Every year we solicit donations and volunteer help for the hatchery. This year is no exception. We are currently facing a financial crisis that could cause the hatchery to close by June 2005. Our operating budget is $110,000 each fiscal year. We are facing a shortfall of approximately $50,000.00 this year. Our equipment needs have already been met. We are now using the last our grant money for reconstruction and upgrades that will make the hatchery the state of the art for genetic restoration and enhancement activities. But without operating capital the facility cannot be used. We now have the ability to raise up to 100,000 salmon & steelhead each year at the hatchery and an additional 360,000 hatchery salmon in the net pens at Moss Landing and Santa Cruz Harbor. Our STEP education program reaches 125 classrooms in our area each year and is the best in the state.
Operating with only one employee we are able keep expenses at a minimum. All additional help we receive is from our volunteers. Even our Board of Directors is an all volunteer staff. In this manner, all of our funding goes directly to the care and maintenance of the hatchery, the net pens and our educational programs. If you know of someone who may be interested in volunteering, give us their name and number.
What can you do to help? If you aren’t a member currently, please consider joining our organization. If you are a current member, think about becoming a sponsor donor this year. Each member who donates $100.00 or more will receive a 2004 Derby T-Shirt. Check to see if your employer has a donation match program, whereby you may be able to double your contribution with their help. This is our local hatchery. It is through our efforts that we will succeed or not. Any suggestions or ideas that you may have to help us, as we seek funding would be greatly appreciated.
What can happen if we fail? If our hatchery closes, within a few years, all streams would probably be closed to steelhead fishing in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. There will never be a take provision in the San Lorenzo River or any other local streams. The 60,000 steelhead that we put in the San Lorenzo River each year will no longer be planted. Coho Salmon may become extinct in our area. King Salmon fish populations in the bay will be diminished by over 360,000 fish each year. Some years there could be no King Salmon at all. The educational program we currently run in more that 125 classrooms, teaching our children the importance of protecting our local streams and habit, will be lost. That is 3750 children that would not be able to participate in this educational experience each year.
Please contact Larry Wolf at 831-688-4257 or the Hatchery directly at 831-458-3095, (ask for Dave or Al), with any ideas you have that may help us to save our hatchery. Its survival is up to each any every one of us.

“For Anything Worth Having One Must Pay The Price. The Price Is Always Work, Patience, Love and Self-Sacrifice.” By John Burrough

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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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Once again the holiday season is upon us, and we are into our busiest time of the year. The annual fin clip party Saturday, December 4th, is when we get our most accurate count of fish on hand, to be able to make plans for March plantings. Hopefully the heavy rains will begin soon, opening the sand bars at the creek mouths, and allowing Coho salmon and Steelhead adults to spawn. We expect the large year class of Coho salmon to be returning to the streams from mid-December through February. Plans are to spawn only a few captive Coho broodstock females this season because of the anticipated high return of Coho salmon occurring on Scotts, Waddell, and Gazos Creeks. With a good return of wild Coho, the adults from the captive broodstock will be released into Pescadero and Aptos Creeks at the appropriate time, to spawn in the unutilized habitat. This will begin a two pronged approach for reintroduction of Coho into these streams. Smolts produced from the year’s spawning of Coho salmon will be released next year into these streams, as well as into Scotts, Waddell, and Gazos Creeks, or any other local creeks designated by the Coho Recovery Team.
At the present time we have completed the construction of the new Captive Coho Broodstock Facility and the replacement of the raceway shade cloth and bird netting. We are still in the midst of Hatchery renovations to double the production capability for the Coho salmon, in order to meet the goals established in the Coho Recovery Plan.
We would like to thank the Packard Foundation again, for funding the purchase of the new deep Coho troughs and the new automatic sediment filtration system for the Hatchery. Thanks are also due to the numerous volunteers who have dedicated thousands of hours to our many operations, which include the trapping, spawning, rearing and planting our native salmon and steelhead. We also must thank the researchers and staff of NOAA Fisheries Santa Cruz Lab and the California Department of Fish and Game for their continued support of the cooperative restoration program founded 29 years ago.
We recently had a minor catastrophe at the Hatchery. The 220 electric dryer has just died. With the spawning season rapidly approaching, we are in need of another dryer. During the fish spawning process we generate piles of wet towels that will need to be dried. If you have a good electric dryer you would like to donate, please call the Hatchery at: 831-458-3095. Also needed are the lids from 2-lb.coffee cans. These will be used for the automatic feeders in the Hatchery.
Thank you for all of your continued support.

