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West Marin Citizen, November 26, 2008
Lagunitas watershed, which holds the
largest remaining Central Californian
Coast coho salmon population in the state,
was one of the few bright spots in a report
released last week that found 65 percent of
the state's native steelhead, coho and trout
species will be extinct in the next 100
years.
The Central Coast coho are among 20
species in California that are in urgent
need of help, according to the study's
authors, Dr. Peter B. Moyle, conservation
biologist from U.C. Davis, Dr. Joshua
Israel and Sabra Purdy.
Titled, "SOS: California's native fish
crisis - status of and solutions for
restoring our vital salmon, steelhead and
trout populations," the report was
commissioned by California Trout, a wild
fisheries conservation group that says the
state's native salmonoids are in
unprecedented decline and are teetering
towards the brink of extinction.
The report gives the Central Coast coho, a
federally-listed endangered species, the
lowest score before extinction on a scale
from zero (extinct) to five (expanding
populations). The low score means that the
Central Coast coho could be extinct within
the next 50 years.
It's a bleak outlook, except for the fish
that return to Papermill Creek. "With the
possible exception of the small population
in the Lagunitas Creek watershed, Central
California Coast coho are on the verge of
extinction," the authors said. "The most
important factor for this species' survival
is to protect to coastal streams and
enhance watersheds that have potential to
support coho salmon."
SPAWN - pariah, piranha
Although at times controversial in its
fierce stance to protect the rights of
salmonoids over the slightest development
project along the watershed in the San
Geronimo Valley, Salmon Protection and
Watershed Network's monitoring,
restoration and community outreach
programs might have paid off for the coho
salmon and the survivability of the
species. The environmental group, which
has planted thousands of native plants
along the watershed and monitors the
numbers of salmon from Inkwells to the
San Geronimo Creek's headwaters in
Woodacre, can take a lot of the hardearned
credit for the exceptional numbers
of coho that spawn in the watershed.
"This is a good example of a watershed
group that has really helped the fish
through monitoring, publicizing the plight
of the fish, advocacy and restoration
projects," said Dr. Moyle, writing in the
report that supports community-based
projects which focus on healthy
watersheds. "[SPAWN's] actions have
definitely helped coho in Lagunitas Creek
and will be even more important in the
future," he said.
The SPAWN's point of view is clear.
They are against any further development
that might interfere with the salmon and
steelhead populations. The group has
spearheaded a Salmon Enhancement Plan
with the county and a two-year
moratorium for development in the San
Geronimo Valley.
"Over 10 years of community-based
restoration projects by SPAWN and others
has resulted in the current status of the
largest, southernmost population of wild
coho," SPAWN Watershed Biologist
Chris Pincetich said in reaction to the
report.
SPAWN estimates that the Lagunitas
watershed represents up to 30 percent of
the state's wild Central Coast coho
population in a population that has
declined by 90 percent statewide.
Moyle goes even further in his estimates
for coho in Marin County creeks,
including fish, which were reintroduced
from hatcheries. "There are so few fish left
that there are really no reliable overall
numbers," Moyle said of the overall
population and the funding to count them.
"If we assume an average of 500 to 600
fish a year come up the six streams in
Marin County and that Central Californian
Coho totals average 1000 to 1200 fish per
year, then Marin County (mostly
Lagunitas Creek) supports about 50
percent of the Central California coho and
about 10 percent of all coho statewide. "
Eric Ettlinger, aquatic biologist for the
Marin Municipal Water District who
monitors Lagunitas and San Geronimo
Creeks, said that Lagunitas Creek is the
most important stream on the Central
California Coast with the largest
population. "The populations south of us
probably won't survive," he said referring
to rising temperatures from climate change
and the small populations found in Santa
Cruz County. "The water is just to warm."
Habitat preservation key
Coho salmon and steelhead need wooded
habitat, cool water and shaded pools to
spawn and survive. The immature fish are
particularity vulnerable to temperature.
They also need shelter from rains that
could flush the fish downstream and kill
them. Although the steelhead population is
listed as threatened and could go extinct in
the next 100 years, according to the report,
the coho are much more susceptible to
rising temperatures and less resilient to
such changes.
As sediment plays a primary role in
covering the small pebbles and organic
matter the female uses to build her nest to
lay her eggs, development along the
creeksides is a primary enemy to the
fishery, the authors said, but so is climate
change. "Global warming has perhaps
played the most significant role in the
alarming drop in numbers for many of
these fish, as salmonoids are particularly
sensitive to changes in water temperature,
and rapidly shifting ocean conditions
affect those that migrate between rivers
and the ocean."
Other factors certainly contribute to the
survival of the local species in the
watershed. Notwithstanding the health of
the ocean which is in flux, the restoration
of the Giacomini Wetlands in Point Reyes
National Seashore also provides further
shelter for the salmon before the rains and
the spawning season in December as well
as a refuge in the spring when the
population moves toward the open ocean,
said Mike Reichmuth, fisheries biologist
for the National Seashore.
Insecticides and Bush
In a related development, the National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released
a "biological opinion" last week setting a
plan for protecting Pacific salmon and
steelhead from three pesticides. The
authors concluded that the insecticides
chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion
would "likely destroy or adversely modify
critical habitat for 25 of 26 listed Pacific
salmonids with designated critical
habitat," including those of steelhead and
coho. The agency lists actions necessary to
keep the pesticides out of water and to
protect salmon populations on the entire
west coast.
But nationally, the Endangered Species
Act itself could be in peril. The Bush
Administration this week is making
changes to the act that would exempt
federal agencies from taking climate
change into account when assessing risks
to endangered species like the coho or
even the polar bear. The new regulations
will eliminate the requirement of an
independent scientific review by either the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration of any federal project that
could affect a threatened or endangered
species. The new regulation proposed by
the Bush Administration will reverse 35
years of protocol that requires an
environmental review.
As for the report on California's native
fish populations and the local coho and
steelhead, Moyle said he and his
researchers were surprised by the number
of species likely to become extinct.
"Things are bad but there is still
tremendous potential to keep the species
going," he said. "Making this happen will
not be easy."
To view the report go to caltrout.org
West Marin Citizen, November 26, 2008