ITEM:

INFORMATIONAL ITEM/STAFF REPORTS

 

25.

CARMEL RIVER FISHERY REPORT FOR JANUARY 2021

 

Meeting Date:

February 25, 2021

Budgeted: 

N/A

 

From:

David J. Stoldt,

Program/

N/A

 

General Manager

Line Item No.:

 

 

 

 

Prepared By:

Beverly Chaney

Cost Estimate:

N/A

 

General Counsel Review:  N/A

Committee Recommendation:  N/A

CEQA Compliance:  This action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378.

 

AQUATIC HABITAT AND FLOW CONDITIONS:  Following a very dry fall and early winter, a large atmospheric river (AR) hit the central coast in late January bringing much needed precipitation to the region. Los Padres Reservoir filled, and the river peaked at approximately 2,000 cubic-feet-per-second (cfs) in the lower valley. Despite sandbar management before the storm, the high flows coupled with large storm waves caused the lagoon to fill to over 15 feet elevation, flooding several nearby homes. Once the initial peak flow receded, migration conditions for both upstream adults and downstream juveniles was excellent.

January’s mean daily streamflow at the Sleepy Hollow Weir increased from 9.4 to 1,360 cubic-feet-per-second (cfs) (monthly mean 95.5 cfs) resulting in 5,870 acre-feet (AF) of runoff while the Highway 1 gage increased from 4.3 to 1,310 cubic-feet-per-second (cfs) (monthly mean 89.4 cfs) resulting in 5,500 acre-feet (AF) of runoff.

There were 7.96 inches of rainfall in January as recorded at the San Clemente gauge. The rainfall total for WY 2021 (which started on October 1, 2020) is 9.20 inches, or 83% of the long-term year-to-date average of 11.10 inches. 

 

CARMEL RIVER LAGOON:  During January, the lagoon water surface elevation (WSE) rose from approximately 10.0 to 15.6 feet on January 26th due to high river flow and high storm waves building up the beach berm. The lagoon fully opened on the 26th and quickly drained to approximately 8 feet before settling at 5.8 feet on the 31st (North American Vertical Datum of 1988; NAVD 88) (See graph below).

 

RESISTANCE BOARD WEIR:  As part of the District’s steelhead life cycle monitoring program, FishBio Consulting was hired to design and install a fish weir in the lower river to temporarily trap migrating adult steelhead for tagging and measurement. The installation was completed in January and after repairing minor damage to the weir from the high flows was fully operational the first week of February as the adult migration began.

 

 

 

Carmel River Lagoon Plot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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