Description: The Enhanced Delta Smelt Monitoring (EDSM) program is a comprehensive, year-round monitoring initiative that employs multiple research crews conducting concurrent trawling operations across designated strata within the San Francisco Estuary. The program specifically targets post-larval Delta Smelt from April through June using 20mm trawling gear, while Kodiak trawling gear is utilized for the remainder of the year. Need: The ongoing decline of the Delta Smelt population has underscored the critical need for continuous improvement in the data supporting our understanding of the ecological and anthropogenic factors influencing Delta Smelt population dynamics. The EDSM program plays a vital role in providing essential biological data that informs management strategies aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of water operations on this endangered species. By capturing data across nearly all life stages of Delta Smelt, including near-real-time information on juvenile and adult stages, the EDSM program offers significant conservation benefits. This data is promptly disseminated to the Smelt Working Group and other resource managers to facilitate informed decision-making during the critical entrainment season. Objectives: -Estimate the total abundance of Delta Smelt, including standard errors or confidence intervals, on a weekly to bi-weekly basis across various life stages (post-larvae, juveniles, sub-adults, adults) throughout the year. -Assess the spatial distribution of Delta Smelt at a management-relevant temporal and spatial resolution. -Provide data that supports management decisions and addresses scientific inquiries related to sampling efficiency, drivers of Delta Smelt population patterns, and other conservation and management-related topics.
The overarching AIS goal is that "Risks of aquatic invasive species invasions are substantially reduced, and their economic, ecological, and human health impacts are minimized. This goal is addressed through a series of performance and workload measures. The AIS Program provides funding for Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinators for each Region within the Service and their respective aquatic nuisance species activities. These coordinators work closely with the public and private sector to develop and implement invasive species projects. One of the primary initiatives of the program is the prevention of invasive species via boats through the "100th Meridian Initiative" (overseen by individual AIS regional coordinators). This initiative aims to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species by boats personal watercraft and other pathways. Through boat inspections and boaters assessments along the 100th meridian, partners can learn how to prevent the spread of zebra mussels and other AIS via transport of boats and personal watercraft.
The Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) began in 1975 to conduct baseline and compliance monitoring of water quality, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic invertebrates in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. This monitoring program was designed to track the impact of water diversions to the State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP) on the Bay-Delta. In the decades since, EMP scientists have monitored these constituents at fixed and floating stations throughout the estuary and ensured compliance with state and federal mandates such as Water Right Decision 1641 (D-1641). In the years and decades since its inception, EMP has become one of the cornerstones for scientists' and managers' understanding of the pace and pattern of change in this critical ecosystem. By sampling water quality and biological communities concurrently, EMP has created a dataset that is uniquely useful in better understanding causal connections between physical, biological, and biogeochemical processes.
The Summer Townet Survey (STN) is a long-term effort to monitor young pelagic fishes in the upper San Francisco Estuary. Since 1959, STN has sampled locations from eastern San Pablo Bay to Rio Vista on the Sacramento River, and to Stockton on the San Joaquin River; and a single station in the lower Napa River. The study area was expanded in 2011 to include the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Chanel and Cache Slough. Currently, 40 stations are sampled as a survey every other week June through August for a total of 6 surveys. Fish sampling uses a conical, fixed-frame net, which is pulled obliquely through the water column 2 to 3 times at each station. Data collected at 31 stations are used to calculate annual relative abundance indices for age-0 Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) and Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus). The remaining 8 stations are sampled to increase our understanding of juvenile fish abundance and distribution in the lower Napa River and the north Delta. Starting in 2005, a zooplankton net was added to assess fish food resources at each station and a subset of the fish collected are retained for diet analysis by CDFW researchers. Zooplankton sampling informs several management actions focused on Delta Smelt habitat improvements including collections of additional zooplankton samples for the Suisun Marsh Salinity Control Gate re-operation. Finally, the STN also measures environmental variables including water temperature, water clarity and specific conductivity. Managers and researchers use data collected by STN to inform decisions and improve and understand the health of the upper San Francisco Estuary.
The Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) has conducted the Zooplankton Study since 1972 to better assess trends in the lower trophic food web in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. The study also detects and monitors zooplankton recently introduced to the estuary and determines their effects on native species. Under the auspices of the Interagency Ecological Program for the San Francisco Estuary and mandated by Water Right Decision D-1641, the EMP Zooplankton Study is part of the Environmental Monitoring Program and is conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFW), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), and the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR).
The Delta Juvenile Fish Monitoring Program (DJFMP) has monitored natural-origin and hatchery-origin juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and other fish species within the San Francisco Estuary (SFE) since 1976 using a combination of midwater trawls and beach seines. Since 2000, three trawl sites and at least 58 beach seine sites have been sampled weekly or biweekly within the SFE and lower Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. The main objectives of the DJFMP are: 1. Document the long-term abundance and distribution of juvenile Chinook Salmon in the Delta. 2. Comprehensively monitor throughout the year to document the presence of all races of juvenile Chinook Salmon. 3. Intensively monitor juvenile Chinook salmon during the fall and winter months for use in managing water project operations (Delta Cross Channel gates and water export levels) on a real-time basis. 4. Document the abundance and distribution of Steelhead. 5. Document the abundance and distribution of non-salmonid species.
