMP serves to fill information gaps regarding environmental conditions in the bypass that trigger migrations and enhanced survival and growth of native fishes, as well as provide data for IEP synthesis efforts. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Chlorophyll A / B,
Conductivity,
Delta Smelt,
Direction,
Dissolved oxygen,
Endangered species,
Fish,
Flood,
Food webs,
Green sturgeon,
Habitat,
Habitat restoration,
Insects,
Intertidal / transition zones,
Invasive / non native species,
Invertebrates,
Longfin Smelt,
Main channels,
Nitrogen,
Nitrogen / ammonia,
Nutrients,
Other species,
Other zooplankton,
Pelagic fish,
pH,
Phytoplankton,
Primary production,
Sacramento Splittail,
Salmon migration,
Salmon rearing,
Saltwater / freshwater marshes,
SAV/FAV,
Seasonally flooded,
Solar irradiance,
Stage,
Steelhead Trout,
Striped bass,
Sturgeon,
Submerged aquatic vegetation,
Surface water / flow,
Tides,
Turbidity,
Velocity,
Water,
Water temperature,
Wetlands,
White Sturgeon,
Zooplankton
|
| Updated |
August 28, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
The Enhanced Delta Smelt Monitoring (EDSM) Program is conducted year-round by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lodi Office. This survey conducts high-frequency sampling in both the entrainment and entrainment-reference zones on a weekly basis. The survey will allow us to estimate the abundance of Delta Smelt in each zone to determine proportional entrainment and the relative risk of water operations to the population. |
| Science topics |
Water temperature,
Turbidity,
Main channels,
Sloughs,
Delta Smelt,
Conductivity
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Geological Survey [USGS]
|
| Description |
Our group at the USGS continuously monitors suspended-sediment concentration (SSC), turbidity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, and water level at many sites throughout the San Francisco Bay (Bay) and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers Delta (Delta).
Our work began in 1988 to explore the spatial and temporal variability of water quality and sediment transport and to provide decision makers, resource managers, and the public with the most up-to-date knowledge. Topics we study include water quality, sediment transport, water clarity, erosion and deposition, sediment-associated contaminants and habitat quality, wetland restoration, and sea level rise. |
| Science topics |
Water operations / exports,
Water storage,
Water conveyance / infrastructure,
Surface water / flow,
Stage,
Velocity,
Suspended sediment,
Bedload,
Deposition,
Erosion,
Chemistry,
Toxicity,
Salinity,
Water temperature,
Dissolved oxygen,
Turbidity,
Other discharge contaminants,
Intertidal / transition zones,
Main channels,
Sloughs,
Open water,
Riparian wildlife,
Conductivity,
Water use / demand,
Water intakes, fish screens & passage
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
Some geese and ducks are not adequately monitored during the spring and summer because they nest in areas not well covered by breeding population surveys. Abundance indices for these species are obtained from surveys on wintering areas. Most of these surveys are targeted at specific species or populations. A nationwide effort to survey all waterfowl is conducted annually in January. This, the Mid-winter Waterfowl Survey, provides information on population trends for some species, distribution on the wintering grounds, and habitat use. The Mid-Winter Waterfowl Survey is conducted cooperatively by the states and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. |
| Science topics |
Hunting,
Waterfowl
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]
|
| Description |
The Central Valley Joint Venture (CVJV) is a self-directed coalition consisting of 21 State and Federal agencies, private conservation organizations and one corporation. This partnership directs their efforts toward the common goal of providing for the habitat needs of migrating and resident birds in the Central Valley of California. The CVJV was established in 1988 as a regional partnership focused on the conservation of waterfowl and wetlands under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. It has since broadened its focus to the conservation of habitats for other birds, consistent with major national and international bird conservation plans and the North American Bird Conservation Initiative.
The Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture was formally organized in 1988 and was one of the original six priority joint ventures formed under the NAWMP. Renamed the Central Valley Joint Venture in 2004, the Management Board now consists of nineteen public and private members.
