EXHIBIT 4-A

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT

BETWEEN THE MONTEREY PENINSULA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT

AND THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME:

OPERATION OF SLEEPY HOLLOW STEELHEAD REARING FACILITY

1. THIS AGREEMENT, made this day of June 2005, between the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, hereinafter called the District and the California Department of Fish and Game, hereinafter called the Department, represented by the respective officers executing this Agreement.

EXPLANATORY RECITALS

2. WHEREAS, the Department is required to conserve and protect the fish and wildlife resources of the State, is responsible for enforcing laws and policies pertaining to salmon and steelhead resources, and for directing fish culture activities on a statewide basis; and

3. WHEREAS, the District adopted (in November 1990) and implemented the Five-Year Mitigation Program for Option V, as part of the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Water Allocation Program (April 1990), and

4. WHEREAS, as part of the Fisheries section of the Mitigation Program, the District is responsible for rescuing juvenile steelhead from the lower Carmel River (River) and transplanting these fish to permanent habitats or rearing them in a facility through the dry season, and

5. WHEREAS, the District has designed and constructed the Sleepy Hollow Steelhead Rearing Facility (Facility) for the purpose of rearing juvenile steelhead.

NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY AGREED:

6. The Facility will be used to rear juvenile steelhead that are rescued from the main stem of the River in the reach downstream of Robles Del Rio to the Carmel River Lagoon. The Facility may also be used to rear fish rescued by the Carmel River Steelhead Association (CRSA) from tributaries to the River below Robles Del Rio, if those tributaries dry up, and the main‑stem of the River at their confluences is not expected to remain wet throughout the year. The decision as to whether to rear fish rescued from the tributaries will be made annually by mutual agreement between the Department and the District. Fish rescued by the CRSA in the main-stem, in coordination with the District, may also be held at the Facility. All conditions listed in a signed, updated MOA between the District and CRSA must be met before CRSA rescued fish will be held.

7. The District will be responsible for day-to-day maintenance of the Facility and care of juvenile fish. All District personnel assigned to operate the Facility will possess a current Scientific Collectors Permit, valid at all times that the Facility is in operation. Water for the Facility will be provided by pumping approximately one to two cubic feet per second of surface flow from the River. During periods of warm water temperatures (greater than 65 degrees F), incoming water will be passed through a cooling tower before entering the Facility’s tanks or rearing channel. The goal is to maintain a daily maximum temperature of <70 degrees F, and a mean daily temperature of <65 degrees F. The Facility will be operated on a continuous, flow-through basis with water injected back into the river approximately 300 feet downstream of the diversion. The District will maintain a fish screen at the diversion and fish screen at the head and tail of the rearing channel so as to prevent entrainment of fish from the river into the Facility and escape of fish from the Facility back into the river.

8. The rescued fish will be segregated according to size and age, with older, larger (greater than 120 millimeters [mm]), and medium (80 – 120 mm) juveniles reared in separate tanks or channel sections than young-of-the-year (< 80 mm) steelhead.

9. Fish will be fed at least once per day during the period of operation with the goal of growing fish to a similar size as wild fish of a similar age in the Carmel River. At the direction of the Department, the District will measure and record weights of a representative sample of fish, for each age and size group, up to once per week and adjust food intakes to match growth of wild fish in the river, based on data that have been collected and documented by the District or the Department.

10. The District will maintain records of the number of fish reared at the Facility. Records will be based on the number of steelhead received into quarantine at the Facility, on daily counts of fish mortalities in the rearing channel and tanks, and on a census of all juveniles at the end of the rearing period.

11. The District will continuously record water temperature and dissolved oxygen, during the time that the Facility is in operation, at a minimum of two stations, including the middle of the rearing channel and the tail end of the channel. The District will strive to maintain dissolved oxygen levels of at least 90 percent saturation at all times throughout the Facility.

12. During the operation season, the Department may conduct inspections of the Facility and the District will consult with Department personnel from the Fish Disease Laboratory in Rancho Cordova in diagnosing any observed health problems. The Department may provide health checks of twenty fish, selected at random from the Facility, at appropriate times during the operation season. The District will take necessary steps, as directed by the Department, to correct any operational or health problems that are observed, to the extent feasible.

13. The Department will receive notification when unusual mortality occurs. The District will store any dead fish at zero degrees F, until approval is granted for disposal, or until the fish are transferred to the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is conducting a genetic survey of steelhead in the South-Central California Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU). Once approved, the District will dispose of carcasses by burying them at the Facility.

14. The Facility will be operated during the period from June through November, or from the time that portions of the lower river dry up in late spring/early summer to the time when continuous flow connection is reestablished, or about to be reestablished, to the lagoon in late-fall, with a goal of releasing all from the Facility by the end of November. The Facility will be shut down for the winter to avoid damaging the pumps with entrained sediment released from San Clemente Reservoir.

15. Fish will be released back into the river at the Facility or trucked downstream for release in the lower river. The District will consult with the Department and receive prior approval on the timing and location of releases.

16. The District will strive to at least match the Facility’s survival rates of reared fish to those of fish reared naturally in the River. The estimated natural survival rate for young-of-the-year steelhead in the River ranges from 10 – 40 percent.

17. Any permits or licenses issued by the Commission or the Department to the District may become null and void, if the District fails to adhere to any of the conditions or restrictions in this MOA.

18. For the purpose of administering terms of this MOA, the lead persons or contacts will be: Dave Dettman, the District’s Senior Fisheries Biologist, and Kevan Urquhart, Senior Fisheries Biologist for the Department.

19. The District will complete and submit an annual report on Facility operation for the prior year, to the Department by May 15 of each year that the MOA is in effect.

EFFECTIVE DATE AND DURATION OF AGREEMENT

20. This agreement will become effective upon signatures by designated representatives of the District and the Department and will remain in force until May 31, 2006. The terms and conditions of the MOA may be amended at any time, provided both parties to this MOA agree to such amendments in writing.

21. All written notifications herein provided to be given or which may be given by either party to the other, will be deemed to have been fully given when made in writing and deposited in the United States mail postage prepaid and addressed as follows:

To: Monterey Peninsula Water Management District

P. O. Box 85

Monterey, CA 93942-0085

To: Robert W. Floerke, Regional Manager,

Department of Fish and Game, Central Coast Region,

Post Office Box 47,

Yountville, CA 94599

EXECUTION

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the District and Department have caused this Memorandum of Agreement to be executed by an authorized official on the day and year set forth opposite their signature.

______ __________

Monterey Peninsula Water Management District Date

P. O. Box 85

Monterey, CA 93942-0085

_____ ______

California Department of Fish and Game Date

Central Coast Region

Post Office Box 47

Yountville, CA 94599

June 3, 2005

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