From multiple conservation organizations:
Contacts:
Scott Artis, Golden State Salmon Association, 925-550-9208, scott@goldenstatesalmon.org
Gary Bobker, Friends of the River, 415-272-6616, gbobker@friendsoftheriver.org
Ashley Overhouse, Defenders of Wildlife, 408-472-4522, aoverhouse@defenders.org
Mark Westlund, San Francisco Baykeeper, 510-671-5653, mark@baykeeper.org
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, barbara@restorethedelta.com
In California, today marks the start of the new “water year,” the date water managers use to mark the end of the dry season and the beginning of the wet. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) are kicking off this new water year by cancelling the fall flow protection for Delta Smelt — once one of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta’s most common fish — and now its rarest.
According to the current state and federal Endangered Species Act permits, DWR and Reclamation are required to release a pulse of water through the Delta to the San Francisco Bay in September and October to improve habitat conditions for the listed Delta Smelt. This fall outflow requirement is only triggered in years when it is wetter than normal and is often referred to as “Fall X2.” Some of the state’s largest Delta water exporters wrote to the agencies in August, requesting the suspension of Fall X2, despite Delta Smelt populations having sunk to record low levels in recent years.
DWR and Reclamation ignored a broad coalition of environmental and fishing groups who urged them that acquiescing to the water users would be the “next step towards extinction.” Instead, they are moving forward with cutting short one of the only actions that could help the imperiled species at this time of year. The Fall X2 outflow action uses the bounty of a wetter year to provide a rare measure of relief and recuperation — colder water, more food for Delta fish, and better water quality. “At this time next year, we may be looking at the extinction of a fish species that was once incredibly abundant when the Bay-Delta Estuary was healthy, and it will have been completely preventable, because we know a lot about what it takes to restore the Estuary’s health,” said Gary Bobker, Senior Policy Director at Friends of the River.
Instead, the giant pumps of DWR’s State Water Project and Reclamation’s Central Valley Project are ramping back up to export even more water to San Joaquin Valley corporate agribusiness and Southern California. The Water Projects are still largely operating under rules written by the Trump administration. Those rules were challenged by the State and many environmental groups because they ignored legal requirements and the best available science.
“It is incredibly disappointing to see the Newsom and Biden administrations willing to implement Trump-era water policies,” said Ashley Overhouse, Water Policy Advisor with Defenders of Wildlife. “This decision marks a somber start to the new water year, undercutting years of collaborative work to ensure the best available science is informing our water management decisions.”
The best available science indicates that a variety of complementary actions — such as improving summer and fall outflows, expanding tidal marsh habitat, and operating salinity control gates differently — are all needed to prevent the Delta Smelt’s extinction. DWR and Reclamation are only prioritizing Smelt survival if it doesn’t involve using any water.
“DWR and Reclamation conveniently neglected to propose improving summer outflow this year, an ‘adaptive management’ decision that would have scientific justification,” noted Eric Buescher, Managing Attorney with San Francisco Baykeeper. “Instead, they are quelling the October fall outflow action — and with it, possibly, the survival of Delta Smelt itself.”
Cancelling the fall flow action in 2024 marks the second consecutive year in which wet-year protections for fish have been waived. “The rules protecting fish only work when they are enforced,” said Chris Shutes, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “But adaptive mis-management is making the rules optional each time water contractors clamor for more water.”
Smelt, of course, aren’t the only fish species in trouble. DWR and Reclamation have killed countless steelhead and salmon on several occasions in 2024, exceeding the legal limits of their ESA permits. The last two years recorded some of the lowest numbers of spawning salmon ever in the Sacramento River. Central Valley fall-run Chinook Salmon numbers are so low that it required two closures in a row of the California coastal salmon fishing season, threatening tens of thousands of California and coastal Oregon salmon fishing jobs.