The CVJV is currently administered through a coordination office within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and is guided by a Management Board that receives input and recommendations from a variety of working committees. |
| Science topics |
Hunting,
Agriculture,
Urban development,
Recreation & tourism,
Mudflats,
Intertidal / transition zones,
Above-highwater refugia,
Seasonally flooded,
Riparian wildlife,
Waterfowl,
Shorebirds,
Gulls,
Habitat,
Non-resident / overwintering birds
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
CVPAS for Central Valley Prediction and Assessment of Salmon, extends and improves the SacPAS real-time web database and fish forecasting tools to other river systems in the Central Valley. The goal is to integrate environmental/fish data, fish passage/survival models and output from water quality models into a web-accessible analysis and visualization system. The website provides support for regional integration and public access to Reclamation and ESA-mandated activities. |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
November 18, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
These monitoring efforts can provide critical information on juvenile salmonid distribution and survival, which inform biologists and managers interpretations of the exposure and intensity of CVP and SWP water operation risks on tagged populations in Central Valley rivers and the Bay- Delta. Understanding salmon survival and migration dynamics in the Delta and its tributaries is critical to the recovery of ESA-listed species, and sport and commercial fisheries management.
For example, estimating the population size of endangered Sacramento River Winter-run
Chinook (SRWRC) as they enter and exit the Delta is considered critical for informing Delta water management actions (Interagency Ecological Program (IEP) SAG 2013). “The use of realtime acoustic receivers that immediately transmit acoustic tagged (AT) fish detections needs to be included in the expanded network” (Johnson et al., in press). Tracking the fate of individual tagged fish will be accomplished with AT and used to develop estimates of survival and movement for other non-AT fish also part of that group. Population level sampling programs will use survival estimates generated by AT and applied to other mass marked (coded wire tagging) groups to develop improved capture efficiency for these sampling programs.
Objectives:
• Deploy and service field monitoring acoustic telemetry stations at locations important to fish and water management.
• Implant, transport, and release acoustically tagged juvenile ESA-listed wild and hatchery juvenile salmonids.
• Analysis and synthesis to support production and development of new
metrics for understanding the survival, distribution, and entrainment of juvenile salmonid along the Sacramento River and its floodways, as well as, the Bay-Delta.
Six-Year Steelhead Study Continuation
Reclamation’s Proposed Action for ROC on LTO Section 4.10.5.12.3 Additional Measures includes a San Joaquin Basin Steelhead Telemetry Study -- Continuation of the 6-Year Steelhead telemetry study for the migration and survival of San Joaquin Origin Central Valley Steelhead.
This investigation involves undertaking experiments utilizing acoustically-tagged salmonids to confirm proportional causes of mortality due to flows, exports, and other project and non-project adverse effects on steelhead smelt out-migrating from the San Joaquin Basin and through the southern Delta. This study is to coincide with different periods of operations and focus on clipped hatchery steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The period of interest is between February 15 and June 15, which coincides with a majority of O. mykiss outmigration from the Stanislaus River and recoveries of steelhead smolts in the Mossdale fish monitoring efforts. This period is to include changes in CVP/SWP operations that include reductions in exports, reductions in reverse flows in Old and Middle rivers (OMR), and San Joaquin River pulse flows to assess the influence of flow and exports on juvenile steelhead survival.
This study is designed to evaluate juvenile steelhead route selection at channel divergences in the south Delta and along the mainstem San Joaquin River, and how these behaviors influence survival in specific reaches and through the Delta to Chipps Island. |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
25% of fall- run Chinook tagged and clipped and annual report on hathchery contributions to fisheries and watersheds |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
Annual juvenile production estimates for ESA species in Sacramento River, Clear Creek, and Battle Creek |
| Science topics |
None specified
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
Special study supporting water quality, food web, and biological measures regarding seasonal outflow and Delta Smelt. |
| Science topics |
Flows,
Water management
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
|
| Description |
This facility houses the Delta Smelt Refuge population and produces Delta Smelt for release into the Delta. It is also responsible for the genetic management of the captive population and support of studies on supplementation. |
| Science topics |
Delta Smelt
|
| Updated |
April 29, 2022
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - San Diego [UCSD]
|
| Description |
This proposal seeks to generate two management tools to optimize ongoing conservation efforts (e.g. wetland restoration, fish supplementation) by accomplishing the following 4 objectives:
Objective 1) use controlled laboratory experiments to identify temperature-dependent hypoxia tolerance data (Pcrit) for ChinookSalmon smolts and juvenile Delta Smelt.
