It’s Wednesday’s Wild and Wet Winter … a CalTrout, Keepemwet Fishing, and Lost Coast Outfitters initiative celebrating California’s wild winter steelhead.
A case can be made that California’s Eel River represents the best opportunity for large-scale wild winter steelhead (and Chinook salmon) recovery on the entire west coast. Once home to an annual return of 1,000,000 wild steelhead and salmon, today a return of 25,000 is considered a banner year with most recent years tallying considerably less. The Eel is a massive watershed with outstanding habitat and one of the few west coast watersheds with no hatchery threatening wild fish genetics. Projects focused on improving estuary habitat, removing numerous fish passage, and addressing large-scale dam removal will take many years, if not decades, and countless millions of dollars…all daunting but achievable.
To learn more about CalTrout’s Eel River efforts within this stakeholder group see their recent film “Return to Abundance”.
Anglers overall are a pretty generous group offering both voices in advocacy and financial support to the many conservation organizations fighting the good fight.
One could argue that as long-term conservation efforts play out, the most immediate and meaningful impact conservation-minded anglers can have on wild fish recovery is to simply handle fish carefully and respectfully.
Keeping fish in the water and eliminating air exposure, not only will help minimize mortality, but limit any potential secondary impacts on spawning effectiveness and fry production. Everything we do today to benefit and protect wild fish can only help future wild fish recovery efforts.
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CalTrout: to learn more about California winter run steelhead
Keepemwet Fishing: to learn more about Keepemwet principles
Lost Coast Outfitters: blog on many things fly fishing related
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Thank you for your interest in the Eel River Forum! We looking forward to sharing meeting updates and other info from the Eel River watershed with you as they develop.
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Thank you for your interest in Big Chico Creek and the Iron Canyon Fish Passage Project! We looking forward to sharing project updates, news, and stories with you from the Big Chico Creek watershed as they develop.
Thank you for your interest in Big Chico Creek and the Iron Canyon Fish Passage Project! One of our staff members will do their best to get back to you as soon as possible. However, please note that due to limited capacity we may not be able to respond to all questions or fulfill all requests.
Let us know if you are interested in volunteering and we will get in contact with you as soon as we can.
Thank you for your interest in the Elk River! One of our North Coast Region staff members will do their best to get back to you as soon as possible. However, please note that due to limited capacity we may not be able to respond to all questions or fulfill all requests.
Peter Moyle is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Associate Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, at UC Davis. He is author or co-author of more than 240 publications, including the definitive Inland Fishes of California (2002). He is co-author of the 2017 book, Floodplains: Processes and Management for Ecosystem Services. His research interests include conservation of aquatic species, habitats, and ecosystems, including salmon; ecology of fishes of the San Francisco Estuary; ecology of California stream fishes; impact of introduced aquatic organisms; and use of floodplains by fish.
Robert Lusardi is the California Trout/UC Davis Wild and Coldwater Fish Researcher focused on establishing the basis for long-term science specific to California Trout’s wild and coldwater fish initiatives. His work bridges the widening gap between academic science and applied conservation policy, ensuring that rapidly developing science informs conservation projects throughout California. Dr. Lusardi resides at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and works closely with Dr. Peter Moyle on numerous projects to help inform California Trout conservation policy. His recent research interests include Coho salmon on the Shasta River, the ecology of volcanic spring-fed rivers, inland trout conservation and management, and policy implications of trap and haul programs for anadromous fishes in California.
Patrick Samuel is the Conservation Program Coordinator for California Trout, a position he has held for almost two years, where he coordinates special research projects for California Trout, including the State of the Salmonids report. Prior to joining CalTrout, he worked with the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, a non-profit that supports the eight federal regional fishery management councils around the country. Patrick got his start in fisheries as an undergraduate intern with NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Sacramento, and in his first field job as a crew member of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Wild and Heritage Trout Program.