In response to the agencies decision to change Delta operations, Scott Artis, Executive Director of the Golden State Salmon Association stated: “For the salmon fishing industry, this decision is infuriating. Years of reckless water project operations have in turn severely impacted the lives of our communities that depend on healthy salmon runs. Fish like salmon and Delta Smelt are our ‘canary in the coal mine.’ When will the agencies
realize they are jeopardizing our future? They slashed protections for fish during the drought. Now they’re doing the same in a wet year. They are preparing to permanently exacerbate conditions for salmon with new ESA permits that are even worse than those adopted under the Trump administration.”
Barbara Barrigan-Parilla, Executive Director for Restore the Delta, concluded, “Once again, government agencies are changing the rules to weaken Delta protections for powerful special economic interests, rather than striving to save the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas for the people.”
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The Golden State Salmon Association (GSSA) is a coalition of salmon advocates that includes commercial and recreational salmon fishermen and women, businesses, restaurants, native tribes, environmentalists, elected officials, families and communities that rely on salmon. GSSA’s mission is to restore California salmon for their economic, recreational, commercial, environmental, cultural and health values.
Friends of the River (FOR) has been at the forefront of the struggle for a sustainable water future in California for more than half a century. FOR is dedicated to protecting and restoring California’s rivers, streams, and watersheds, while advocating for sustainable water management and water solutions that protect the environment.
Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities, with a nationwide network of nearly 2.2 million members and activists.
San Francisco Baykeeper (Baykeeper) defends the Bay and its watershed from its biggest threats. Since 1989, Baykeeper has patrolled the Bay for pollution, held polluters and government agencies accountable, and fought for healthy communities, fish, and wildlife. Baykeeper’s investigators, scientists, and lawyers have a winning track record for the Bay and the people of the Bay Area.
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance is a statewide advocate for fisheries, habitat, and water quality.
Restore the Delta’s mission is to ensure the health of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and Delta communities.
More coverage …
State Water Contractors applaud California’s use of adaptive management of Fall X2 in the Bay-Delta for 2024
“Today, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) adapted State Water Project operations in the Bay-Delta to protect both fish and water quality while preserving essential water storage in reservoirs as we begin a new water year. The change was made following a decade of scientific investigations and recent peer-reviewed life-cycle model results which clearly demonstrated that what’s known as “Fall X2″ water releases following wet and above normal water year types are not providing the benefits to Delta smelt that were originally hypothesized in 2008. Considering Delta monitoring data from earlier this year and the recent scientific findings, DWR and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) have adjusted the Fall X2 flow requirement in the 2020 Incidental Take Permit (ITP) for the State Water Project, as well as the 2019 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion (2019 BiOp) for the Central Valley Project and State Water Project, while remaining in compliance with environmental rules. In addition to operating Fall X2 requirements in September, DWR and Reclamation operated the Suisun Marsh Salinity Control Gate in September and will continue to meet Bay-Delta water quality objectives in October. … ” Continue reading from the State Water Contractors.
Westlands Water District supports use of adaptive management
“Westlands Water District is encouraged by the recent decision to employ adaptive management as part of implementing a regulation affecting our federal and state water projects. The decision was related to the implementation of the Fall X2 measure, one piece of a set of operational measures set to enforce the Endangered Species Act. This example of relying on recent scientific information and real-time monitoring is an encouraging example of how flexible management can contribute to achieving the co-equal goals of ecosystem protection and a reliable water supply for the farms that feed that nation. … ” Continue reading from Westlands Water District.
State and federal agencies cancel fall flow protections for endangered Delta Smelt
“The Delta Smelt, once the most abundant fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is functionally extinct in the wild, due to massive water exports to agribusiness and other factors over the past several decades. Zero smelt have been caught over the past six years in the California Department of Fish and Game’s Fall Midwater Trawl Survey. But representatives of fishing and environmental groups accuse the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) of starting the new water year by cancelling the fall flow protection for Delta Smelt. … ” Read more from the Daily Kos.
