From Estuary News:
For more than two decades, steelhead — listed as federally threatened in 1997 — have been monitored throughout the state. However, until recently that monitoring has been a haphazard affair. Each local jurisdiction has established a different system, using different methods with different degrees of intensity, according to a 2018 study examining monitoring within the Central Valley and its environs. In some areas, primarily the Sacramento River watershed, which drains the vast northern part of the valley, data has been collected more comprehensively. In other areas, such as the San Joaquin River system to the south, more gaps remain. And in general, monitoring tended to focus solely on migrating numbers and not more detailed life history demographics.
“We need to improve our understanding of the population status throughout the Central Valley — not just in terms of abundance but also demographics such as age, sex, and size,” says Michael Beakes, senior fish biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Bay-Delta Office Science Division.
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