Document Details

Listen to the River: An Independent Review of the CVPIA Fisheries Program

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | December 12th, 2008


In 1992 Congress directed the Department of Interior to develop and implement a program that makes “all reasonable efforts” to ensure and sustain on a long-term basis a doubling of the number of naturally produced anadromous fish in Central Valley rivers and streams by 2002.

Doubling did not happen by the legislative goal of 2002, or by 2008, nor is it likely to ever occur unless renewed commitments and improvements are made to the CVPIA program.

The specific “doubling” mission itself may make little scientific or policy sense, especially within the time frames demanded. Yet it is also far from clear that the agencies have done what is possible and necessary to improve freshwater conditions to help these species weather environmental variability, halt their decline and begin rebuilding in a sustainable way. A number of the most serious impediments to survival and recovery are not being effectively addressed, especially in terms of the overall design and operation of the Central Valley Project system.

Underlying this independent review of the CVPIA anadromous fish program, asked for by the federal agencies, is the question why the CVPIA program has not been successful in achieving its mission. In this report, we identify scientific, institutional and programmatic obstacles to the success of the CVPIA, drawing conclusions from the information provided. Based on these conclusions, we make recommendations to Reclamation and the Service on how these obstacles might be overcome.

Keywords

anadromous fish, Central Valley Project (CVP), endangered species, fisheries, native fish, water project operations