Mercury News
September 6, 2012

Federal fisheries managers on Wednesday proposed an ambitious new plan to save an endangered population of coho salmon on California’s central coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration unveiled its far-reaching restoration plan at a meeting on Wednesday, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.

The species was once found abundantly in streams from San Francisco south to the Santa Cruz area, but is now found only in Scott and San Vicente creeks.

The wide-ranging, more than 2,000-page plan sets forth detailed restoration actions for creeks and estuaries, regulatory and policy changes and many other actions regulators said are needed to restore lost habitat and help the fish rebound.

While NOAA’s plan helps provide a road map forward for central coast coho, implementation will require cooperation from a wide array of parties, including creek-side homeowners and local water departments.

NOAA estimated the price for the plan at $1.5 billion spread over decades, with a mixture of federal and outside funds.

While officials admitted some of the recommendations made in the plan are not practical—like restoring the urban San Lorenzo River estuary which abuts downtown Santa Cruz and the city’s beach boardwalk—they said diversity could be added to that habitat to help make it healthier for the fish.

Jon Ambrose, a National Marine Fisheries Service biologist, said another key issue is the amount of water being diverted to thirsty cities from local streams.

He said some water departments have started working on habitat restoration, but that many are still not working with NOAA.

“Water is the Achilles heel for a lot of these fish in the Santa Cruz Mountains,” he told the newspaper.

Original source