Summary Report on the Transactions of the Smelt Working Group in Water Year 2014
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) | August 29th, 2014
The Bay‐Delta Fish and Wildlife Office (BDFWO) has prepared this report to summarize the implementation the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) biological opinion on the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) Long‐term Operations (BiOp) in Water Year (WY) 2014. In addition to background information pertinent to implementation of the BiOp , this report provides a summary of the transactions of the Smelt Working Group (SWG), as well as water operations and during WY 2014. The SWG is a technical team that evaluates biological and technical issues regarding Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) and develops recommendations for consideration by the Service during implementation of the BiOp’s Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA) actions.
During WY 2014 the SWG made no recommendations for more restrictive water operations and the Service issued no determinations to reduce water exports.
Keywords
biological opinion (BiOp), Central Valley Project (CVP), ecosystem management, endangered species, native fish, Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, State Water Project (SWP), water project operations