Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project

Here, for your interest, is a status of our more significant activities in year 2004.

A. Construction Completion Status of Kingfisher Flat Anadramous Fish Rearing & Research Facility

1. Full reconstruction of our facility from massive flood damage inflicted by winter storms of 1998/1999 was put on hold in late 1999 due to various reasons, including coho salmon and steelhead rearing regulatory restraints, as discussed by me in this column in several previous newsletters.
2. Major issues were overcome and resolved in late summer of 2003, and MBSTP resumed major efforts to complete the facility reconstruction. The vast majority of work was completed this year, including correction of various existing electrical problems discovered while we were performing reconstruction activities. Included in the reconstruction was the installation of a new water filtration system. Some work is continuing to complete this task.
3. A new Coho Captive Broodstock Rearing Facility (CCBRF) has taken longer to complete than previously estimated. Also a new separate water filtration system is being added to improve rearing efficiency and effectiveness.
4. We are now in the process of expanding our coho salmon fry rearing capability in the hatchery building by approximately 60% with the addition of 6 new deep-rearing troughs.
5. My deepest thanks to many volunteers (and their families) for providing literally several thousand man-hours of work to perform the reconstruction and new project efforts.

B. Permit Application for trapping, rearing, and planting of coho and steelhead during the 2004/2005 season.

MBSTP submitted the Permit Application to the CDFG in July of 2004. Although some additional streams were discussed in April with the CDFG & NOAA Fisheries, the CDFG rejected our July 2004 Permit request to add additional streams to our restoration plans. They cited that there was no present restoration need as determined from CDFG et al fish population surveys on these additional streams. These issues were discussed again at the September 21, 2004 Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) meeting with the result of no change in the Regulator’s position. MBSTP finally received an approved Permit Application from the CDFG in late November of 2004. At the present time, CDFG & NOAA fisheries continue not to grant us an approval to collect any adult steelhead broodstock for fish population restoration efforts in Corralitos and Browns Valley Creeks.
Since 1976 we have reared and released over 1,950,000 coho and steelhead smolts into local and regional streams.

C. Chinook Program Status

During year 2004, MBSTP acclimated and released over 245,800 Chinook smolts into the Monterey Bay. Since 1991, we have reared and released over 1,661,000 Chinook salmon smolts into Monterey Bay waters.
This year we have experienced a significant drop in contribution funds to MBSTP from various sources, including funds from businesses and from private individuals. With the completion of our construction projects in 2005, we may be facing the paradoxical dilemma of having one of the best salmonid fish rearing and research facilities on the west coast and possibly not having enough funding to cover our future operations costs. In comparison to other fisheries programs and facilities in California, we strive to keep our operations costs much lower than other fisheries programs. We have been told by many officials that our costs per salmonid fish reared are much lower than other similar programs. To date, we have been able to keep our costs low mainly due to the fact that we have such great volunteer fish care help.

In spite of our very effective cost control efforts, we must face the reality that we are all going to have to seek after and provide more funding support to cover our operating costs in the future. If we are not able to obtain greater public and business funding support, we will most likely have no other option but to cease our operations and close down the Project. Please see the article on this issue in this Newsletter by our Treasurer, Larry Wolf.
Again I want to take the opportunity to thank all of the great organizations, groups, businesses, and individuals who continue to support our salmonid programs and are keeping us going and alive! Our
continuing thanks to The David & Lucile Packard Foundation; Fish & Game Advisory Commissions of Monterey, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties;
commercial Salmon Stamp Committee; Scotts Creek Watershed Council; Santa Cruz Port District; Moss Landing Harbor District.
My special thanks to the great crowd of our supporters who turned out at our 27th Annual Albacore Dinner in November at Castroville. This event is one of our largest annual fund raisers, and it turned out very well.

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