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Well, here we go again! We are starting our STEP (Salmon and Trout Education Program) activities for the 2005 STEP season. Get ready to get your feet wet.
It sure was a great, fun experience during the last school year. In February 2004, we really enjoyed our partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium in putting on our two-day STEP Workshop. As we recall, a total of 30 energetic, new teachers attended this invaluable Workshop. The Workshop included a half-day stream-study on the Carmel River and a full day of activity exploration. Then in April, it was hectic, but we enjoyed the success of our annual classroom incubation and fry release activities. For this, we distributed eggs to 95 classes in a six county area and recorded a 96% success rate in our fry releases (that is, the ratio of fry released to eggs distributed). The STEP Program shows students and teachers how to take real action in protecting our environmental resources!
Many "stepped-up" to help with the distributions. We had wonderful support from a number of folk: Children's Discovery Museum staff, San Jose Flycasters, and others. Following that, there were a number of classroom fieldtrips where students released their fry and conducted important stream studies. We received many nice cards and letters from students and teachers.
Later, we received two wonderful video productions, recording individual STEP activities. Luis Garcia-Sanchez, new STEP teacher and a transfer teacher from Mexico City, produced a video of his classroom incubation and releases. The video is complete with music, animation, family release activities, and detailed viewing of the incubation and release. Molly Strange produced a wonderful DVD of the STEP classroom and fieldtrip activities of the Cadwallader School in San Jose. This video is posted on our STEP web page for everyone to view and enjoy.
One STEP teacher, in her graduation address to her students, drew a comparison between her 5th grade students and the fish they've learned about. She said, in part
"I can't but make the comparison between your lives here and the steelhead trout released in Highland Park last Thursday. Similarly, you fifth graders decided to emerge this year as individuals for the world to see, full of strength and ready to take on challenges. So, now it's time to let you swim free in a bigger stream with all sorts of new adventures you've become skilled at navigating in deeper, more uncharted waters. So, I guess, what I must do is make a wish and set you free."
The Staff of the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project says. "Thank you to all our special STEP teachers who encourage their students to discover more about the world we live in and to make a positive impact on the future!"
At this time, we are getting ready for our 2005 STEP Program Training Workshop. For this STEP Workshop, we are pleased to report that we have formed a partnership with the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. This Workshop is scheduled for the 12th and 13th of February 2005. If you know of a teacher who might be interested, please direct him or her to our STEP Web page (www.steponline.info/) or the Discovery Museum web page (www.cdm.org/biosite) to complete the required Workshop registration form.
STEP Help. If you are interested in helping this year with a variety of STEP activities, get in touch with Hugh Miller, HMiller334@aol.com or Becky Fitch, rebeccafitch@yahoo.com

