NEWS | Press Release Library| 2000 Press Releases:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 20, 2000
ORANGE COUNTY WATER DISTRICT TO HELP FUND RECOVERY PLAN FOR SANTA ANA RIVER SUCKER FISH
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. -- Last night, the Board of Directors of the Orange County Water District (OCWD) approved a plan for OCWD to join a team of local government agencies in developing a recovery plan for the Santa Ana sucker fish. The plan will be implemented in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Santa Ana sucker fish (Catostomus santaanae) was recently listed as a threatened species, although the cause of its decline has not been scientifically identified.
The study will cost approximately $125,000 per year and will initially last five years. OCWD will contribute $20,000 each year and will manage the project fund. Federal agencies and developers with projects affecting the flow of the Santa Ana River will also be approached to help fund the recovery effort.
The Santa Ana sucker is a four- to five-inch-long bottom feeder with silver and dark blotched coloring. It has a life span of three years and can be found in the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana Rivers as well as in streams feeding into those rivers. It lives primarily on algae and occasional insects.
A preliminary study conducted by OCWD, the Orange County Flood Control District and the Los Angeles County Public Works Department in the fall of 1998 found that the quality of river water did not appear to be a factor in the Santa Ana sucker’s decline. Instead, predation from introduced, non-native fish and a lack of breeding areas seemed to be probable causes of the fish’s decline and the most promising avenues for research into restoring the fish.
The new study will be sponsored by the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, which includes OCWD and four other water agencies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The scope of the new study will include the fish’s reproduction and migration patterns, population size and structure, as well as potential introduction sites and other re-establishment issues.
OCWD undertook a similar effort in the early 1980s to address the endangered least Bell’s vireo songbird, whose numbers had dropped to approximately 18 breeding pairs in the area of Prado Dam. As a result of OCWD’s efforts, parasitic cowbirds were identified as the major cause of the decline of the vireo. By counteracting cowbird activities, the vireo population has now increased to more than 230 breeding pairs in the area behind Prado Dam in Riverside County.
OCWD hopes a similarly successful recovery plan can be developed in the Santa Ana River for the Santa Ana sucker fish.
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The Orange County Water District is a special water agency created by the California Legislature in l933 to maintain and manage the huge groundwater basin under northern Orange County. The groundwater basin managed by OCWD supplies 75% of the water needs to more than 2 million residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington and Newport Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda.
For further information contact:
Jenny Glasser, OCWD (714) 378-3228
Ron Wildermuth, OCWD (714) 378-3351
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