Environmental & Conservation Balance Sheet for The California Rice Industry

Chapter 5: Fisheries in Relation to Rice Farming

The purpose of this chapter is to document the fishery-related issues associated with rice production in California. The background material for this chapter was the white paper Water Use for Rice Farming in California (CH2M HILL, 1992). Many of the relationships of rice farming to fisheries have also been discussed in another publication prepared for the California Rice Commission (WESCO, 1991). New information pertaining to recent initiatives, regulations, monitoring results, and other fish-related issues were also reviewed and documented in this chapter.

Background

As discussed in Chapter 2, rice cultivation depends on a reliable water supply. For rice and other crops grown in the region, this supply is generally provided by the streams, rivers, and groundwater of the Sacramento Valley. These streams and rivers are, in many cases, rich fisheries. Development of water on these streams and rivers for any purpose is therefore a delicate matter, requiring care and effort to preserve fisheries resources. Although measures to mitigate the impact of water development on fisheries have been pursued for decades, severe declines for some species have refocused attention on the need to better understand and manage this fishery. As major water users in the region, rice farmers are heavily involved in efforts to preserve and enhance fish habitat and anadromous fish passage.

Three areas where fish and agricultural water use interact are:

Water diversions from natural waterways
Water conveyance in man-made facilities
Return flows of irrigation water to natural waterways

How and to what extent does Sacramento Valley water development harm and benefit fisheries resources? What are rice farmers doing to enhance benefits and alleviate harm to fisheries resources?

It should be noted that water quality in relation to rice farming, a major factor influencing fisheries, is discussed extensively in Chapter 3.

Rice Farming and California's Fisheries

Over the last 30 years, there has been much concern over the condition of the fisheries in the Sacramento River Basin. Significant decreases in returning winter-run chinook salmon have led to the federal and state listing of the winter run as a endangered species. A federal petition is pending for the spring-run chinook and it is currently listed as a California Species of Special Concern (CSC). Additional endangered or threatened species include the Delta smelt, Sacramento Splittail, and long-fin smelt. Declines in other chinook salmon runs will also continue unless fisheries problems in the Sacramento Valley and along the eastern margin of the Pacific Ocean are resolved. Problems that exist throughout the river system and the ocean include:

Acid mine drainage, which is adversely affecting water quality
Gravel mining, resulting in decreased recruitment of gravels suitable for fish spawning in critical areas
Over-harvest in the ocean fishery by both commercial and recreational fisherman
Unscreened and improperly screened water diversions, resulting in significant losses of downstream migrating juveniles
Improperly designed or inadequate fish ladders and diversion dams that block adult passage to suitable spawning areas upstream
Predation
Loss and degradation of habitat

In 1986, the state legislature passed a law that called for the preparation of a management plan to protect, restore, and enhance fish and riparian habitats and associated wildlife of the upper Sacramento River (Resource Agency of California, 1989). This plan was prepared by an advisory council and an action team of people representing many interests. Included on this team were representatives of the agriculture industry. In October 1992, Public Law 102-575 took effect, including Title XXXIV, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA). The CVPIA amended the authorization of the CVP to include fish and wildlife protection, restoration, and mitigation as project purposes having equal priority with irrigation and domestic uses, and fish and wildlife enhancement as a purpose equal to power generation. The CVPIA includes several specific and general measures, including the requirement to double natural production of anadromous fish by the year 2020. When implemented, these measures will satisfy the purposes of the CVPIA and the revised purposes of the CVP. The general purposes of the CVPIA, as identified by Congress in Section 3402, are as follows:

To protect, restore, and enhance fish, wildlife, and associated habitats in the Central Valley and Trinity River basins of California
To address impacts of the CVP on fish, wildlife, and associated habitats
To improve the operational flexibility of the CVP
To increase water-related benefits provided by the CVP to the State of California through expanded use of voluntary water transfers and improved water conservation
To contribute to the State of California's interim and long-term efforts to protect the San Francisco/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary
To achieve reasonable balance among competing demands for the use of CVP water, including the requirements of fish and wildlife, agriculture, municipal and industrial, and power contractors

In November 1993, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) completed a report, Restoring Central Valley Streams: A Plan For Action. This report is intended to serve as the foundation for restoring Central Valley anadromous fish habitat and riparian communities. The specific goals of the plan are to restore and protect California's aquatic ecosystems that support fish and wildlife and to protect threatened or endangered species. This plan would implement the state-legislated policy to double populations of anadromous fish in California. The plan described specific actions and priorities that will help restore the fishery to its optimum state and protect and restore riparian habitat. In June 1995, CDFG presented an updated report: Restoring Central Valley Streams: A Plan For Action, Status of Implementation. This update provides concise descriptions of recently completed and ongoing activities linked to the implementation of actions required to restore Central Valley streams for anadromous fish populations.

