I thought that this wuz very fascinating. Had to share w/ya-all.

San Diego Trout
A Charter Member of the
Southern California Steelhead Recovery Coalition


{I didn't bother to post the photos--figured this was long enough w/out}

photo--courtesy of Darren Brumback, NOAA
The steelhead that entered San Mateo when the last rains came in 1998 are the grandparents of these (this) "resident by virtue of the drought fish" proving that San Mateo's habitat can sustain a fishery. These fish need to be protected! San Diego Trout and San Diego Flyfishers proposed a no-kill fishery from the Tenaja Falls to the Ocean--the Department edited that request to include only those portions between the Falls and Fisherman's Camp (all of the fish live downstream and are not protected). The NMFS was asked to adopt the proposed borders for ESU 11 that went to the border--they rescinded their own proposal and went North to Malibu Creek. These fish may be killed pursuant to regulations, regarding seasons and limits--there are no other protections! (Otherwise, DFG and NMFS personnel would not have been allowed to "take" this fish without a Section 10 permit.)

SAN DIEGO TROUT IS SADDENED TO LEARN
OF THE TRAFFIC ACCIDENT THAT CLAIMED THE LIFE OF
LA JOLLA INDIAN BAND ELDER, HENRY RODRIGUEZ.
HENRY WAS A FRIEND OF SAN DIEGO'S WILDLIFE,
AN ACTIVE SUPPORTER OF SAN DIEGO TROUT, AND,
A PROACTIVE ADVOCATE OF THE SAN LUIS REY RIVER.
HENRY RODRIGUEZ WILL BE MISSED

PROP 12 PASSED!!!!

Thanks to State Senator Bill Morrow's codicil to the successful State Proposition 12, there will be $800,000 available for habitat restoration in the San Mateo! Hopefully this will aid in conserving southern steelhead today and for future generations.
And now, Camp Pendleton (The Navy Department) has inked an MOU with San Diego Trout affiliate, Trout Unlimited, to cooperate in the restoration of San Mateo and any other stream within its jurisdiction!

Want late breaking San Diego Trout News flashed to you via e-mail? Click here! and say so.


San Diego Trout is an ad-hoc consortium of outdoor enthusiasts, scientists, conservationists, and consultants who share the common goal of improving and maintaining San Diego's wild trout fisheries in as many as possible of the 58 historic trout/steelhead streams in San Diego County. Member enthusiasm is a blend of zeal to preserve our heritage as well as to partake of our Constitutional Right To Fish.. The monitored 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998 Steelhead runs comprised -0- fish. . .although we obviously missed a couple of pairs in 1998. Flows in 1999 did not provide above surface water for any steelhead that might have entered the river mouth, so there was no chance of a run.


Evolutionarily significant, for living in the first place that the progenitors of modern Rainbow Trout appeared on the Pacific Coast, the steelhead of Baja California and San Diego, northward to Santa Barbara County, are classified by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) as Evolutionarily Significant Unit #11 (ESU 11). It is theorized (aided by genetic identification) that the Rainbow Trout evolved from the Cutthroat Trout that migrated down the Colorado River, in an evolutionary journey that began mid-continent some 2 million years ago and concluded approximately 50,000 years ago. These "rainbow-like" Cutthroats evolved/branched into Proto-Rainbow strains; these trout entered the drainages of the Southwestern United States, and, upon entering a much less saline Sea of Cortez, the trout migrated and evolved up the drainages of mainland Mexico and Baja California, Mexico. The genetic patterns of the Gila Trout (upstream) and the Apache Trout, the more southerly Yaqui Trout, the Rio San Lorenzo Trout, the Mexican Golden Trout, and the southernmost Rio Presidio Trout of mainland Mexico support this migration and evolutionary theory. Another strain, the Red Band Trout rounded Baja California, Mexico; they entered the streams of northern Baja California, San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties. There are strong genetic patterns among the remaining fish, which are the direct descendants of the progenitors of all Rainbow and anadromous Steelhead Trout. Today's Coastal Rainbows, from Santa Barbara north, which descended from the Red Bands, exhibit closer genetic kinship to the Proto-Rainbows than to the Cutthroats, indicating evolutionary development, rather than an evolutionary split.


The San Diego streams that have/had fish are listed here, while the streams that have/had fish in Baja are listed here. As the last glaciers retreated, 10,000 years ago, the streams of eastern Baja California dried up, leaving the streams of northwestern Baja California and San Diego to harbor future generations of Rainbow Trout. When the glaciers retreated northward the fish followed them, adapting to their new, colder environment, losing many of the gene traits that allowed them to survive in Southern California's unique chaparral/fire prone/drought ridden environment. By the time the fish made it to Kamchatka, environmental adaptations had led to gene-pool composition permutations that clearly distinguished the Northern fish from their Southern ancestors. This accounts for variations of gene alleles. Still, there is no original mitochondrial gene marker in any Rainbow Trout, anywhere in the world, that is not present in San Diego's fish, but the opposite cannot be said. San Diego's gene pool is, arguably, the historic motherlode of all Steelhead Trout, and, certainly, a unique treasure trove of genetic material.


