April 2002 Newsletter
Old Newletters- October 2001- October 2000 - October 1999 - June 1999
Volunteer's Activities Corner
By Allen Smith, Board Chairman & Volunteer Coordinator
Since our last Newsletter of October 2001, our volunteers have been very active in performing a miriad of our seasonal fish culture tasks. Some of our more noteworthy accomplishments and future activities are:
- Nov. 5 thru 9, 2001: Modified Chinook Enhancement Program Sea Pens for Monterey & Santa Cruz Harbors.
- Nov. 10, 2001: Assisted Rotary Club of Castroville in putting on our Annual Albacore Dinner fund raiser function.
- Dec. 1, 2001: Fin clipped approximately 44,000 steelhead fingerlings spawned from Scott Creek and San Lorenzo River adult steelhead.
- Dec. 6, 2001 thru March 4, 2002: Trapping and capturing adult broodstock coho salmon and steelhead for our spawning program. Coho return was best we have seen in our 26 year history. Special thanks to our outstanding dive-teams and our fish trap operators for many long (and some very cold) hours, much of this effort done in streams!
- Dec. 2001: Bob Eustice & Al Smith completed a memorial area in honor of deceased MBSTP Board Member, Treasurer, and dear friend Richard Wehner.
- Jan. 2002: Repaired and restored one of our satellite rearing facilities in Santa Cruz. Special thanks to Karl Raadik.
- March 14 thru April 16, 2002: Released well over 43,000 steelhead smolts and scores of spawned adult fish to their "home" streams.
- April 6, 2002: Trained seven new volunteers in fish care at MBSTP's fish rearing facility.
- April 24 thru 30, 2002: Assemble and place into operation Chinook Enhancement Program Sea Pens.
- May1 thru June 1, 2002: Obtain fish from CDF&G and conduct Chinook Enhancement Program at Monterey and Santa Cruz Harbors.
- June 3 thru 7, 2002: Disassemble chinook sea pens and place all structures, hardware, and equipment in storage.
- July 5, 6, & 7, 2002: Set up weigh-in station sites at Monterey City Harbor, Moss Landing Harbor, Santa Cruz Harbor and conduct 8th Annual "Big Fish Derby". Special thanks to Larry Wolf and to all the outstanding volunteers who help on this activity.
- January, March, April, & May 2002: Conducted many Salmon & Trout Education Program (STEP) activities with over 180 classrooms in 5 counties of our Central Coast area. Special thanks to Hugh Miller, Beccy Fitch, Matt McCaslin and all of the STEP team.
- All year round: Fish care at our Kingfisher Flat Anadromous Fish Rearing Facility and our satellite facilities. Special thanks to every one of you volunteers who do this critical work for our Project.
I have stated in many previous Newsletters that MBSTP is an all-volunteer organization (with the exception of our facilities manager and biologist, Dave Streig), and volunteer based organizations typically go through periods of turnover and drop out for any number of reasons. To those of you interested in continuing to support us with your volunteer efforts, please talk to others about us and what we do. Who knows, maybe you will inspire some special people to join us in our salmonid population restoration and preservation mission.
I want to thank all of you great volunteers for your outstanding efforts and support. Without your continued dedication and help we "can't get there from here"!
I want to extend our deepest thanks and sincerest appreciation to our magnificent volunteers for their continued support of our Project mission. Also I want to extend our continuing gratitude to the following organizations, groups, businesses, and individuals for their financial support of the ongoing restoration and operation of our fish rearing facilities: David & Lucile Packard Foundation; Fish & Game Advisory Commissions of Monterey, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties; Commercial Salmon Stamp Committee; Scott Creek Watershed Council; and the many individuals, businesses, schools, and community organizations who continue to provide their outstanding support.
Anyone interested in being trained to work with us in occasional fish care activities and some of our other Project activities, please contact me, Al Smith, at 831-722-4753, 831-458-3095, E-mail mbstp@aol.com, or send a note to my attention at MBSTP, P.0. Box 417, Davenport, CA 95017.
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Fall Hatchery Barbecue for Supporters and Friends
By Larry Wolf, Director
This October the hatchery invites all members and supporters to our fall barbeque to be held at the hatchery. The barbeque is to be held October 12th. All those who are hatchery volunteers, supporters, or anyone who wants to visit our hatchery for a guided tour, please contact Don Hoga or Larry Wolf at 458-3095 for additional information. This is a good time for all of you to see all of our improvements and upgrades. Thanks again for all of your support. See you at the barbeque.