Table 5-1 summarizes actions currently being pursued to enhance fisheries habitat on the Sacramento River. The actions relate to a variety of restoration, flow, water quality, and fish screen needs. Actions related to rice farming are presented in boldface, and are primarily related to fish screens and water temperature impacts of the Colusa Basin Drain outflow on the Lower Sacramento River. Conspicuously absent are actions effecting water quality associated with rice farming. They have largely been addressed by changes in on-farm and within-district water management (see Chapter 3). It also becomes clear that rice is but one of many economic activities, including other agriculture, other water supply, mining, and other industries, that affect the Sacramento River.

The 1993 plan continues to be implemented by numerous state and federal agencies and by various irrigation districts and private farms. For example, construction of a temperature control outlet on Shasta Dam is being completed. It consists of a steel enclosure structure with sliding gates, called shutters, which surrounds the powerplant penstock intakes, thus enabling operators to select a desired water temperature from nearly any depth in Shasta Lake for release into the Sacramento River. Screening of certain diversions, modification to the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, control of runoff from Iron Mountain Mine, spawning gravel replenishment in the upper Sacramento River, and other measures are being addressed. The implementation status report previously mentioned includes a more detailed discussion of these measures and others.

Water Deliveries

A significant amount of rice irrigation water comes from Shasta Lake through the Sacramento River. From April through August (in most years), the timing of water deliveries from Shasta Lake can be beneficial to many life stages of the various chinook salmon runs. The timing of the different life stages of the four runs of chinook salmon is presented in Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1

Approximated Life History for
Sacramento River Salmon and Steelhead

In a normal water year, water is released from Shasta Dam to the Sacramento River for agricultural uses along the river starting in late March or early April. From mid-May to late September, the normal maximum ambient air temperatures range from 90 to 100° F and can exceed 115° F for short periods of time. These high air temperatures can result in significant warming of the Sacramento River. The release of cold water from Shasta Reservoir for agricultural water uses reduces river water temperatures enough to help keep Sacramento River water temperatures north of Cottonwood Creek cool enough for incubating winter-run chinook salmon eggs, for developing winter-run chinook fry, and possibly for developing late-fall-run chinook juveniles. The maximum recommended water temperature for chinook salmon development is 56° F.

The temperature control outlet will allow the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), in conjunction with fisheries agencies, to coordinate releases from Shasta Reservoir and Whiskeytown Reservoir to maintain water temperatures compatible with salmon spawning requirements and, at the same time, operate their power generating units.

Fish Screening Facilities at Water Diversions

Because most diversions on the Sacramento River are pump diversions, the greatest concern for fish screening facilities is on the river. Currently, more than 300 unscreened water diversions exist on the Sacramento River between the City of Redding and the Feather River (Resource Agency of California, 1989). As with other unscreened diversions on the rivers and the Delta, significant losses of juvenile salmon occur at these diversions. The diverted water serves agriculture, municipalities, and industry throughout the Sacramento Valley. Only three of the major diversions in this portion of the Sacramento River have fish screens:

The Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District (ACID) diversion at Redding
The Tehama-Colusa Canal (TCC) diversion at Red Bluff
The Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District (GCID) diversion at Hamilton City

The primary purpose of these diversions is to supply riverwater for agricultural needs. The TCC delivers water directly to rice farmers on the west side of the Sacramento River, and indirectly to farmers in the GCID through two cross- channels. Approximately 5 percent of the TCC diversion is used for rice production. The GCID diversion supplies water to a significant amount of the rice acreage in the Sacramento Valley.

To protect fish in the Sacramento River, the TCC diversion was fitted with a series of 32 rotary-drum screens in the spring of 1990. These screens replaced an old louver screening system. These new screens are considered among the premier, state-of-the-art fish screening facilities in the United States. With 2,500-cfs capacity, the new screens have reduced juvenile fish losses into the canal. Loss of fish into the TCC through the diversion's screen facility is no longer thought to have a significant impact on California's fishery resources (California Department of Water Resources, 1991). The USBR and the fishery agencies are currently reviewing the need for other improvements for fish passage associated with the Red Bluff Diversion Dam.

