OCWD Online - Press Release: 07.03.2001 - Orange County Water District Contributes To Fish Recovery Plan

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – The Board of Directors of the Orange County Water District (OCWD) announced its contribution of $25,000 to continue the Santa Ana Sucker Conservation Program for a second year in a row. The study is sponsored by the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, whose member agencies include OCWD and four other water districts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. OCWD in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated the study in September 2000 to begin implementing strategies to increase the sucker’s population.

The Santa Ana sucker fish (Catostomus santaanae) is listed as a threatened species, although the cause of its decline has not been scientifically identified. The sucker fish is one of three original fish occurring in the Santa Ana River, along with the arroyo chub and the speckled dace.

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, non-native fish and a lack of breeding areas seemed to be not only probable causes of the fish’s decline but also the most promising avenues for research into restoring the fish.

Currently, the study is concentrating on the migration of the sucker fish. A tag is being placed on fish to track movement along the river and to learn about the habitat it originating in and OCWD Helps Fund Santa Ana Sucker Fish Recovery…whether it migrates upstream or downstream. The overall scope of the study includes the reproduction and migration patterns of the fish, population size and structure, as well as potential introduction sites along the river and other re-establishment issues in order to help maintain some of California’s natural resources – like the sucker fish.

The 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.

The study will cost approximately $125,000 per year and will initially last five years. OCWD will contribute up to $25,000 each year. Federal and local agencies and developers with projects affecting the flow of the Santa Ana River will also be approached to help fund the recovery effort. Possible agencies include San Bernardino County Flood Control District, Riverside County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, City of Corona and the Orange County Flood Control District.

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.

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.