Pescadero saves lagoon fishes this year, and its brilliant

"Following the natural breach last year, observers found 235 dead steelhead trout, a federally protected species," (see related Half Moon Bay Review article).

Samantha Weigel, correspondent, 12/29/12. "Pescadero breach deemed a success,

Digging a trench to ocean *2

 Breaching the lagoon *1

The ongoing momentum of state and federal marine conservation agencies geared toward preserving the Pescadero lagoon and preventing fish kills was determined to have paid off in early December. 

Eighteen years ago, experts began to recognize a significant impediment at the lagoon winding under Highway 1 that resulted in the death of hundreds of steelhead trout. The population of steelhead trout has diminished from 600,000 in the 1980s to a scant 200,000, said Chuck Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Game. During yearly months of disconnect, the temperature of the lagoon rises and decreases oxygen levels in the water, affecting the procreation and resiliency of the native fish. As the fresh water rises above a layer of salt water, the water column begins to stratify and creates unsafe conditions for endangered and threatened coastal marine life.

....  “For the first time since 2000, no fish kills occurred in the Pescadero lagoon following the breach of the sandbar,” said Jim Milbury, spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.  ....   “We lowered the volume of the lagoon by a full ‘foot’ and created a channel that introduced cold, oxygenated seawater into the lagoon. The lagoon lowering also stopped water from flooding the marsh and tules, which prevented a water quality issue from setting up,” Rutten said. 

“We had no fish kill and subsequent water quality monitoring indicated the lagoon had high quality steelhead conditions from the surface to the bottom,” Rutten said.  ....  A major factor in assuring continued support of the lagoon relies on the formation of an independent science panel.  Read article.  *1,  photograph by Patrick Rutten/NOAA from article.  

Watertide Gobi

San Francisco Garter Snake.

Related article -  Half Moon Bay Review/Mark Noack,12/23/12.  "Experts report success in averting fish kill. .... "Described as one of the largest and most unique habitats on the California coast, Pescadero Marsh features 10 threatened species, including two listed as federally endangered: the tidewater gobi and the San Francisco garter snake. But for years, independent experts and local citizens have warned the marsh was becoming a lethal environment for its native fish, particularly the steelhead trout.  .... On two workdays in October, volunteers dug a channel about the length of a tennis court to connect the freshwater marsh to the ocean waves."  *2,  photograph from a the October workday file.

Posted by Kathy Meeh