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Fishing with Larry and Dave
This summer and fall, Dave Parker of Harbor Press and myself are hosting a Marlin/Tune/Dorado Fishing Tournaments at Hotel Buena Vista in East Cape, Baja Ca. For those of you that have fished the East Cape in the past know the quality of fishing that can be present during the summer and fall months. The hotel is a big sponsor of our hatchery and we appreciate their support. For our first tournement August 14th thru August 18th, we have booked excellent rooms and boats at a very special price. We also will be fishing again on October 17th thru October 21st. For those of you that have never fished in Baja this is good chance to get your feet wet. If you do not have tackle, the hotel will rent it to you. The hotel offers many other extras including a whirlpool spa heated from local hot springs. The food is excellent and they have a full service bar. If you have any questions, please contact Dave Parker at 831-475-3355 or Larry Wolf at 831-688-4257.
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State of the Project
By Allen Smith, Board Chairman
In March 2002 the MBSTP completed planting of over 43,000 steelhead smolts which were spawned in early 2001. We are all extremely pleased in that this season we had the best year of our 26-year project history in capturing the largest number of adult coho salmon for our spawning program. Depending upon yield from the hatching process, this may result in well over 40,000 coho fingerlings, the largest number of coho we have ever produced in one year. The steelhead spawning has been good this season considering low rainfall for this past mid and late winter. We expect the steelhead hatch results to be a bit greater than the 2000/2001 season.
I reported in our June 2001 newsletter that interbasin and intrabasin transfers of salmonids from our spawning activities, which have been authorized for the past 25 years, are no longer allowed at this time (i.e. releasing smolts spawned from Scott Creek and San Lorenzo River adult fish into the Pajaro River Watershed system and into the Arroyo Seco River system). This indefinite "moratorium" on our activities prevents us from performing our historical steelhead restoration and supplementation efforts in these streams. It is also affecting our ability to perform some of our Salmon & Trout Education Program (STEP) class activities in these streams. Hopefully, planned studies of genetic effects on salmonid transfers to these streams by NMFS & CDF&G will alleviate these issues.
After several years in "process", we have finally received a revised Section 10 Permit from NMFS (under the Endangered Species Act) for continued rearing of coho salmon. We are in the process of working out the details and various provisions of the Permit revision with NMFS.
MBSTP, NMFS, & CDF&G are continuing to work jointly to put together a coho captive adult brood-stock rearing program to be implemented in the future. Its purpose is to turn around the severe decrease in our local coho populations occurring frequently now in many of the year-classes of these salmonids.
Over the last few years a change has been evolving in the emphasis of our rearing of coho salmon vs steelhead trout. This emphasis change comes from CDF&G & NMFS direction based upon the further demise of Central Coast coho populations and to a lesser degree the improvement in steelhead populations for many streams of our region. Although there is not complete agreement with this emphasis or change, the fact remains that it is a reality that MBSTP needs to deal with. Our present hardware and equipment arrangement in our hatchery building is based upon our original steelhead restoration mission. Now with a heavier emphasis on coho restoration and preservation, it is becoming necessary to replace some of our steelhead fry rearing troughs with new ones more suitable to the rearing of coho salmon fry. As a result of this new need, we are asking you great supporters to help us with contributions to enable us to procure at least four (4) new "deep troughs" for our coho salmon fry rearing activity. Each new trough will cost about $3,000. Any support that you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Last fall proved to be another good albacore tuna fishing season in our area. Some of this harvest provided great eating at our 24th Annual Albacore Feed last November, and your attendance and participation in our raffle and silent auction helped us to have one of the better fund fundraisers in its history. For your future calendar planning, our next Albacore Dinner fund raiser will be on Saturday, November 9, 2002.
As I am preparing this article we are in process of assembling our sea pens in Monterey and Santa Cruz Harbors for the annual Chinook Enhancement Program. The new pens, which we obtained early last year, were modified by some of us in the fall of 2001 in order to make the handling and assembly of the large components much easier. This May and June, in the 11th year of this Program, we expect to acclimate, rear, and release into Monterey Bay waters approximately 240,000 chinook salmon smolts. Over the 10 year history of this Program to-date we have released approximately 953,500 chinook salmon into the Monterey Bay, and from overwhelming public feedback it is an extremely successful and beneficial program. Our special thanks go to the Santa Cruz County and Monterey County Fish & Game Commissions and to the many private individuals, organizations, and companies whose financial grants and contributions have made the installation of these sea pens possible. Also we give our special thanks to the Monterey Harbor and Santa Cruz Port Districts for their outstanding cooperation and assistance in providing facilities for our chinook sea pens.