Objective 2) compile existing temperature and DO monitoring data across the SFE.
Objective 3) generate metabolic indices using the newly-generated physiological data (Obj. 1) and existing environmentalinformation (Obj. 2) to examine spatial and temporal patterns in metabolic stress for each species.
Objective 4) explore and develop an otolith-based bioindicator to identify past hypoxia exposure. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Delta Smelt,
Dissolved oxygen,
Temperature
|
| Updated |
May 8, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Berkeley [UC Berkeley]
|
| Description |
The objective of this research on tidal marsh food webs is to examine whether and how restoration (via breaching dikes) may translate into recovery of diverse energy pathways and trophic interactions between basal resources, primary consumers, and predators. By comparing food webs at several tidal marshes, I will answer the following questions: (1) How does food web structure vary between reference and restored tidal marshes over time (seasons and years) and across a salinity gradient? (2)What mechanisms explain variation in food web structure within and between reference and restored tidal marshes–are they related to energy flows (food quantity, quality, transfer efficiency), community composition, or both? (3) What role do non-native species play in potentially shifting food web structure–e.g., changing community membership, sequestering energy from natives? This project builds on a large breadth of research that has used stable isotopes to characterize tidal marsh food webs in the Bay-Delta and other regions. |
| Science topics |
Food webs,
Wetlands
|
| Updated |
May 8, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Berkeley [UC Berkeley]
|
| Description |
The overarching goal of this study is to investigate the time-varying effects of flow variation and food availability on longfin smelt population dynamics, via advanced modeling of a diverse set of environmental and ecological monitoring time series. Specifically, this project will:(1) Assess how key environmental drivers (flow, salinity, temperature) have changed over the past 5 decades (1967 to present) across the San Francisco Estuary (SFE); (2) Examine how longfin smelt population dynamics have changed over that time period, and whether/when breakpoints in abundance and trends exist (e.g., periods of 'decline' vs' stability'); (3) Quantify the effects of environmental on driving observed fluctuations in longfin smelt dynamics; (4) Determine whether/how environment-smelt relationships have changed in magnitude or sign over time; and if they changed, whether such changes have been spatially consistent across the SFE. These goals will inform ongoing conservation efforts of longfin smelt by determining the combinations of flow, habitat, and prey availability conditions that lead to stable population dynamics for the species. |
| Science topics |
Fish,
Flows,
Longfin Smelt,
Zooplankton
|
| Updated |
May 8, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
Spring-run Chinook salmon rehabilitation efforts are intensifying on the San Joaquin River. Over the last three years, UC Davis has successfully tracked movement, behavior, reach-specific survival, and route selection for reintroduced juvenile spring-run Chinook salmon in this ecosystem. In 2019, information on salmon tracking was combined with state-of-art habitat (fast limnological automated measurements or “FLAMe”) and physiological (e.g. fish condition, survival and transcriptomic) approaches. Results from this work are ongoing but have yielded actionable information on key habitats and management strategies for promoting salmon life-cycles in the San Joaquin River and central Delta. Now UC Davis will further explore promising recent findings. First, the analysis of an additional year of juvenile salmon tracking will occur to glean more survival information across different water year conditions. This information would be married with expanded FLAMe surveys in space and time along with a second year of physiological assays using caged fish. UC Davis will also evaluate the ‘transport effect’ on salmon, in an attempt to explain consistently high losses of JSATS-tagged salmon through the restoration area. Numerous other synergies exist with new and ongoing telemetry work that will be benefitted by a continuation of this work. The goal is to provide actionable science, and open access data, with a high potential to facilitate adaptive management in the San Joaquin River and central Delta. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Endangered species,
