GEORGE CARL | Outdoors
Study indicates steelhead abundant in Napa River
Thursday, March 21, 2002; Napa Valley Register
The Napa River remains a focal point for study, recreation and conservation.
Many river cleanups were organized by the Napa River steelhead Organization. A hatchery was built to raise young steelhead to put back into the Napa River system; volunteers from a variety of different organizations put in many hours because they are concerned about the future of the river and its habitat.
Last summer the Friends of the River organization took on a project to study the Napa River and check it for steelhead. They entrusted the help of Ecotrust and lots of volunteers to look at the abundance and distribution of steelhead in the Napa River system. Two teams were formed. They, along with fish biologists, went to various parts of the river and its tributaries every day for eight weeks.
They hiked the creeks and snorkeled every 10th pool. The results showed that steelhead were found in most of the pools and were well distributed throughout the Napa River system from Calistoga to Carneros.
The Napa River has 17 major tributaries with a total of 53 branches that feed these tributaries and the river. Since the survey was done in the summer, all the young steelhead were mostly yearlings, 4 to 5 inches long, with a few 6-inchers who were into their second year.
This report didn't have total numbers, but usually only about 2 to 4 percent of the young ever mature and return to the Napa River, find a mate, and make it back to their tributary of origin to spawn and then travel back to the ocean.
It is estimated that the current adult population of returning steelhead is somewhere between 500 and 750 fish. Thus, the total number of young steelhead in the Napa River system is probably about 8,000 to 10,000 fish.
Most of these fish have destinations that are predetermined by the imprinting that took place when the fish were about 8 months old. The fish are imprinted with the chemicals inherent to the creek where they were born, and three to four years later, as adults of from 6 to 15 pounds, these fish return to that same creek where they were born to spawn.
Steelhead in the Napa River are a threatened species; the Napa River steelhead organization is currently stymied. They need a cooling system for the water to run through the hatchery.
Since this is a volunteer group receiving no funds except from members, until the cooling system is found and installed, they are at a standstill.
The hatchery is located at the base of Conn Dam spillway. New Department of Fish and Game rules allow only native steelhead to be captured and raised at the hatchery. This is exactly what the volunteer group wanted to do all along.
They have a battery-operated zapping machine which shocks the fish for a minute; then the fish can be netted and transferred to a holding tank and transported to the hatchery.
The rescue operation would only be used to capture young steelhead from creeks that would normally dry up every summer.
If anyone knows of a cooling system that could be installed at the hatchery, please contact me. In the years the Napa River steelhead Organization has been in operation, over 250,000 steelhead trout have been raised and placed into the Napa River and creeks that are capable of maintaining a year-round water flow.
I salute the efforts of Friends of the Napa River for their work in this survey. They can be reached at 254-8520. The Napa River steelhead Organization can be reached by calling 253-0665.
Saving the Napa River steelhead and watching and protecting the habitat of the Napa River and its 53 creeks and 17 tributaries is an ongoing job.
Everyone who is fortunate enough to live on any of these creeks or the river must also be a watchdog for anything that might hurt the ecosystem that affects the quality of life for steelhead and all creatures. They need the nurturing that this precious water system provides.
Currently there is no fishing allowed on any of the creeks that feed the Napa River, but the Napa River itself is fair game to fish all year long.