The presence of a gene marker, say the "new" #16 mitochondrial marker, that is not present in San Diego Trout at all, only serves to cement, rather than diminish, San Diego's trouts' claim as being the progenitor of all modern rainbows, for the #16 marker is found in the Eagle Lake Trout and the Golden Trout, which live in the Eastern Sierra--no longer accessible to the Pacific/Sacramento Delta from whence they came. . .and they had to pass San Diego to get there. Geologic dating of volcanic and glacial displacements can tell us when this isolation occurred. . .plenty of time for sub-speciation and new gene markers. Rainbow Trout evolved in San Diego and radiated north. Contrary theories, that the Red Bands went north, evolved into Coastal Rainbows, then radiated south cannot explain away the existense of isolated trout populations with Red Band characteristics in the North and in San Diego and Baja California (the northern fish with Red Band characteristics are non-anadromous, unlike our southern fish, which are ocean going, just like the fish that originally swam north, supporting our claim that our strain is older); if modern Rainbows (post Red Bands) evolved in the North and radiated south, why aren't there any 16s in the South?; if Rainbow Trout evolved from Red Bands in the North, prior to the last ice age, and, if "The North" was buried under a block of glacial ice, south, to the Southern Sierras, for thousands of years during the last ice age, where did these Rainbow Trout live, if not in the South?; if Coastal Rainbows evolved in the North from southern Red Bands, how would such an exotic fish--that evolved in the North--be able to radiate south and replace a population perfectly adaptable to our climate? Logic would suggest it didn't happen. San Diego's fish, the descendants of Red Bands are the first evolutionary step beyond the Proto-Rainbows. Our trout--the descendants of Red Bands and an ancient mixing with the evolving Coastal Rainbows (with some genetic pollution by recent hatchery plants) survive to this day--their claim as the oldest Rainbow Trout in the world has strong arguments.


San Diego Trout owes its creation to the pioneering work of such conservationists as Whitey Perry, Harlon Bartlett, Bill and Eilene Stroud, State Senator Bob Wilson, Allen Greenwood, and Jim Brown. It was the latter two, Allen Greenwood and Jim Brown, who decided to bring everyone into one big tent--hence, they co-founded San Diego Trout. Greenwood's repeated plantings of trout with genes similar to our original coastal rainbows has provided for a natural selection and survival of the fittest, resulting in generations of wild trout adaptable to San Diego's environment. The trick, of course--now that dams, concrete channels, culverts and water diversions on virtually every San Diego river have precluded natural reintroduction, through natural migrations between drainages, following natural temporary extinctions due to drought--is to implement a plan to create and maintain a multitude of these populations so that assisted reintroductions can occur following extirpations due to drought. Jim Brown, drafted what has become the basis for what we believe will be the DFG's Wild Trout Management Plan for San Diego--when the DFG's plan gets drafted/released to the public, you will see it here. Following the birth of San Diego Trout, members of The San Diego Flyfishers--most notably Bruce Campbell and Gretchen Yearous, offered support. Member, and, San Diego County Fish and Wildlife Commissioner, Mike Pottorff, also offered support as well as web space for this page, which he hosts, as did the San Diego County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Commission. San Mateo Creek researcher David Woelfel quickly supported the San Mateo restoration plan. George Sutherland and Mike Kolacz of Trout Unlimited provided support for the plan, as did trout enthusiasts Chuck Hauser, and Mark East.


In response to a 40+ page paper, written by Mike Pottorff, entitled "Government V. Steelhead," State Assemblyman (Now Senator!) Bill Morrow, asked if he might be able to help. Very quickly, he found himself across the table from both Pottorff and Greenwood, with the result being AB-691--a bill aimed at restoring the plant ecology, streambed integrity, arboreal canopy, and ultimately the three native freshwater fish of the San Mateo, the southern Steelhead, the partially armored three-spined stickleback, and the arroyo chub (renderings by Allen Greenwood). AB-691 languished as a result of the politics of Assemblyman Morrow's party (Republican) losing control of the Assembly, but (now) State Senator Morrow remains leading the charge of support, which is now bi-partisan, in the person of United States Senator Barbara Boxer (Democrat). Senator Morrow's renewed efforts have resulted in an $800,000 allocation for steelhead recovery, pending approval by the voters (Prop 12). The comprehensive plan has enlisted the support of many private groups and government agencies with proven records in such restorations and it has been endorsed by a host of environmental groups. Audubon, the Sierra Club, and a host of fishing organizations are onboard. The San Mateo Creek restoration promises to be the shining star in San Diego Trout's list of planned and ongoing projects.


