Managing Freshwater Discharge to the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary―The Scientific Basis for an Estuarine Standard
J.R. Schubel, Charles Armor, Peter Chadwick, James Cloern, Joshua Collins, James Cowan, Theodore C. Foin, David Fullerton, Susan Hatfield, Bruce Herbold, Perry Herrgesell, David Jay, Alan Jassby, Wim Kimmerer, Lee Miller, Stephen Monismith, Peter B. Moyle, Frederic Nichols, David Peterson, Thomas Powell, Charles “Si” Simenstad, Lawrence Smith, Gregory Thomas, Philip Williams | October 26th, 1992
Aquatic resources of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and upper portions of San Francisco Bay have undergone significant declines over the past several decades. Species characteristic of the Delta and rivers, such as striped bass and salmon, began to decline during the late 1970s. Prolonged drought, large diversions of fresh water, and dramatic increases in populations of introduced aquatic species during the 1980s and 1990s brought a number of indigenous aquatic species to extremely low levels. Species that spend more of their lives downstream of the Delta, including Delta smelt, longfin smelt, and many zooplankton, maintained large populations through the 1970s, but declined sharply after the mid-1980s. Declines in aquatic resources have led to curtailed fishing seasons, to petitions for endangered species status, and general concern about the health of the estuarine ecosystem.
Keywords
anadromous fish, Central Valley Project (CVP), ecosystem management, fisheries, native fish, Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, State Water Project (SWP), water project operations, water quality, water supply