SOS II: FISH IN HOT WATER Status, threats and solutions for California salmon, steelhead, and trout. CENTER FOR Based on a report by Dr. Peter B. Moyle, Dr. Rob Lusardi and Patrick Samuel commissioned by California Trout. WATERSHED SCIENCES The foundation of State of the Salmonids II: Fish in Hot Water is based on 32 rigorously researched, peer-reviewed biological and ecological species accounts prepared by Dr. Peter B. Moyle, Patrick J. Samuel, and Dr. Robert A. Lusardi. Each account has been externally reviewed and will be published as Salmon, Steelhead, and Trout in California: Status of Emblematic Fishes, Second Edition, which can be viewed and downloaded from California Trout’s website, www.caltrout.org, and the University of California, Davis Center for Watershed Sciences website, www.watershed.ucdavis.edu. © 2017 California Trout, Inc., San Francisco. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole, or in part, without permission, is prohibited. State of the SalmonidS ii: fiSh in hot Water Status, threats and solutions for California salmon, steelhead, and trout. Based on a report by Dr. Peter B. Moyle, Dr. Rob Lusardi and Patrick Samuel commissioned by California Trout. The mission of California Trout is to ensure resilient, wild fish thriving in healthy waters for a better California. TABLE 1. SPECIES ENDANGERMENT SUMMARY Common and scientific names, species status (state and federal listings), and Level of Concern for all 32 of California’s native salmon, steelhead, and trout. “If knowledge is power, then this information should be critical in reversing the trend toward a continued decline of our special fishes, with California Trout at the forefront of aquatic conservation.” Dr. Peter Moyle I SOS II: Fish in Hot Water SPECIES COMMON NAME SPECIES SCIENTIfIC NAME SPECIES State AND fEDERAL STATUS LEVEL Of Listing Status SCORE CONCERN Salmon California Coast Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha federally threatened 2.9 hiGh Central Valley fall-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha federal Species of Special Concern 2.7 hiGh Central Valley late fall-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha State and federal Species of Special Concern 2.1 hiGh Central Valley Spring-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha State and federally threatened 1.7 CritiCal Sacramento river Winter-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha State and federally endangered 1.3 CritiCal Southern oregon/northern California Coast Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha federal Sensitive Species 3.1 MODERATE Upper Klamath–trinity rivers fall-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha federal Sensitive Species 3.1 MODERATE Upper Klamath–trinity rivers Spring-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha State Species of Special Concern, 1.6 CritiCal federal Sensitive Species Central California Coast Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch State and federally endangered 1.3 CritiCal Southern oregon/northern California Coast Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch State and federally threatened 1.7 CritiCal Chum Salmon Oncorhynchus keta State Species of Special Concern 1.6 CritiCal Pink Salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha State Species of Special Concern 1.6 CritiCal Steelhead Central California Coast Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus federally threatened 2.0 hiGh Central Valley Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus federally threatened 3.1 MODERATE Klamath mountains Province Summer Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus State Species of Special Concern 1.9 CritiCal Klamath mountains Province Winter Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus federal Sensitive Species 3.3 MODERATE northern California Summer Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus federally threatened 1.9 CritiCal northern California Winter Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus federally threatened 3.3 MODERATE South-Central California Coast Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus federally threatened 1.9 CritiCal Southern Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus federally endangered 1.9 CritiCal troUt Bull trout* Salvelinus confluentus extinct 0.0 eXtinCt California Golden trout Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita State Species of Special Concern 1.9 CritiCal Coastal Cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii State Species of Special Concern 2.7 hiGh Coastal rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss 4.7 loW eagle lake rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss aquilarum State Species of Special Concern, 2.3 hiGh federal Sensitive Species Goose lake redband trout Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii State Species of Special Concern 3.1 MODERATE Kern river rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss gilbertii State and federal Species of Special Concern 1.4 CritiCal lahontan Cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi State and federally threatened 2.0 hiGh little Kern Golden trout Oncorhynchus mykiss whitei State Species of Special Concern, 2.0 hiGh federally threatened mcCloud river redband trout Oncorhynchus mykiss stonei State Species of Special Concern 1.4 CritiCal Paiute Cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii selenirus federally threatened 2.1 hiGh WhitefiSh mountain Whitefish Prosopium williamsoni 3.4 MODERATE *Bull trout are not trout, but actually a member of the char family. II FOREWord ABOUT THE AUTHORS Peter Moyle is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Associate Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, at UC Davis. He is author or co-author of more than 240 publications, including the definitive Inland Fishes of California (2002). He is co-author of the 2017 book, Floodplains: A WORD fROM DR. PETER MOYLE Processes and Management for Ecosystem Services. His research interests include conservation of aquatic I have a long history working with salmon and trout. My first species, habitats, and ecosystems, including salmon; ecology of fishes of the San Francisco Estuary; DR. PETER B. MOYLE publication on California’s amazing fish fauna was a short note ecology of California stream fishes; impact of Center for Watershed Sciences, on juvenile Chinook salmon in the Kings River in 1970, where I introduced aquatic organisms; and use of UC Davis captured them on a field trip with a fish biology class. Only later floodplains by fish. did I discover salmon had spawned in the river after an absence of 28 years! The resilience of salmon, steelhead, and other native Patrick Samuel is the Conservation Program fishes has continued to impress me ever since. Coordinator for California Trout, a position he has held for almost two years, where he coordinates special research projects for California Trout, Unfortunately, my career has been spent documenting their including the State of the Salmonids report. decline in California, starting with the extirpation of Bull trout. Prior to joining CalTrout, he worked with the But I have also long realized that California’s unique fishes, Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, a non-profit that supports the eight federal regional especially its salmonids, are worth fighting for. Not only are they fishery management councils around the country. resilient, but they are beautiful, with astonishingly diverse life Patrick got his start in fisheries as an undergraduate histories and habitats. Saving these fishes means saving special intern with NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Sacramento, and in his first field job as a PATRICK J. SAMUEL waters: the cold streams that flow through redwoods, rivers in crew member of the California Department of Fish California Trout urban southern California, unique lakes such as Eagle Lake, and & Wildlife’s Wild and Heritage Trout Program. complex estuaries. But saving these fishes also means living with change. Even as human-induced changes on the landscape have Robert Lusardi is the California Trout/UC Davis continued to intensify, it is the resilience of salmon and trout that Wild and Coldwater Fish Researcher focused on keeps them with us. establishing the basis for long-term science specific to California Trout’s wild and coldwater fish initiatives. His work bridges the widening gap between academic But this adaptability only takes them so far; their existence now science and applied conservation policy, ensuring depends on what we do. I am proud to say that I have been a that rapidly developing science informs conservation projects throughout California. Dr. Lusardi resides member of California Trout almost since its beginning, when it at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and was pretty much Dick May, the organization’s founder. From its works closely with Dr. Peter Moyle on numerous inception, California Trout has been as much about keeping projects to help inform California Trout conservation streams and lakes wild, as it has about fishing. That attitude still policy. His recent research interests include Coho DR. ROBERT LUSARDI salmon on the Shasta River, the ecology of volcanic makes me happy to work with California Trout, even if it is to spring-fed rivers, inland trout conservation and Center for Watershed Sciences, document the continued decline of our special fishes, as in management, and policy implications of trap and UC Davis this report. If knowledge is power, then this information should haul programs for anadromous fishes in California. be critical in reversing the trend, with California Trout at the forefront of aquatic conservation. III SOS II: Fish in Hot Water “What we Californians do to enhance the resilience of our native fishes is likely to set examples for the rest of the world.” Dr. Peter Moyle This brings us to the present State of the Salmonids Frankly,