San Mateo Creek is significant as it harbored the last steelhead runs of any consequence in San Diego County; it is the only undammed river in the county, running from the mountains to the ocean, and it is the only river entirely on public land. Fifty percent of the creek is on Camp Pendleton, where almost 100% of the habitat degradation has occurred. Camp Pendleton, which once ran a managed steelhead fishery program, by themselves, hopefully, will eventually embrace and support the plan. The plan is in accordance with the Fish and Wildlife Service recommendations for the base, the accords struck between General Reinke and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, 16 United States Code Chpt. 5C, the California Department of Fish and Game Steelhead Restoration Plan, and the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Department of the Navy (represented then by the current Director of CA Fish and Game, Jacqueline Schafer), between the Navy and Trout Unlimited. Click here for a comprehensive look at the plan.


San Diego Trout is actively pursuing its dinosaur hunt--by attempting to locate native San Diego Coastal Rainbow Trout (those not polluted by hatchery genes in any way)--by searching for stranded populations of "pure strain" fish. Research by Greenwood and Pottorff, with corroboration from hikers, seasoned flyfishers/pioneers, and Indians have provided the impetus for a pack trip into hidden corners of San Diego's back country. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the National Marine Fisheries Service anxiously await the results. View the historical chain for this dinosaur hunt.

If fish are found, and if they are "pure" Southern Steelhead, or, if there are no fish, or if they are not pure, expeditions will return during the Spring rains to intercept the run of smolting fish from our other known, albeit impure, populations of fish (there were no rains or runs this year), and, those fish will be taken to Hubbs (Sea World) Institute, where they will be raised in grow out pens, graciously made available by Mr. Don Kent (who is a major architect of Southern California's recovering White Sea Bass, Halibut, and Salmon Fisheries). The San Diego County Fish and Wildlife Commission, a partner of San Diego Trout, has partnered with Hubbs Research Institute and has approved the purchase of a chiller/pump to nurture these fish. Hopefully, subject to permits, these fish will become the broodstock of our restoration efforts.

http://www.sandiegotrout.org/

That's a great story, 3R...

I've heard a few related stories over the last several years.

After graduating from college in 1993, I moved to Santa Barbara for a couple of years. In 1991 they had tremendous rains there that filled up Lake Kachuma (the municipal water reservoir on the Santa Ynez River). The drought before that had lasted several years, long enough that they had build a desalinization plant for the expected depletion of water if the drought didn't end.

It had been seven or eight years since the Santa Ynez River had surface water at its mouth, but it did that year thanks to the big rains. Trout fishermen caught a few three to five pound chrome "trout" in the lower river that spring. The local bios opined that they were actually steelhead, but were pretty much laughed out of town by the fishermen (who didn't want to see any closures to protect any steelhead).

I've since heard stories of similar experiences on the Malibu and Ventura Rivers, too.

It's pretty much accepted now that those fish were steelhead, and that they stayed out until water did return.

Here's the interesting part...which I had heard while I was down there, and heard again from Curt Kramer at last month's Wild Steelhead Coalition meeting. It seems that resident "trout" in those streams up and headed for the salt as soon as those rains created enough surface water to do so.

The preliminary results of tests on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia have shown the same thing; there are three "types" of rainbows. One is "resident", one is "estuarine", and the last is "anadromous". Typing them is mainly behavioral, as they are all genetically identical. As one type is reduced in population due to environmental conditions, the other two contribute fish to maintain the balance. This means that as ocean conditions work to reduce the anadromous type, when the conditions improve the estuarine and resident types donate fish to build it back up. As marine conditions improve to the point that anadromous runs are over capacity, that type leaves more and more resident and estuarine type fish around to bank on when the conditions reverse.

It's an incredible evolutionary tactic to combat extinction.

The problem around here is that the "bank account" of resident fish has been overdrawn, beat up by "trout" fishing, habitat destruction, and addition of exotic fish that have predated upon these resident fish.

As ocean conditions return to favor anadromous fish, there aren't any additional "resident" fish to help jack up the anadromous fish. When anadromous fish contribute their fecundity to resident fish, they don't survive to be there when they need them back.

Hopefully this trend can be stopped before it's too late...and here's to hoping that our steelhead's southern cousins can get the proper protection to prevent it from happening there, too.

Fish on...

Todd.

Kool!!

Thanx fer the additional info, Todd. Really appreciate it.

I NEVER imagined that there were steelhead in MEXICO?!!

Wow, angler #43, yer one of the "ol timers" on this board.

Tight lines.

Sincerely,
Roger

I wonder if the Colorado R. has any?