In early June, Golden State Salmon Association joined a handful of organizations and Tribes in filing objections with the State Water Resources Control Board against the Draft Shasta Temperature Management submitted by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in April.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s ongoing failure to maintain river temperatures needed for successful reproduction and rearing of winter-run Chinook Salmon, spring-run Chinook Salmon, fall-run Chinook Salmon, Trinity River spring-run and fall-run Chinook, and Coho Salmon, harms the salmon fishery. Unfortunately, California’s Chinook Salmon fishery is closed again in 2024, for the fourth time ever and the fishery may continue to see closures or constrained seasons in years to come due to poor survival of Chinook Salmon in Central Valley rivers and the Delta during 2021 and 2022 if changes are not enacted.
Specifically, the Draft Plan:
(1) failed to demonstrate that factors beyond Reclamation’s reasonable control prevent Reclamation from maintaining water temperatures of 56 degrees Fahrenheit (56F) at Red Bluff Diversion Dam;
(2) failed to demonstrate that factors beyond Reclamation’s reasonable control prevent the agency from maintaining water temperatures of 56F at times when higher temperatures will be detrimental to the fishery;
(3) appeared to conflict with the Proposed Action authorized under the 2019 National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Opinion for imperiled salmonids covered under the federal Endangered Species Act; and
(4) failed to indicate if the Bureau of Reclamation will maintain water temperatures of 56F or lower in the Trinity River at the Douglas City and North Fork confluence.
The timing of these avoidable impacts indicates that fall-run Chinook Salmon and spring-run Chinook Salmon incubating in the Sacramento River in 2024 will also experience high water temperatures that are lethal to Chinook Salmon eggs. Given these anticipated impacts and Bureau of Reclamation’s historical pattern of underestimating summer river temperature extremes (and subsequent severe and negative effects on winter-run, spring-run, and fall-run Chinook Salmon populations, and thus on the salmon fishery), the State Water Board was urged to object to the draft Shasta Temperature Management Plan as insufficiently protective of the salmon fishery.
Thanks to all the organizations and Tribes that joined in this effort including: Defenders of Wildlife, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Friends of the River, Golden State Salmon Association, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Northern California Council of Fly Fishers International, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Restore the Delta, Sacramento River Council, San Francisco Baykeeper, Save California Salmon, Sierra Club California and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.