About 3 million young Chinook Salmon were spawned and then released into the wild Monday.
Raised at the Nimbus Hatchery for 6 months these fish will swim 100 miles or so all the way to the San Francisco Bay. They will live for two or three years out in the ocean, and hopefully make their way right back to the Nimbus Hatchery.
Out of all the fish released today, it’s estimated that only 2% will make it back to spawn.
From Fox40.com >>>
Sea lions have again been spotted along the American River.
Several sea lions were spotted during the middle of January, with the sightings coming near the Harrington Way access point in Carmichael.
Fishermen have told FOX40 that sea lions have been seen in previous years during salmon season.
From FOX40.com >>>
There’s a problem lurking right where the American and Sacramento rivers meet, a problem the fishermen would like to hook.
Something is lurking in the waters near Discovery Park.
“They look like they’re hungry,” said Daniel Cabera.
You may notice a ripple, an awkward change of current in an otherwise still spot.
So what has one woman so scared?
“I’m not going in that water ever again, they’re gonna eat me,” said Daniela Blackwell.
It’s highly unlikely they want Blackwell for a snack. It’s the slippery swimmers splashing under the water that sea lions are after.
“They snag up our lines, steal our fish, and get caught in cross currents,” said Blackwell.
That is where the problem lies.
Fishermen are casting line after line, sweating in the sun, teased by tugs, hoping for that prized pull, only to have a sea lion swoop right in and snag their salmon.
More at CBSLocal.com >>>
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plans to dump approximately 14,000 tons of gravel into the lower American River to help improve spawning grounds for steelhead trout and Chinook salmon.
To be targeted are existing spawning habitat that consists of large rocks and fine sediment that reduces the ability for fish to construct nests and may reduce the number of eggs surviving and emerging as juvenile fish.
The first load of gravel is scheduled to be deposited in the lower American River on Monday, Sept. 10. All work is expected to be completed by Friday, Sept. 30. All work will be within the confines of the Sailor Bar Recreation Area, near Hazel Avenue and Winding Way in Fair Oaks.
More at CentralValleyBusinessTimes.com >>>
Levees protecting most of the city of Sacramento and 15 other areas of the Central Valley were declared today to have failed federal maintenance criteria. As a result, they are no longer eligible for federal rebuilding funds in the event of a levee breach.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made the declaration today. It did so after concluding that a new state plan to improve Central Valley levees does not provide enough detail to ensure maintenance problems — such as erosion and intrusion by structures — will be fixed.
The affected levee systems include 40 miles of levees wrapping most of the city of Sacramento on the American and Sacramento rivers. This system of levees, known on flood-control maps as “Maintenance Area 9,” includes the south bank of the American River from about Bradshaw Road downstream to the confluence with the Sacramento River, then downstream from there nearly to Courtland.
More at ModestoBee.com >>>
There was all but a total collapse of salmon numbers a mere five years ago. Fishing for salmon in the ocean and river systems was closed.
Salmon numbers have rebounded since then. Some of the best salmon fishing in many years is being seen in the ocean. Their favored grub — krill and anchovy — are in the water. Chinook are gorging themselves and getting fat and big.
Not every salmon off the coast of California will be coming up the river systems this year. They return up the rivers to spawn and die when they’re 4 or 5 years of age.
Ocean salmon range from those released from hatcheries mere weeks ago to lunkers that have been reaching their maximum size before they make the run up the rivers.
Limits have been the rule with the ocean fishery. Fat and sassy with a lot of feed, they fight with ferocity.
Because of the tremendous offshore fishery, the main run in the fall is expected to be phenomenal as well in the Mokelumne, San Joaquin, Sacramento, American and Feather rivers.
Because they’re eating so well, there should be numerous record-size fish, too.
More at PlacerHerald.com >>>
Since 2006, Sacramento city officials have received $1.78 million from the U.S. government to help salmon spawn in the summer, and they’re about to get $650,000 more.
The City Council approved funding last week from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to continue the Lower American River Salmonid Spawning Gravel Augmentation Project.
Tom Gohring, executive director for the City-County Office of Metropolitan Water Planning, the office in charge of the program, said the dams and reservoir on the American River stop the “natural movement of sediment and gravel.” He said those items are necessary for successful salmon spawning.
Salmon, like humans, need oxygen to survive, said Lisa Thompson, director for the Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture at UC Davis. That means their eggs need to have access to oxygen, as well, which they get from flowing water.
In the egg-laying process, a female salmon will turn on her side and move her tail up and down to lift out some of the finer materials in the gravel while leaving the larger pieces to fall back down. Eggs are then laid in a nest and covered up with the remaining gravel.
More at SacBee.com >>>
California needs to dramatically reform its fish hatcheries in order to maintain healthy salmon and steelhead populations, according to a major new study.
The $2 million study, released Tuesday by state and federal wildlife agencies, concludes nearly two years of work by a panel of fishery experts. It found, among other things, that the state lacks standard protocols to manage the 40 million salmon it produces each year at eight hatcheries. It also does not do enough field monitoring to fully understand the fate of all those fish.
The hatcheries, most of them on the Sacramento River and its tributaries, were built to atone for the spawning habitat eliminated by dams. But artificial breeding can also weaken the wild salmon that remain, making the entire population more vulnerable to environmental disruptions.
More at SacBee.com >>>
Officials will be decreasing the flows of the American River below the Nimbus Dam on August 9 for the annual installation of a structure to help spawning salmon.
What this means is that water levels along the lower American River could fluctuate a few feet, with officials advising caution for anyone who happens to be along the river that day.
The Nimbus Fish Hatchery will be installing a system, called a fish weir structure, that will help guide spawning Chinook salmon into their facility.
More at Fox40.com >>>
Recreational salmon fishing has begun on Central California rivers in what officials call the first normal season since the fall-run Chinook salmon crash five years ago.
The river fishing season was closed in 2008 and 2009.
State Fish and Game fisheries spokesman Stafford Lehr says fishing should be good on the Sacramento, Feather, American and Mokelumne rivers.
More at SacBee.com >>>