The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced publication of a final rule listing the San Francisco Bay’s population of longfin smelt as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
“While we disagree with the conclusions supporting this particular listing decision, it is clear that the longfin smelt, like many species inhabiting the Delta, are under significant duress and are in need of active management,” said Federico Barajas, Executive Director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. “The listing of the longfin smelt under the federal ESA, closely following a candidate listing of white sturgeon under the California ESA, continues to point to a degraded ecosystem resulting from a number of stressors, including invasive species, habitat degradation, predation, and a changing climate, that without significant changes is likely to lead to further species being listed.”
“However, the last 30 years has demonstrated that a species-by-species approach that is primarily reliant on managing water project operations is unlikely to restore the Delta ecosystem to one that provides the necessary biological functions to support species recovery. We must move towards an ecosystem-based approach to improve the underlying conditions that enable food production, restore habitat function – including functional flows, and reduce the impacts of predators and invasive species. Any other pathway simply doubles down on failed policies that have not resulted in significant species recovery but have caused tremendous harm to communities, farms, and other species in the San Joaquin Valley.”
“The Water Authority and its members look forward to working with the Service and other stakeholders to improve the monitoring network to better understand the primary drivers that impact species decline and work collaboratively to improve conditions for and ultimately recover longfin smelt and other species.”
Longfin smelt are currently listed as threatened under California’s Endangered Species Act, prohibiting the unpermitted possession, purchase, sale or take of state-listed species.