The CDFG fish screens at the GCID diversion have not enjoyed the same level of success as the new fish screens at the TCC diversion. The GCID screened diversion north of Hamilton City can divert up to 3,000 cfs. The existing rotary-drum screen was designed and constructed by CDFG, and was placed in service in 1972. The screen facility is operated by CDFG, with one-half of the operation and maintenance costs shared with GCID under a 1968 agreement. The screen has never worked effectively, and has been estimated to kill up to about 7 million juvenile salmonids annually (Resource Agency of California, 1989). Since 1986, GCID, which consists predominantly of rice farmers, has been working with the fishery agencies to provide interim and long-term protection to the fish, particularly the protected winter-run chinook salmon. Currently, the California Department of Water Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are completing the preliminary design and environmental documentation of the long-term screening facilities and river gradient restoration project.

For the past 4 years, GCID has solely funded fishery studies, engineering studies, and underwater observations that were needed for the design of the proposed interim modifications. The studies were also needed to improve the operation and maintenance of the existing screens and to provide valuable information for the design of new screen facilities. The ultimate solution to the problem at the GCID intake is to replace the fish screens. GCID is required to contribute substantially to the replacement cost for the screens and the restoration of the river gradient.

GCID completed the construction of the interim screens in late 1993 to upgrade existing screens and the downstream fish bypass channel. The purposes of these improvements were to reduce the length of time fish are exposed to the screens and bypass channel, to provide improved state-of-the-art flat plate screens that meet CDFG criteria at flows up to 1,500 cfs, and to reduce predation of juvenile salmon. The District has also modified the Montgomery Island access crossing to include a broad-crested weir for enhanced downstream fish passage.

Fishery studies are being performed on other streams such as Big Chico Creek, Butte Creek, and other eastside streams to determine the facilities necessary to protect the spring- and fall-run chinook salmon. It is of particular importance to build up the populations of spring-run chinook salmon, whose numbers have dwindled, particularly during the recent extended drought.

Several small diversions along the Sacramento River and tributaries are using a combination of techniques to improve their diversions for fish passage. These improvements include siphons under the creeks, new canal and pipeline laterals, moving diversions from tributaries to the Sacramento River, consolidating diversions, and removing existing diversion dams.

Some of the Districts and ranches involved in these projects are Western Canal Water District, Parrott-Phelan and M & T Ranch, Durham-Mutual Water Company, Princeton-Codora-Glenn Irrigation District, Rancho Esquon, and Gorrill Ranch. The diversion structures that are remaining in place with the newly designed and improved screens are also being retrofitted with CDFG-approved fish ladders.

The CVPIA provides federal funds (tied to cost sharing with State and local agencies) for the design and construction of fish screens, fish passage devices, and other facilities to protect fisheries in the Sacramento Valley. The rice industry supports federal and state programs to protect the fishery resources in conjunction with the farming of rice. Cost sharing programs will be needed to allow for economical agricultural production, particularly during extended drought periods.

Agricultural Drains and Return Flows

Agricultural drains that return flows from rice fields to the Sacramento River support a wide variety of fish species (SWRCB, 1990). Table 5-2 lists some of the more common fish found in the drains. Catfish and sunfish are the predominant recreational species. Two prominent areas for recreation are the Sutter Bypass, which supports a notable catfish population (WESCO, 1991), and the Colusa Basin Drain at Knights Landing, which provides access to several species of fish.

Table 5-2:
Some Common Fish Species Known to Inhabit Agricultural Drains which Discharge into the Sacramento River

Common Name	Scientific name
Brown bullhead	Ictalurus nebulosus
Channel catfish	Ictalurus punctatus
White catfish	Ictalurus catus
Black crappie	Pomoxis nigromaculatus
Bluegill	Lepomis macrochirus
Green sunfish	Lepomis cyanellus
Redear sunfish	Lepomis microlophus
Carp	Cyprinus carpio
Goldfish	Carassius auratus
Golden shiner	Notemigonis crysoleucas
Hitch	Lavinia exilicauda
Mosquitofish	Gambushia affinis
Sacramento blackfish	Orthodon microlepidotus
Sacramento splittail	Pogonichthys macrolepidotus
Sacramento squawfish	Ptychocheilus grandis
Sacramento sucker	Catostomus occidentalis

* Source: SWRCB, 1990.

