ITEM:		INFORMATIONAL ITEMS/STAFF REPORTS
23.	CARMEL RIVER FISHERY REPORT
Meeting Date:			February 22, 2007	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David A. Berger,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Beverly Chaney	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/A

AQUATIC HABITAT AND FLOW CONDITIONS: During January 2007, Carmel River streamflow conditions were fair for juvenile steelhead rearing and fair to poor for downstream migration, with continuous, but low flow to the Carmel River Lagoon.

During January 2007, the mean daily streamflow recorded at the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s (District’s) Carmel River Sleepy Hollow Weir gaging station averaged 18.3 cubic feet per second (cfs) and ranged from 11 to 26 cfs.

Weather conditions in January were cold and dry. Overall, this was the coldest January in 50 years (Robert Renard Report 1/07). Several days broke all-time low temperature records and ice stayed on the ground for several weeks in protected valley locations. At the District’s fish facility downstream of San Clemente Dam (SCD), river temperatures of 37 degrees F were recorded.

There were only 0.84 inches of measurable rainfall in January as recorded by California American Water (CAW) at (SCD), compared to the long-term January average of 4.38 inches at this site. The rainfall total for Water Year 2007 to date (October – January) is 5.38 inches, 48% of the long term average of 11.27 inches through January.

CARMEL RIVER LAGOON: The Carmel River reached the lagoon on January 13, 2007 and the lagoon began to slowly fill, as shown in the graph below. The water surface elevation (WSE) was approximately 5.5 feet above mean sea-level at the start of the month and reached 8.0 feet above mean sea-level by the end of January.

WSE at the Carmel River Lagoon, January 2007

SLEEPY HOLLOW STEELHEAD REARING FACILITY (SHSRF or Facility): The Facility was fully operational by the end of June 2006. The first batch of rescued fish was placed in the Facility’s quarantine tanks on July 17, 2006. Staff started releasing fish from the Facility on January 17, 2007 after the river-front reached the lagoon. The last fish were released on February 7, 2007 and the Facility was decommissioned for the winter. Results from the 2006 rearing season are summarized in the table on the following page.

Survival Rate - A total of 7,192 fish was released over a three-week period, for a 44% survival rate, the third highest since the Facility came online in 1997. The four pools that contained nearly 2,000 larger fish at the head of the rearing channel did exceptionally well with 91% survival. The smaller, young-of-the-year (YOY) fish did not fare as well due to a chronic bacterial disease problem that caused fish mortalities throughout the summer and fall months. Only 35% of the YOY fish survived, with a range of 18 – 61% in the five downstream pools. The pools with the lowest survival rates held fish for the longest period of time. Approximately 3,000 fish rescued near the end of the summer were held in four tanks so that they would not be exposed to the bacterial outbreak in the channel. These fish did develop infections, but were easier to treat with antibiotics in the confined space and had a 46% survival rate overall.

Releases - Based on the results of December’s population survey in the Carmel River Lagoon, District staff decided to release all the Facility’s large and/or smolting fish into the lagoon. Of the 2,170 fish released, approximately half were placed in the recently expanded south-arm and half in the north-arm of the lagoon.

Over 5,000 small and non-smolting fish were released back into the river between the Facility and Garland Park (RM 10.5).

U:\staff\word\boardpacket\2007\2007boardpackets\20070222\InfoReports\23\item23.doc

SLEEPY HOLLOW STEELHEAD REARING FACILITY
Fish Rearing Summary: July 17, 2006 - February 7, 2007
Holding Location	# Fish Stocked ^(1)	# Morts (Disease)^(2)	# Morts (Unaccount-ed for) ^(3)	Total # Released ^(5)	% Survival	# by Release Location ^(4)	Notes
Rearing Channel P1 - P4	1,929	213	2	1,757	91.1	1,052 -- Lagoon 705 -- River	P1 and P4 held large (1+ yr) fish, P2 and P3 held medium-sized fish at the beginning of the season.
Rearing Channel P12 - P16	11,480	5,282	2,163	4,035	35.1	777 -- Lagoon 3,258 -- River	YOY (4-11" FL at release)
Quarantine Holding Tanks	3,009	406	1,203	1,400	46.5	341 -- Lagoon 1,059 -- River	Fish were held in four 8' tanks between late August and mid-January due to a disease outbreak in the rearing channel.
Totals	16,418	5,901	3,368	7,192	44%	2,170 - Lagoon (30%) 5,022 -- River (70%)
		36%	20%	44%
Notes:
1. Fish were segregated in separate pools of the rearing channel by size/age at the start of the rearing season. Only three fish were
found in pools where no fish were stocked (P5 - P11).
2. Disease was primarily bacterial infection (Flavobacterium columnare).
3. Unaccounted-for-fish [# fish stocked - (# of morts + # released)] are likely due to predation by larger fish, were not discovered as
mortalities during the season due to turbid water, or are due to enumeration errors.
4. Fish released into the Carmel River Lagoon were quite large and/or were smolting. ~Half released in the South Arm, half in the North Arm.
Fish released into the Carmel River between Garland Park and the SHSRF were smaller and non-smolting.
5. We counted 43 more fish in P1 at release than we thought we started with.
"Morts" refer to mortalities. "FL" refers to fork-length - the length of the fish from snout to the fork in its tail.
u\beverly\excel\shsrf\2006\2006summary Feb. 14, 2007 updated