ITEM:		INFORMATIONAL ITEMS/STAFF REPORTS
22.	CARMEL RIVER FISHERY REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 2016
Meeting Date:			December 12, 2016	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David J. Stoldt,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Kevan Urquhart & Cory Hamilton	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Review: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/A

AQUATIC HABITAT AND FLOW CONDITIONS:  November flow conditions in the lower Carmel River were poor for migration but good for rearing for all steelhead life stages.  Rearing conditions in the upper watershed were also good. The river’s “wetted front” has advanced significantly downstream to just above Via Mallorca Road (River Mile ~3.3), though the U. S. Geological Survey’s Near Carmel gage remains at zero flow.

Mean daily streamflow at the Sleepy Hollow Weir ranged from 10 to 24 cubic feet-per-second (cfs) (monthly mean 13.9 cfs) resulting in 827 acre-feet (AF) of runoff, while Highway 1 remained dry.

Four small storms in November brought 2.04 inches of rainfall as recorded at Cal-Am’s San Clemente gauge. The rainfall total for WY 2017 (which started on October 1, 2016) is 4.04 inches, or 141% of the long-term year-to-date average of 1.45 inches. 

CARMEL RIVER LAGOON:   November water surface elevations (WSE) remained relatively level at approximately 8.5 feet above mean-sea-level (NAVD 1988 datum), as there was no surface inflow to the lagoon during this period.

Water-quality profiles were conducted on November 1 at five lagoon sites. Water conditions in the main body, north, and lower south arms were generally “fair” for steelhead rearing in the upper 1-meter of the water column, but “poor” in the deeper areas due to high salinity and low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. Lagoon water temperatures ranged from 62-66 degrees Fahrenheit, DO from 1-7 mg/L, while salinity levels were between 6-25 parts per thousand (ppt). Our next survey is planned for December 6^th. 

SLEEPY HOLLOW STEELHEAD REARING FACILITY:  The first rescued fish were brought to the Facility on June 13, 2016.  On August 24^th, District and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) staff  PIT tagged (Passive Integrated Transponder) and transferred 361 fish from holding tanks to the rearing channel. PIT tagged fish are individually numbered and can be tracked as they migrate past fixed electrical arrays placed in the river. An additional 15 fish were tagged on September 19 and placed in the rearing channel September 22.

On October 22, as part of the new Sleepy Hollow Bridge project, Granite Construction removed the diversion dam and pipeline located approximately 200 meters upstream of the Facility’s intake screen and pumps. This caused a huge jump in turbidly levels in the river. Staff turned off the intake pumps for as long as possible but had to turn them back on later in the afternoon, causing a turbidity level spike in the rearing channel. The river channel cleared up by approximately 5 pm and was fairly clear by the following morning but four fish at the head of the channel jumped out overnight and died.

Releases of rescue-reared steelhead juveniles began on Monday, November 28 and continued through Friday, December 2. All fish were released below the Narrows into the lower river where they originated. Final tallies of the releases will be provided in next month’s report.

LOW FLOW SEASON STREAMFLOW MANAGEMENT: Los Padres Reservoir (LPR) had greater than expected inflows in October and November, which resulted in 556.3 AF more storage than planned for in the Cal-Am/CDFW/MPWMD Low Flow MOA at the end of November. As a result, the interagency managers took a conservative risk to increase river flows out of LPR by 4.2 cfs (54%) in small steps beginning on November 10 and continuing through November 29. If storage in LPR continues to accrue at greater than expected rates, the managers will consider an additional flow increase in December.

COOPERATIVE STUDIES WITH NMFS-SWFSC: MPWMD staff helped federal project lead persons install the second of three proposed PIT reading arrays in the river. The initial array was a double-loop array very low in the river. This second array uses a vertical-loop array in a series farther upstream, which we hope will withstand high flows and debris loading better, and also detect more tags than the original one. The last array is proposed for the upper river at the new Sleepy Hollow Ford Bridge, but may not get installed this year. NMFS is PIT tagging fish at their own study sites, as well as MPWMD’s fall population monitoring sites, and MPWMD intends to tag up to 2,000 of the rescue-reared steelhead released each year. It is hoped that detection of these tags at the three arrays, as well as during annual population surveys or fish rescues, will provide enough data to develop a model of juvenile fish survival in the watershed, and estimate the contribution of rescue-reared fish to the annual adult spawning run.

U:\staff\Boardpacket\2016\20161212\InfoItems\22\Item-22.docx