News Release Archive

Media Advisory: US Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife Transport and Prepare Spring-run Juvenile Salmon for Release to the San Joaquin River for San Joaquin River Restoration Program

Media Contact: Erin Curtis, 916-978-5100, 02/13/2015 16:10

For Release: February 13, 2015

Media Advisory: US Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife Transport and Prepare Spring-run Juvenile Salmon for Release to the San Joaquin River for San Joaquin River Restoration Program

FRESNO Calif. - The San Joaquin River Restoration Program will release approximately 54,000 hatchery produced juvenile spring-run Chinook salmon into the San Joaquin River near the confluence of the Merced and San Joaquin rivers near Newman, California. The Chinook salmon will be placed in pens and held for several days to acclimate to San Joaquin River water. After the acclimation period, the juvenile spring-run salmon will be transported to a release site for a short holding period prior to being released into the San Joaquin River.

WHO: John Netto, SJRRP Program Manager, USFWS
Gerald Hatler, SJRRP Program Manager, CDFW

WHAT: The juvenile spring-run Chinook salmon from the Feather River Fish Hatchery will be transported to the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam to acclimate to San Joaquin River water for several days.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 18, 2015, estimate 2 - 3 p.m. (when truck arrives from FRFH)

MEDIA: Activity is open to all media

WHERE: Gate to Bureau road below Friant Dam at 18000 N Fork Road (SR 206), Friant, CA. The gate is just across the bridge on North Fork Road on the north side of the San Joaquin River.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
On February 26, the juvenile spring-run Chinook will be released during the evening, which provides optimal conditions and temperature. The release effort will provide an opportunity to carryout fisheries studies while contributing to the long-term reintroduction of spring-run salmon to the San Joaquin River as called for in the San Joaquin River Settlement.

As part of this effort, some of these juvenile spring-run salmon are anticipated to return to the river as adults beginning in spring 2017. The Program is prepared to trap and transport the returning adults up-river, if conditions are such that they cannot make it on their own. The returning adults will then be monitored to determine what parts of the river they use, their survival during the summer, and where they spawn. This information will help further inform future spring-run salmon reintroduction efforts. This is the second release of spring-run salmon into the San Joaquin River; an equivalent number of fish were released in April, 2014.

The released spring-run salmon are considered an experimental population under the Endangered Species Act and are exempted from the take prohibitions by the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project consistent with the Endangered Species Act rule package issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service on December 31, 2013. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, in March 2014, concurred with the federal regulations using special provisions of the California Endangered Species Act that the California Legislature enacted specifically for the San Joaquin River Restoration Program. The release will not impact water supply for any water user nor will any additional water releases be made for the benefit of these fish.

The SJRRP is a comprehensive, long-term effort to restore flows to the San Joaquin River from Friant Dam to the confluence of the Merced River (153 miles), restoring self-sustaining Chinook salmon populations in the river while reducing or avoiding adverse water supply impacts from the release of restoration flows.
For additional information, please contact John Netto, SJRRP Program Manager, 916-717-0367.

# # #

The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.