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Despite the recent challenges, we did it!! Yes, with lots of help, we managed to successfully deliver steelhead eggs to nearly all required STEP "certified" classes so they could participate in this year's STEP incubation activities.
It didn't look so good at the beginning of April, though. Some of us were about to come "unglued." First, we recognized, going into April, that we, along with California State Fish and Game, had just processed, in March, a large number of class permits for "certified" classes, totaling 107 classes. These classes were asking to participate in this year's STEP incubation activities and they were located within a geographical area of six counties. It was the largest number of class-permits to be processed. So, going into the month of May, which is normal time for eggs to be available, we were facing a "tall (logistics) order." Several members helped with the permit-signing routine of all 107 applications before the papers were sent to California Fish and Game for final signature.
Then, at the beginning of April, other challenges and demands appeared. Mother Nature did her part with warmer weather that led to an earlier maturation and availability time for the eggs. About the same time as the egg availability, we faced many, varied school Spring Break vacations. Then, too, some geographical areas just couldn't provide required volunteer delivery people. Also, we didn't have the opportunity, this year, to use Scotts Creek eggs, as well as the San Lorenzo eggs, giving us less flexibility with our deliveries.
Just before things were about to come apart, a number of great people "stepped up" and made it happen. Prominent from San JoseFlycasters and the Project were Bruce Keniston, Mondy Lariz, and Keith Nelson. Also, at the forefront was Sandy Derby and her staff from the Discovery Museum. Bruce Keniston did much of the bagging of eggs. Dave Streig, Manager of the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project worked especially hard to make things happen.So, in a scheduled three days of bagging and delivering eggs, all within two weeks, all required eggs were delivered. It was a "grand finale" and relief.
During the time of this preparation, some of the chillers did not work and/or were not available in time. So there was more "panic" and action. Bob Daves had to collect a chiller at one school and deliver it to another. Bruce Keniston and Hugh Miller replaced a chiller at Roger Middle School because of a faulty thermostat. Keith Nelson had to drive to Gilroy to replace another faulty chiller.
Now, at this time, at the beginning of May, we are getting reports from STEP teachers about their eggs hatching and fry moving to the top of the aquarium water. Also, there's emails and phone inquiries going on about the usual hatch times expected, available release areas along the San Lorenzo River and necessary permits available. Next, we foresee, there will be many interesting letters coming, following the fieldtrips, mostly from the STEP students, expressing their appreciation and interest in STEP.
STEP Fieldtrips, May 27 Report. Most of the STEP reports received at this time indicate that the Releases and/or Fieldtrips went very well this year. We recognize that there are a few more releases to be made, and following all releases, expected very soon, we can, then, make our final report regarding the number of classes participating and the percentage of fry released. Last year, our tally for the number of fry released versus the number of eggs distributed was at a 95% median figure. The year before, we tallied a 98% median figure for the fry released. We thank our STEP teachers for this commendable record.
STEP Concern. There are indications that we may not be permitted steelhead eggs for our STEP incubation activities in the future. Authorities feel that, rather, we should be permitted Rainbow Trout Eggs for STEP, instead, with the release of resulting fry into a reservoir. The Project Board will be working with permitting authorities regarding this issue.
STEP Help. If you are interested in helping this year or next year with fieldtrips... or next year with a variety of STEP activities, get in touch with Hugh Miller, email address HMiller334@aol.com.

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On Saturday, June 5, Save our Shores in Half Moon Bay hosted a Toast to Coastal Stewards, an event honoring youth, educators and community members from Pescadero to Pacifica who have promoted the spirit and significance of the coast and ocean. Among those recognized were STEP Educators from the Cabrillo School District in Half Moon Bay: Ann Mangold, Hatch Elementary, and Mardee Schweikert, El Granda Elementary, and from the Pacifica School District, educator Sharron Walker. Also, Zoey Tempeste, of El Granda Elementary, was honored for her student leadership in the STEP Program. Mangold and Walker have supported the STEP program since the early 90s and were instrumental in bringing the Salmon and Trout Education Program to the San Mateo County Coast.
The Toast to Coastal Stewards was organized by Susan Danielson, Northern Program Director, of Save Our Shores. This event featured not only the awards ceremony, it included educational stations from various organizations including American Cetacean Society, Coyote Point Museum, Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and a number of others. Dr. Carole C. Baldwin, Marine Biologist and Museum Specialist at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and author of One Fish, Two Fish, Bluefish, Crawfish: The Smithsonian Sustainable Seafood Cookbook gave an informative talk on sustainable seafood. The event was well attended by the coastal community who also enjoyed the wonderful sustainable Cuisine Buffet prepared by Kevin Koebel, Executive Chef at Rogue Chefs Culinary Company & Market.
The event was sponsored in part by Surfrider Foundation, San Mateo County Chapter, San Mateo Countywide Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, California Canoe and Kayak, Coldwell Banker, Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, Hallcrest Vineyards, Moon News BookStore, Open Ocean Surfing, Smithsonian Books and the Organic Wine Works.
This event was a definite salute to coastal stewardship in youth, education and the community and Save Our Shores is saluted for their mission to protect and conserve the marine ecosystems of California’s central coast for all generations. If you would like more information about Save Our Shores go to:
www saveourshores.org or call 650 359-8652

