Striped Bass Regulatory Proposal: The Staff Report

[Marty Gingras]

Could the low numbers of Smelt lost to entrainment at the pumps in recent years be due, at least in part, to their low population numbers overall

Yes. The Biological Opinion (basically, a permit from USFWS with conditions protective of delta smelt) accounts for that though, by varying allowable loss of delta smelt relative to the most-recent delta smelt abundance index.

Another thing thing on smelt.... aren't they pretty fragile and would probably disitengrate pretty easily anyway passing through the pumps?

Delta smelt are fragile. That's not an issue though, because there is no need to sample them downstream of the CVP and SWP south delta pumps. Salvage happens way upstream from the pumps and any fish that aren't salvaged are defined as lost.

[Jgoding]

Thanks Marty, wasn't exactly sure where the salvage occurred. I guess I always assumed it was at the pumps.

[bart]

Marty.Where upstream are smelt salvaged and by what method?

[Marty Gingras]

Marty.Where upstream are smelt salvaged and by what method?

The salvage (salvage is a good thing) of fish from water diverted by USBR happens in the Tracy Fish Facility, which is near Clifton Court Forebay at the confluence of Old River and West Canal.

The salvage of fish from water diverted by DWR happens in the Skinner Fish Facility at (basically) Clifton Court Forebay. The draft report here explains a lot about salvage at the Skinner Fish Facility:

ftp://ftp.delta.dfg.ca.gov/Adult_Stu...-%E2%80%A6.pdf

Salvage at the Tracy Fish Facility happens very much like salvage at the Skinner Fish Facility. Here is a link to a lot of information about the Tracy Fish Facility:

http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/tech_services/tracy_research/

[Darian]

While reading the draft report on the Skinner facility, it suddenly dawned on me that the Trash rack has some very large openings in it. This is a quote taken from the report:

"Large fish and debris are prevented from entering the facility through the trash rack’s vertical 5.1 cm wide openings."

If I'm calculating correctly, a 5.1 meter wide opening equals approximately 199". Also, this rack spans the entire width f the channel and, I assume, extends from top to bottom. How do the openings prevent large fish passage Only the largest Sturgeon (....and perhaps Humphrey the wayward whale) would not be able to go through an opening that wide. Is there more to the description of the Trash Rack....

[cyama]

Marty,

Thanks for taking time to answer my questions and provide information! I must admit you have a very tough job! I have seen some of the work being done by several fisheries biologists on various projects and they all work hard to make it all work. One of the best sites I have visited is the Livingstone Hatchery at the base of Shasta Dam. They have a secret stash of Delta Smelt if the system crashes. Lets just hope we don't have to use that stash.... Peace

[Marty Gingras]

"Large fish and debris are prevented from entering the facility through the trash rack’s vertical 5.1 cm wide openings."

If I'm calculating correctly, a 5.1 meter wide opening equals approximately 199". Also, this rack spans the entire width f the channel and, I assume, extends from top to bottom. How do the openings prevent large fish passage

The trash rack openings are small. You swapped units from centimeters to meters w/o moving the decimal point.

[Darian]

Senior moment.... Ed,.... I need a day or two with Duke....

[bart]

Delta smelt are fragile. That's not an issue though, because there is no need to sample them downstream of the CVP and SWP south delta pumps. Salvage happens way upstream from the pumps and any fish that aren't salvaged are defined as lost.

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Last edited by Marty Gingras; Yesterday at 03:27 PM.
The impression from the above quote is that there is an upstream collection going on.The skinner facility and fed facility are very close to each other and the louvers are appox.2" wide and use a vibration type water to channel them to the collection area.I thought you meant there was some point i didn't know about.The chance for survival from transport to release on sherman island is almost nil.I don't know of any down strea survey that tells about survival from that point

[Marty Gingras]

The chance for survival from transport to release on sherman island is almost nil.I don't know of any down strea survey that tells about survival from that point

What makes you say that? That used to be the common wisdom among biologists and the public, but really isn't anymore with biologists who work on it. We have relatively-recent data --- from the so-called CHTR studies conducted around 2005 --- that pretty-strongly suggests otherwise.

I don't know of any down strea survey that tells about survival from that point

Post-release survival of salvaged fish is an important gap in knowledge. It's a very difficult thing to quantify. Common-sense things (e.g., more release sites) are being done in hopes of improving it. Studies are being considered to evaluate it.