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More PikeMinnow cross diversion dam than salmon, count almost two to one, pose major threat to salmon's spawning

 

August 4, 2009 -- Records released by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service reveal that the salmon counts taken at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam are down to one fourth their averages for this time of year. As of July 25th, 596 Chinook  salmon had crossed the dam, while the average for years past was 1,916.

 

However an alarming fact has also been revealed, the Sacramento Pike Minnow, the Chinook's main predator, has crossed the dam in record numbers, 905 this year compared to an average of 713. While these fish are probably not a major threat to full grown salmon, they are known to savage eggs in redds, salmon fry and smolts on their way from the river to the ocean. The fact that there are twice as many pike minnow as salmon does not bode well for those fish spawning in the wild or any smolts released from hatcheries expected to make the journey from river to the ocean on their own.

 

In a strange irony, the pike minnow's main predator is the striped bass. Stripers are not found above the Red Bluff Diversion dam however, they were once a major delta species, flourishing since their introduction by the California Fish and Game Commission in the late 1800's. They freely roamed the bay and delta and migrated up the Sacramento River system past Knight's Landing during their spring spawning run.

 

While their numbers are thought to have exceeded nine million adults during their hay day of the 1930's to 60's,  the population has collapsed to under 350,000 adults with the crash of the delta's fisheries. Even with a population of millions, they were found to be only a minimal threat to salmon and have been found by a number of science panels to have no influence on salmon populations.

 

This fact was conveniently ignored by the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, in reality a group of west San Joaquin water districts, that is currently trying to remove the striper's gamefish status in federal court.

 

The Coalition's intent was to draw attention away from the excessive pumping as a cause for the collapse of the delta's fisheries including the salmon and to instead, find a scapegoat to occupy the public's focus and animosity.

 

The case is currently in federal court and is scheduled for trial sometime in 2010. CSPA and the Department of Fish and Game along with a delta water district are defending the striper's right to exist in these proceedings.

 

In the mean time, with the salmon season closed, large numbers of stripers are being taken by the party boats working San Francisco bay. These boats and their anglers would normally be focused on the salmon fishery but since that fishery is closed and will likely be next year as well, the striper has become the fish of choice for these meat fishermen. Regulations on these boats are loose, allowing everyone to catch fish until the boat's limit is reached rather than the two fish per angler rule.

 

Of course, enforcement could take place in putting an undercover DFG warden on the boats, citing those catching over their limit but DFG seems hesitant to do so.

 

In the mean time, the pike minnow flourish and the salmon stocks continue to dwindle, the striper population not there to do the job of killing the salmon's predators.

 

USFWS Fish Counts