We at MBSTP offer our continuing gratitude to the following organizations, groups, businesses, and individuals for their financial support of the ongoing restoration and operation of our fish rearing facilities: David & Lucile Packard Foundation; Fish & Game Advisory Commissions of Monterey, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties; Commercial Salmon Stamp Committee; Scott Creek Watershed Council; and the many individuals, businesses, schools, and community organizations who continue to provide their outstanding support.
The MBSTP continues to have an urgent need for your financial support and your volunteer help in order for us to continue spawning, rearing, and planting salmon and steelhead in our local streams and in the Monterey Bay region. Thank you most sincerely for your support in the past and hopefully in the future as well.
Finally, our 8th Annual "Big Fish Derby" fund raiser is coming up on July 5th, 6th, & 7th. I'll be working at the Santa Cruz Upper Harbor Weigh-in Station, so if you're in the area stop by and say hello.
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Second (Big) STEP of the Year
By Hugh Miller
It's now April, and we are well into the school year. Yes, time passes by very quickly. In our last article of October, we wrote that we had few STEP (Salmon and Trout Education Program) activities happening at that time. Then, it was the beginning of the school year. Now, at this time, in contrast, STEP activities are extremely busy (some say "fever-pitch") as we find ourselves in the egg distribution and incubation phase of our program.
A month ago, a team of six STEP support, adult members met with Jennifer Nelson of California State Fish and Game for the processing of 121 STEP egg application permits. Yes, despite the limitations of the recent 4-D ruling of NMFS...saying that releases must be limited to either the San Lorenzo and/or Scott Creek Watersheds...a total of 121 area classes still asked (by way of permit submittal) to be included in the STEP incubation activities...despite the logistics problems of releases. A number of schools, with the 4-D ruling in effect, need to travel further distances now for their release of fry. This response shows "a lot" in regard to the teacher and student enthusiasm for STEP.
Just recently, we started the distribution of the San Lorenzo Steelhead eggs to area classes. Previous communications to teachers, mostly by email, indicated that we were on a tight schedule estimated to be after April 23rd for the movement of San Lorenzo eggs from our Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Restoration Hatchery to assigned (permitted) classrooms. The schedule was "tighter" than usual this year because fewer adult fish were available for STEP eggs. The 4-D ruling, with its limitation and/or restriction of select males and females narrowed the window of opportunity for the taking of spawning fish. But, we were ready....that is, until we got word that the available eggs (from one female) were going to be ready a week earlier than expected. Mother Nature and warmer weather encouraged quicker development of the available eggs. Thankfully, we had a lot of member and teacher support, at the last minute to allow a hurried response to the change and allow the start of egg distribution at the earlier time. Most of the San Lorenzo eggs have now, at this time, been distributed to classrooms.
In another nine days or so, we expect to have the Scotts Creek eggs available for distribution for most of our North Coast schools. By the way, this is the last of this year's Scotts Creek female eggs available at the Hatchery. So, we'll be just getting "under the wire" with available Scotts Creek eggs.
During this initial phase of the San Lorenzo egg distribution, it was heartening to see the great response of teachers and support members helping out with the distribution (as part of the 121 classes) to a large geographical area. People were on call and meeting in designated areas for the handing-off of egg packets...each person ready, with ice chest, to make the next drive to designated classrooms. Also, as always, the students showed their enthusiasm and expressed their thanks to visiting members. In a short time, we can expect many student letters and student drawings expressing "thanks."
Get ready, now, though, for the next busy session. For shortly, perhaps in three weeks after classroom incubation, 121 classrooms will be planning releases to either the San Lorenzo or Scotts Creek. Many of the STEP teachers will be asking your support for their fieldtrips....seeking adult support as chaperones and streamside mentors. As many know, participation in these fieldtrips can be fun and rewarding....for everyone.
