Listing will require new safeguards for fish, SF Bay and Delta ecosystems
Press release from the San Francisco Baykeeper
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today listed the San Francisco Bay’s population of longfin smelt as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ruling responds to a 2007 petition and follows years of advocacy and legal action by Baykeeper and allied organizations, including a 2024 lawsuit to compel the Service to comply with required ESA deadlines.
Longfin smelt were once one of the most abundant fishes in the San Francisco Bay estuary, but populations have declined more than 99% from 1980’s levels. This crash was caused by unsustainable diversion of Central Valley tributary rivers that slash annual freshwater flow into the Bay by 53% on average, and by more than 70% in the critical winter-spring period in some recent years. To thrive, longfin smelt need relatively high levels of freshwater flow into the Bay’s estuary. The extreme overuse of limited freshwater resources, which are mostly diverted to industrial agribusiness, causes perpetual drought-like conditions for longfin smelt and other native fish.
Despite these consequences, the state plans to divert even more fresh water from the Bay’s watershed through such projects as the Delta tunnel and Sites reservoir project, which would further degrade Bay-Delta habitat.
Baykeeper science director Jon Rosenfield, PhD, responded:
“ESA protection for longfin smelt is decades overdue, but it’s not too late. Preventing further decline and extinction of longfin smelt will require reducing California’s diversion of fresh water from the Bay’s watershed to supply unsustainable industrial agriculture, and inefficient suburban landscaping.
“Our local longfin smelt population is particularly sensitive to changes in the volume of fresh water flowing into San Francisco Bay, and its catastrophic decline is yet another sign that we take too much water from the rivers that feed the Bay.
“Imperiled native fish species such as longfin smelt, Chinook salmon, and others, desperately need more of the freshwater flow from Central Valley rivers to reach San Francisco Bay. Otherwise, they won’t survive. Meanwhile, Governor Newsom is promoting massive new water diversion projects, like the Delta tunnel and Sites Reservoir, that will further stress native fish populations and degrade their habitats.
“Doubling down on California’s 19th century approach of damming and diverting rivers will harm more species, cause more fisheries to close, and continue to degrade water quality throughout the Bay’s watershed. If we keep diverting too much water from Central Valley rivers, we’ll lose the Bay’s unique fishes forever.”
Background:
The longfin smelt listing brings to six the number of imperiled fish species native to the Bay that are now protected under the federal ESA. Baykeeper and colleague environmental and scientific organizations originally petitioned the Service to protect this longfin smelt population in 1992; however, that petition was denied. Longfin smelt once contributed to a valuable smelt fishery in the Bay.
Baykeeper and colleague non-profit organizations have also recently petitioned for ESA listing of the Bay’s white sturgeon population, which also suffers on account of the over-diversion of Central Valley river flows.The closure of California’s commercial and recreational fishery for Chinook salmon for the second consecutive year is another byproduct of mismanagement of Central Valley rivers.
ESA listing for longfin smelt will prohibit activities that kill, harm, or harass the fish without special permits. State and federal water projects will be required to modify their reservoir and diversion operations and apply for “incidental take” permits to account for the protected species their facilities kill. The Service should use the permitting process to make sure that any take is absolutely necessary and minimized. Baykeeper and our allies will be watching to make sure that the Service requires and enforces science-based protections for longfin smelt.
RELATED COVERAGE:
Bay-Delta longfin smelt wins Endangered Species Act protections
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially listed the San Francisco Bay-Delta population segment of the longfin smelt as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act Monday morning. The longfin smelt was already listed as a threatened species under California’s Endangered Species Act, prohibiting the unpermitted possession, purchase, sale or take of the species. The service’s decision will now provide consistency between state and federal endangered species regulations, eliminating separate requirements from the state and federal levels. The fish is 3.5 to 4.3 inches long with a translucent silver appearance on its sides and gut, while its back has an olive to iridescent pinkish hue. It lives about two to three years in bays and estuaries along the West Coast from Northern California to Alaska. The Bay-Delta longfin smelt occupies only the San Francisco Bay estuary and some areas of the Pacific Ocean. … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
SEE ALSO: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lists Bay-Delta Longfin Smelt as Endangered, press release from the USFWS