Estuaries,
Fish,
Habitat restoration
|
| Updated |
October 3, 2023
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
|
| Description |
In this project we use single-species and multi-species environmental DNA (eDNA) approaches to monitor tidal wetland restoration sites and paired reference sites (existing, unrestored tidal wetlands located near restoration sites) in the San Francisco Bay Delta (SFBD). We are working in coordination with the CDFW Fish Restoration Program (FRP) and other collaborators so our eDNA detections can be paired with physical detections of fishes from their trawling efforts. Ultra-sensitive DNA single species detection methods are being used to identify restoration site use by listed species (Delta Smelt, Longfin Smelt, winter- and spring-run Chinook Salmon) while the DNA metabarcoding approach will evaluate entire fish communities (groups of different fish species) at restored and reference sites. Aside from revealing restored habitat use by other fishes, metabarcoding will reveal potential ecological interactions between Endangered Species Act listed and non-listed species, through concurrent detection in time and space. Sampling throughout the year will allow us to identify seasonal trends in fish use of restored and reference sites. This project will demonstrate the utility of eDNA detection as a non-invasive (no take), cost-effective monitoring tool that can complement conventional surveys of restored tidal wetlands in the SFBD. Our results can be incorporated into an adaptive monitoring framework for tidal wetland restoration, to increase success of future restoration projects. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Delta Smelt,
Endangered species,
Estuaries,
Fish,
Green sturgeon,
Habitat,
Habitat restoration,
Invasive / non native species,
Invertebrates,
Longfin Smelt,
Mollusks,
Pelagic fish,
Restoration,
Restoration planning,
Sacramento Splittail,
Salmon migration,
Salmon rearing,
Steelhead Trout,
Striped bass,
Sturgeon,
Tidal wetlands,
Wetlands,
White Sturgeon
|
| Updated |
May 24, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
San Francisco State University, Estuary & Ocean Science Center
|
| Description |
Our study will characterize species diversity at multiple levels of biological organization in the water column of restoring wetlands in the upper San Francisco Estuary and Delta (SFE), from bacteria to fishes. In doing so, we will also describe the foodweb benefits being provided to larval fishes, including longfin smelt, through additional dietary DNA analysis. We will use the species diversity we find in the water column to identify a subset of biota that are indicative of the conditions present in wetlands in different stages of restoration (early, intermediate, and mature) and identify connections between those indicators to the foodweb resources being provided to higher trophic levels. We will study 3-4 wetlands in each of 3 stages: early (unvegetated), intermediate (partially vegetated and partially channelized), and mature (fully vegetated and channelized) wetlands. |
| Science topics |
Crustaceans,
Cyanobacteria,
Estuaries,
Fish,
Food webs,
Habitat,
Habitat restoration,
Insects,
Invertebrates,
Longfin Smelt,
Other species,
Other zooplankton,
Pelagic fish,
Phytoplankton,
Predation,
Restoration,
Salinity,
Saltwater / freshwater marshes,
Tidal wetlands,
Wetlands,
Zooplankton
|
| Updated |
January 31, 2024
|
-
| Title |
|
| Lead |
University of Washington [UW]
|
| Description |
Tag predation is a complicating factor in juvenile salmon telemetry studies that can bias results, delay timely reporting, and prevent effective data synthesis. This project addresses the problem by (1) characterizing predatory fish movement patterns from existing telemetry data in the Delta; (2) developing a standard operating procedure for diagnosing and handling detections of predated tags in salmon telemetry studies; and (3) implementing the recommendations in a software package in Program R that includes code, a “library” of expected predator behaviors, and example vignettes. The R package will be freely available for download at www.cbr.washington.edu. |
| Science topics |
Chinook Salmon,
Endangered species,
Fish,
Intertidal / transition zones,
Invasive / non native species,
Predation,
Salmon migration,
Steelhead Trout,
Striped bass
|
| Updated |
December 26, 2023
|
Showing results 1 to 100 of 104
