The Fall Midwater Trawl surveys, conducted in September and October, did not have positive results for the fish. It was the second lowest count in FMWT history for Age-0 striped bass and American shad, and third lowest count for threadfin shad. Delta smelt and longfin smelt counts were comparable to other low-abundance years.
Here’s the Fall Midwater Trawl Report from October:
“The 2013 September and October (Sep-Oct) Fall Midwater Trawl (FMWT) surveys were conducted Sep 3-18 and Oct 1-16. We report total catch from index and non-index stations during Sep-Oct. We also plot and compare the summed Sep-Oct abundance indices by species for all years (Figures 1-5). Species distributions are reported as total monthly catch by region.
The indices reported here represent the first 2 of the 4 planned monthly survey indices (September through December) that comprise the annual FMWT indices. The annual FMWT indices are used to monitor species abundance trends through time.
Delta Smelt
Four Delta Smelt were collected in September for an index of 4 and 3 were collected in October for an index of 3. The 2013 Sep-Oct abundance index (7) is comparable to low abundance index years 2005-2010, 2012 (Figure 1). … “
- Read the full report here: Fall Midwater Trawl Memo: September-October results
- For more information on the Fall Midwater Trawl, click here.