Many times, it feels like we are "swimming upstream" with the challenges of our STEP activities. But the members, teachers and students participating in STEP can attest, after the fact, that it's been, and continues to be, a worthwhile program. Most agree that the future of our important native steelhead and coho rests, in large part, in the hands of our enthusiastic, young students associated with STEP.
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8th Annual Mammoth Big Fish Derby July 5th, 6th & 7th 2002y
By Larry Wolf ö Derby Director
Once again, it is derby time on the Monterey Bay. Salmon fishing has been very good all through the month of April. The Doran Center held their derby two weeks ago and the winning fish weighed over 30 lbs. That is a very large fish this early in the year. Due to the lack of Salmon last year, we decided to open the derby to various species to ensure a fun filled derby that everyone can enjoy and still have a chance at winning a nice prize.
The derby format is as follows:
The largest Salmon, Halibut, Tuna or Sea Bass can be entered into the derby. The heaviest single fish over three days will win $1,000.00. The heaviest fish for the each of the three other categories will win a cash prize of $200.00. In addition, there will be a 3-Day Grand Weight Total prize of a Fishing Trip For Two at the wonderful Hotel Buena Vista in East Cape, Baja California. The trip is for three nights and four days including one day of fishing. The 3-Day Grand Weight Total Winner will be fishing for Marlin, Dorado, Tuna and many other fine game fish. Only one fish may be weighed in each day per ticket. It is not necessary to fish all three days to enter this part of the tournament. Additional prizes will be awarded based on entries. We will also give away 3 mystery weight prizes. In previous years we have given prizes to over 25% of the people entering their tickets in the derby. Even if you do not catch a fish, please enter your ticket along with your raffle ticket at the end of the day.
Thanks again to Breezes Resort Runaway Bay, in beautiful Jamaica, where we are once again, offering a trip for two as our Grand Prize Raffle Winner, 6 nights and 7 days at the Breezes Resort. Once you're at the hotel, all your accommodations will be provided for. All food, room and drinks are on the house and no tipping is allowed. The golf course is right next to the resort and less than a nine iron from most rooms. Each derby ticket has a raffle ticket attached. By entering the derby, you also get a free raffle ticket. Last year we gave away 15 great prizes including this Jamaican Vacation and rounds of golf at great local courses.
Entry for this year's Derby is $15.00 for a daily ticket and $35.00 for a three-day ticket. The Big Fish Derby is the major fundraiser for the MBST&P. Hats, tee shirts, and sweat shirts will also be available. Hats and derby shirts are $15.00 each and $25.00 for the pair. Derby Sweat Shirts are $25.00. These go quickly so get them early at your local tackle stores.
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Spring 2002 Hatchery Manager's Report
By Dave Streig
Good early rains this fall created creek flows that opened the creeks to the ocean in mid November last year and the first Coho were found returning to Scotts Creek in the first week of December. This year we saw the best return of Coho Salmon in the last 20 years of hatchery operation; it was estimated that well over 300 Coho Salmon returned to Scotts Creek last winter. We observed and/or handled 109 females; 26 wild females taken to the hatchery for spawning, 45 hatchery origin females were left in the creek along with 38 more wild females that we saw in the lower reaches of Scotts Creek and left to spawn in the wild. We also saw 123 males; 36 of which were wild and collected for hatchery breeding purposes, 42 were of hatchery origin and left in the creek along with another 45 wild males to spawn naturally in the stream system.
All of the adult Coho this year were much larger than our previous 20-year average of 6 pounds, with our largest male of 7 3/4 pounds taken in the winter of 1984. This year the average size was 9 1/2 pounds, with the smallest Coho, a female, of 8 1/4 pounds and the largest, a female, of 13 1/8th pounds. Ocean conditions have obviously improved in the last couple of years to produce these large fish and the improved survival rate. Based on the fish seen, we estimate that this year produced a 2.8% return rate of hatchery produced fish. This is almost 10 times higher than the normal rate of return for Coho Salmon of .25% to .5% rate over the last 20 years.
Although many fish got past us this year, as we only collected adults 2 to 3 days a week; I would to thank the 23 volunteers who devoted 2,323 man hours in December thru March helping collect our Brood fish. I would also like to give special thanks to Cal-Poly Swanton Pacific Ranch for providing access and assistance in the transport of collected fish with use of their 19" gage trains, originally donated by the late Al Smith, past owner and founder of Orchard Supply Hardware.
