Check out our latest stories! Fish IDing and 'Wayward" Chinook salmon

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. 'Name that fish' Can you name this fish? Identifying the 112-plus fish species in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary can be a difficult task, even by scientists. Numerous Delta species have similar characteristics and can be hard to identify to the untrained eye. Credit: Steve Martarano/USFWS Lodi Fish and Wildlife Office hosts vital multi-agency Delta fish ID workshop By Steve Martarano November 1, 2017 It's a fact that identifying the 112-plus fish species in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary can be a difficult task, even by scientists who have dedicated their careers to such work. Many of the juvenile fish inhabiting Bay-Delta waters, like the Hitch, have identifying characteristics that are small and difficult to see; pigments, fin arrangements, fin length, ray counts are just some of the important characteristics to focus on. High profile species like Delta Smelt, Wakasagi, and Longfin Smelt have similar characteristics and can be hard to identify to the untrained eye. The staff of the Lodi Fish and Wildlife Office however are trained experts in this specialized area. Continue to full story...   Correcting the 'wrong turn' A Chinook salmon jumps in a holding tank as wayward salmon wait to be spawned at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. Credit: Steve Martarano/USFWS   Partnership with state-run Nimbus Hatchery helps correct wayward 2017 fall-run Chinook salmon that strayed off course when they returned to spawn By Steve Martarano November 2, 2017 California may have experienced record rainfalls this past winter, but negative impacts due to the unprecedented five-year statewide drought continue for Chinook salmon produced at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery. In a unique partnership that hasn't been utilized in 40 years, the state of California has stepped in to help out. The Coleman hatchery, located in Anderson, California is the only federally operated fish hatchery in the state with an annual production of 12 million fall-run salmon smolts that are typically released into nearby Battle Creek each spring. This allows them to complete the imprinting cycle during their outmigration to the ocean. In 2014 and 2015 however, due to extreme drought conditions which prevented release into Battle Creek, most of those 24 million fish were driven almost 200 miles by truck (about 280 river miles) and released into locations near the San Francisco Bay, including Rio Vista, Mare Island and San Pablo Bay. Continue to full story...   Stay Connected with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region     This email was sent using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region · 2800 Cottage Way · Suite W-2606 · Sacramento, CA 95825