NOAA, CDFW Combine To Bring Back Coho In Pescadero Creek
Really good report from NOAA on the team effort with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and other partners to restore a coho salmon run along the Central Coast’s Pescadero Creek:
Here’s NOAA with more:
NOAA Fisheries named CCC coho salmon as a Species in the Spotlight in 2015. This initiative highlights nine species under NOAA Fisheries’ jurisdiction that are most at risk of extinction. Healthy salmon populations provide economic and social benefits; communities, businesses, jobs, and cultures revolve around the salmon of California.
“Bringing coho back to the Pescadero watershed is a priority for our agency, and was possible, because extraordinary work has been done to restore their habitat,” said Joel Casagrande, Fisheries Biologist for NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. “Also, now there is a critical mass of support from partners and landowners in the watershed who are helping in the effort.”
The released fish came from a conservation hatchery program in Santa Cruz County. The program is a partnership between the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project, University of California at Santa Cruz, and NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Its goal is to restore this imperiled salmon population and to protect and increase CCC coho’s genetic diversity throughout their historic range.
When released, the coho are less than a year old and approximately two inches long. They will grow another three inches in the creek before they migrate out to the ocean. After maturing in the ocean and growing longer than two feet, the surviving adults will return to freshwater streams to spawn. Coho return to streams where they spent time as juveniles, typically completing the cycle after three years.
Read the entire report. Good stuff.
