UC Davis fish biologist Peter Moyle is on a boat in the Suisun Marsh. He says the smelt is close to extinction.
“Whether a small number of fish can continue the species is a good question,” says Moyle.
He’s been sampling fish monthly for more than 30 years.
The crew on board hoists a large net into a bucket. Moyle says almost all are native. But there is not one smelt.
“We’d fall off the boat if we caught a smelt these days,” jokes Moyle. “But you have to realize when I started out they were a fairly common fish in the marsh.”
Moyle says smelt populations have plummeted over the years.
“The drought just seems to have made things worse,” he says. “Less freshwater to dilute contaminants, warmer temperatures in the water, because there is less cold water coming down the system…all these things are taking place simultaneously.“
Delta smelt aren’t the only victims. Other threatened species are struggling. Long fin smelt populations are the second lowest ever recorded. Ninety-five percent of last year’s brood of winter-run Chinook salmon died. State water regulators and fish agencies conceded that they were wrong in the way they managed the state’s water system last year.
“I think the awareness of what happened last year, has heightened the sensitivity,” says Stafford Lehr, chief of fisheries with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “You just can’t turn the knobs and set it and walk away and expect everything to be fine. Everybody understands we have to be more aggressive in responding.”
Lehr says the department has been using high tech sensors and satellites to monitor fish and water quality. It’s taken emergency actions, even moving fish into captivity to try to save species. But Jon Rosenfield, a conservation biologist with the Bay Institute says the state can’t operate the water system in the same way and expect different results.
“The question for me is, how many more years of drought do we need to realize that the way we use water is unsustainable?” says Rosenfield.
Some might say the small population of Delta smelt isn’t worth saving. Peter Moyle says its disappearance would signal a greater loss.
“If we let the smelt go, we’re essentially saying we don’t really need a functioning estuary, and California is going to be losing something very special if that fish disappears.”