Steelhead: Swim up and be counted

By Guy Carl
Outdoors

The long-awaited storms that arrived recently in the Napa Valley have been a godsend to our watersheds.

For the first time in over a year, our streams are running high and strong, our reservoirs are starting to fill, and our aquifers are beginning to be replenished. The drought is not over, but finally Napa’s human residents can at least breathe a shallow sigh of relief.

Another Napa resident welcoming the new flows of water is our native steelhead trout. These fish return from the ocean each winter to spawn, and depend on high water flows to open up pathways to their breeding grounds upstream. As I write this column, steelhead are swimming their way towards the river’s tributaries, returning to the very creek in which they were born.

How many steelhead are making this journey? That question has been often pondered by anglers, conservationists and biologists alike.

It has been speculated that the annual steelhead returns might number in many thousands in good years, and in down seasons could be only a few hundred fish.

But no one really knows for sure, because no one has ever been able to perform a true, reliable count.

This is about to change. The community-based organization Napa River Steelhead is teaming up with the Napa County Resource Conservation District to conduct an official count of spawning steelhead this year. A fish-monitoring trap has been jointly purchased to take a count of the river’s fish traffic.

The trap will be set up in the river’s main stem north of the city of Napa. Although several main tributaries that are downstream of the trap will be excluded (such as Milliken, Napa and Tulocay Creeks), the counts taken will provide new and valuable information about fish spawning in Upvalley streams.

The steelhead will enter the trap on their way downstream. Volunteers, under supervision of Department of Fish and Game officials, will monitor the trap on a daily basis to count the fish. After updating the tally, all fish will be released unharmed to continue downstream to the ocean.

The data collected will be used to help determine the overall health of the species, and give some direction to managing the populations in the future.

“I’m glad we’ve found a situation where we can make a meaningful impact by gauging the population of steelhead in the Napa River, and begin the process of studying how best to help the species thrive,” says Steve Orndorf, president of Napa River Steelhead.

“This is the first of many programs we hope to introduce to help support these native fish.”

The organization is currently seeking volunteers to help with the fish trap monitoring, along with other future activities. Anyone interested in helping out is encouraged to contact the group at 256-9129 or napariversteelhead@gmail.com.

Financial support is also welcome, and may be mailed to PO Box 6291, Napa, CA 94581.

Further information on Napa River Steelhead is available at Sweeney’s Sports in Napa.

Guy Carl is a CPA and partner with BDCo Accountants and Advisors in St. Helena (www.bdco

cpa.com).

Contact Guy at GC.outdoors@sbcglobal.net.

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