Steelhead adults also were much larger and more numerous this year, but since we were only spawning 3 Scotts Creek females this year, we collected one female and four males in January and another female and male were collected in February and March. Because so few fish were collected, we did not keep extensive data on steelhead. However, we did cooperate with Dr. Shawn Hayes of NMFS who collected and tagged adult steelhead in Scotts Creek with his assistants. Likewise, they have aided us in our adult fish collection, amidst their ongoing extraction and assembly of data on wild and hatchery fish interaction studies in Scotts Creek.
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Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project Chinook Net Pen History
By Larry Wolf & Al Smith
The Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout project operates salt-water net pens each spring in the Santa Cruz & Monterey Harbors. The purpose of these net pens is to bring 240,000 Chinook salmon from State Hatcheries on the Sacramento River system to our net pens for release directly into the Monterey Bay. These pens are designed to allow young Chinook salmon smolts to avoid the loss of downstream migration, which can kill up to 40% of the outgoing fish. Hatchery fish are being transported directly to this area to supplement the natural production of wild fish that migrate down from the Sacramento River system during the spring and summer months.
Once through our net pens these hatchery fish will tend to stay in the general area and will not go back to spawn with other wild fish or hatchery fish that feed in the bay during spring and summer. The reason for this fact is that when we bring the young Chinook smolts down from the State Hatcheries, the fish are placed into floating bladders containing fresh water similar to what they have just left. Over a 3-day period we slowly change the fresh water to salt water. This slow process helps the young salmon make the acclamation change from fresh to salt water much less stressfully. We usually lose less than 1% of our fish compared to 40% loss on the out migration of hatchery and wild fish through the Sacramento River system.
This acclimation process results in a salmon tasting salt water for the first time, thus setting its homing instinct for the rest of its life to return to that same spot to look for fresh water. This in turn keeps these salmon in the Monterey Bay for most of their adult life. It should also be noted that these fish have a 3-year life cycle which ends in the fall of their third year.
Because these fish stay in this area, there was some concern that these fish may spawn in our local creeks and streams. This is not possible because these fish are fall run fish and their life ends by November of their third year. Sufficient rains do not return to the Monterey Bay area until late December or early January. These Chinook salmon also need a large fresh water river system to stimulate their reproductive abilities. That does not exist in the Monterey Bay area during that time period.
A brief history of our pen operations is as follows. The first two 15' x 20' floating net pens were built at Moss Landing by MBSTP volunteers from old used floating dock material donated to us from the Moss Landing Harbor District. After a few years of use, all pen floats had to be replaced due to failures of the original old float material. This was done with additional used material donated by the Santa Cruz Harbor District. In 1995, a single 16' x 40' floating net pen, intended for use in the new Monterey Harbor.
Wharf#1 was built in Monterey by MBSTP volunteers from old used floating dock material donated to us from the Monterey Harbor District. The Monterey pens were used until last year when we replaced their net pen with a new portable 24' x 48' floating sea pen constructed from welded, very strong, high density plastic piping with a very long term service life. The Moss Landing operation closed three years ago due to constant dredging in the harbor. The old net pens were too heavy and damaged to move and were decommissioned. That is why we have opened the Santa Cruz Harbor net pen operation.
With both pens in operation, we release 240,000 Chinook salmon directly into the Monterey Bay. These fish have a 400% higher harvest rate over hatchery and wild fish that migrate down the Sacramento River system. This is good for local fishermen as well as other predators that live in our ocean environment.
Finally, we are a 501c3 non-profit volunteer organization that is trying to protect and restore our local fish populations. If any of this sounds interesting to you, please contact our hatchery at 831-475-3095. Listed below is our donation request form. Thanks again for your consideration.
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Monitoring Steelhead life history in Scott's Creek
By Sean A. Hayes
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is currently conducting a study funded by the Department of Fish & Game to evaluate how hatchery raised steelhead contribute to the population of natural run steelhead in the Scott's Creek watershed. This is a complex study (actually designed by MBSTP board member Jamie Alonzo), which looks at the interactions between fish released from the Kingfisher Flat Fish Rearing Facility and natural run fish at all life history stages from fry to smolt to adult.
The first phase of this project looks at the genetic make-up and age distribution of steelhead adults. To do this, we catch adult steelhead and collect tissue samples for genetic studies. Scale samples help us to determine their age. We also mark each fish with a color coded Floy tag.