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For over 12 years teachers in the Pacifica School District have participated in STEP. The program was introduced to the district by teachers Jane Scott Jones and Sharron Walker in 1992, and since that time many teachers have joined the team. Last year 3 more teachers were trained so the program continues inspite of the the fact that the release of fry is no longer permitted in the San Pedro Valley Watershed in Pacifica. Many of the students, however, participate in a cross-grade creek study program developed by Michelle Sullivan, a 3rd grade teacher at Cabrillo School in Pacifica. As Sharron Walker has retired as of Nov 1, Michelle Sullivan will take the responsibility of coordinating the delivery of eggs and be the communication link for the project within the Pacfica School District.

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Once again Dave Parker and I, as well as four of our friends, traveled down to Baja California Sur to fish the East Cape staying at Hotel Buena Vista. Last year was a great trip and we all had high expectations for another banner year. Since there was very little albacore fishing in our area during the summer and fall, we were all hoping for a good tuna turnout as well as to catch some Dorado. With luck, maybe we would also catch a Sailfish or Marlin.
We left San Francisco on Oct. 17th on a direct flight to San Jose Del Cabo Airport. Upon arrival we caught a shuttle to the hotel, and within 2 hours were in the pool with our welcome margarita in hand, listening to fish tales. Full of enthusiasm, we headed to our rooms to get all of our tackle together. Before dinner that night, we sat down with Angel to schedule our boat and crew for the next morning. Dinner that night was traditional Mexican fare, and then it was early to bed for all, as breakfast would be served before dawn the next morning. Dave highly recommends their Spanish omelette, which they will make to order for you.
Fishing was good the first day out. Kathy, my sister Ginny, and I were on the Vanessa, with Dave Parker, Deever Jenkins and his son Jeremiah aboard the Iliana. Both boats are 29 ft. with flying bridges. That first day of fishing produced 6 Dorado and 8 tuna. We also caught some red snapper and other very large rock fish. Returning from fishing that day, we sent a portion of our catch to kitchen, to be prepared for dinner that evening.
For the second day of fishing we headed off shore about 25 miles, locating porpoise and tuna in large numbers. We ended that day with 14 tuna and 3 Dorado. Six skip jack, some tuna and white bonita had to be released. Dave Parker and his crew brought in a dozen tuna and a sailfish. The fish had been thick, and spread over five miles.
Wednesday was just about the same.
We caught a dozen tuna, keeping 8 and releasing 4. Dave and his crew ended up with 6 very big tuna and 2 Dorado. That evening we dined on a mixed grill of tuna and Dorado.
On the fourth day Dave fished with Deever and Jeremiah. Kathy, my sister Ginny, and I went to the National Marine Park at Cabo Pulmo for lunch, and to check out this area known as a world class diving and snorkeling destination. We had rented a car and braved the dirt roads, our reward being beautiful vistas of the Sea of Cortes around every turn in the road. Dave and his crew caught 4 large tuna and 2 sailfish that day. Friday Dave, Deever, his son Jeremiah and my sister headed home. Kathy and I stayed for one last day of fishing. However, the weather turned, became a little rough and the fish went down. We knew where they were, but the winds were too high for a good troll. We ended up with two well earned tuna.
All I can say is that we are already planning our next trip. If you are planning on fishing down in Mexico next year or just thinking about trying the fishing in Baja, I highly recommend the Hotel Buena Vista. Each year our fishing vacations are an exciting adventure, and there is always something new to explore.
For more information, contact Dave Parker at 831-475-3355 or myself at 831-688-4257.
The Hotel Buena Vista is a valued supporter of our hatchery. You can always count on a wonderful vacation and excellent service when you stay at the Hotel Buena Vista in East Cape, Baja California Sur.
To see more picture of the trip click here

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