There was a great steelhead run this year and, with the assistance of MBSTP volunteers, we were able to capture (and release) 54 adult steelhead (37 natural run fish, 17 hatchery fish). We were also able to attach data logging tags to 10 of these fish. These tags record the temperature and depth of the water where these fish travel. If anyone catches or sees a fish carrying one of these tags, please remove the tag, release the fish and give me a call (Sean Hayes - 831.420.3937). We'd love to get the tags back and learn what these fish are doing at sea!
We are currently concluding our surveys for spawning steelhead. While we haven't analyzed the data yet, we've already learned several things. Steelhead are very promiscuous, with both males and females spawning with several different mates over a period of several days to weeks. In addition, we saw lots of spawning between natural and hatchery fish, indicating that hatchery fish are doing well when they return to the stream and are making healthy contributions to the population. Genetic sampling of the juveniles will eventually give us an idea of exactly how well the hatchery fish are fairing on the spawning grounds.
DNA samples and gill samples were collected from 63 hatchery steelhead prior to their release into Scott's Creek. In addition, we have set up a trap in lower Scott's Creek in order to monitor the movements of hatchery and natural run smolts as they head to sea. To date we have caught and released 51 steelhead smolts (24 hatchery, 27 natural) and 1 coho smolt. We will be analyzing the gill samples soon to measure how prepared the smolts are to make the switch into saltwater.
We are also taking measurements of water quality and flow to get an idea of habitat suitability. We started taking these on 2/13/02 and continue to collect data biweekly at 4 locations in the Scott's Creek watershed. We plan to put temperature loggers at several locations along the watershed which will give us hourly temperature measurements throughout the year. We didn't receive much rain in March or April and stream flows are really starting to slow down. We will continue to monitor this throughout the year. On a more positive note, we are beginning to see the results of an amazing coho run this year. The creeks are just full of coho fry emerging from their redds. Please check out some of the photographs we've supplied to the MBSTP web page. We will continue to monitor the creeks throughout the summer for the distribution and growth of this year's coho and steelhead fry.
Miscellaneous Information * 3 UCSC students have been hired part-time to assist in these research activities.* * I (Sean Hayes) was hired as the lead scientist on this project in January, 2002. * * * We hope to hire another full-time staff member for this project by April 1, 2002. * To date we have participated in 3 Scott's Creek Watershed Council Meetings, the latest of which were on January 29th and February 19th, 2002, to update local landowners as to our research activities.
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Where Did All The Fish Go ?
by Jamie Alonzo
A number of data collection and research projects are being conducted by economists at the NMFS Santa Cruz Lab. These projects are intended to increase our understanding of the effects of fishery management and endangered species regulations on salmon fisheries and to better evaluate salmonid habitat restoration needs.
1. The commercial salmon fleet in California has declined in recent decades; the number of active salmon trollers fell from nearly 4000 in the early 1980s to fewer than 700 by 1999. Models are being developed to understand and predict the impact of changes in fish stocks and fish prices on the fleet. The goal of this research is to provide insights into how to reconcile the needs of commercial fishermen with the needs of endangered salmonid stocks.
2. A survey of freshwater salmon and steelhead anglers in California is being planned. The survey will involve telephone interviews of anglers regarding their fishing patterns, expenditures and demographics. This information will be used to estimate the economic value of the fishery and to develop models that help predict how fishery regulations affect fishing behavior.
3. As funding for salmon habitat restoration has increased in recent years, it has also become increasingly important to monitor how the money is being spent. To meet this need, a database is being created that includes detailed information on individual restoration projects (e.g., project goal; location and size of the restored area; nature and extent of the restoration; restoration costs). The database currently includes all projects funded by the California Department of Fish and Game Fisheries Restoration Grants Program; information on other projects is being gathered from other agencies as well. The database will help NMFS' salmonid technical recovery teams evaluate restoration needs by providing information on restoration projects already being done. The database will also be used to develop models that show how costs vary across projects, depending on the nature and extent of the restoration, landscape features at the restoration site, and other factors.
4. While quite a lot of money and effort has been devoted to salmon habitat restoration, little has been done to develop wide-scale strategies for restoration. For example, there may be cases in which it is better to focus restoration effort on a particular watershed, and other cases in which it makes more sense to spread the effort among several watersheds. Quantitative models of restoration planning are being developed that will suggest ways to make more efficient use of the limited time and funding available for restoration.
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