A significant amount of water is returned to the Lower Sacramento River by the agricultural drains during certain times of the year. In a low-flow year, agricultural drains provide approximately 15 percent of the total inflow from May through August (inflow is defined as water above that which is discharged from Shasta Dam for instream flow) and about 30 percent of the inflow from September through October (SWRCB, 1990). This additional water may be beneficial to upstream migrating chinook salmon (WESCO, 1991), particularly fall-run and spring-run chinook since this is the time of year a large portion of these runs would be migrating upstream. These benefits would be derived primarily between Sacramento and Knights Landing since this is the reach where the major agricultural drains in the Sacramento Valley discharge (SWRCB, 1990). Achieving the maximum benefit from this outflow would be dependent on water quality.

Through innovative on-farm water management, the rice industry has succeeded in greatly reducing herbicide concentrations in return flows. While this still remains a challenge, fish kills due to rice herbicides have not been observed for over a decade. Water temperature effects of rice farming, the warming of floodwaters in fields, are more difficult to avoid. However, the steady reductions in the amount of irrigation applied to rice fields reduces thermal load to the rivers from rice fields. Also, temperature control measures in reservoir and system operations have been helpful.

Water quality of agricultural return flows was discussed in depth in Chapter 3.

Despite the benefits of returning water to the Sacramento River, agricultural drains present a hazard to upstream migrant salmonids. Adult salmon stray into irrigation and flood bypass drains, particularly the Colusa Basin Drain at Knights Landing and waste gate outfalls on tributaries including Stony, Butte, and Chico Creeks (CDFG,1990). Fall-run chinook salmon are particularly vulnerable because water releases from the drains coincide with peak periods of upstream migration in the river. Fish are probably attracted to the drains by the large volume of water being released. Once in the drains, they are attracted to the canal outfall gates (CH2M HILL, 1991) because of their behavioral attraction to high velocities (Bell, 1990). To deter entrance into the Colusa Basin Drain, CDFG installed an electrical barrier at the outfall gates in 1976. The barrier was not effective and was removed in 1980 (CH2M HILL, 1991). The development of mitigation measures for excluding migrating salmon from the drain have been funded by a local Reclamation District, which has a large membership of rice farmers, and possible solutions are being considered.

Conclusions

The following sections present the justification for ratings of the rice industry's performance relative to the environmental value of fisheries.

Fertilization

Plant nutrients encourage algal growth and reduce dissolved oxygen available to fish. As a result of substantial investment by the rice industry in agronomic and plant breeding research, fertilization of rice is generally quite efficient. Relative to feasible alternative land uses, nutrient leakage from rice fields to waterways is minimal.

Irrigation

Rice farming is one of many factors affecting the Sacramento Valley's river, stream, and Delta fisheries. For example, on the Sacramento River from Redding to the Feather River confluence, there are over 300 water unscreened water diversions for irrigation and other purposes. Of the three major screened diversions, one is for Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, which serves a large proportion of the rice farmland in the region. The District, with funds generated by rice farming, will participate heavily in a planned upgrade to this facility. Major improvements to enhance fish passage are also underway in Western Canal Water District.

Other factors that affect the fishery include toxic acid mine drainage, gravel mining (potentially impairing spawning habitat), commercial and sport fishing (ocean and inland), predation, and loss and degradation of habitat.

Flood maintenance, while consuming (evaporating and transpiring) an amount of water comparable to other agricultural land uses, results in diversion of a somewhat larger volume of water. Draining of rice fields at the end of the cropping season provides more flow for migrating fish during a period of potentially critically low flows at the end of the growing season.

As described in the Water Quality section of Chapter 3, the quality of flow returning to streams and rivers is generally higher than for alternative land uses. This is of significant benefit to fish, and is a result of industry investment in water quality programs.

Winter flooding can result in increased water system capacity, possibly allowing for increased in-stream flow during early spring. This is a net positive effect relative to other feasible land uses, and will probably increase with time.

Pest Control

Animal (including insect) control activities in rice are minimal relative to many other agricultural and urban land uses. These activities also result in a minimum of pesticide contamination of water in fisheries.

Conspicuously absent from recent assessments of challenges faced by Sacramento Valley fisheries are rice herbicides. This is because rice farmers have been so successful in managing and biodegrading these materials. Weed control in rice has not affected fish significantly in recent years. There is no guarantee that any alternative cropping system or non- agricultural land use could deliver this type of performance. Rice farming's weed control activities perform relatively well, and will continue to do so. This performance is the product of substantial investment by the industry and its collaborators to develop innovative water management practices that allow the farmer to retain floodwaters on fields while herbicides break down.

References

California Department of Fish and Game. 1996. Status of Actions to Restore Central Valley Spring-Run Chinook Salmon. February.

California Department of Fish and Game. 1995. Restoring Central Valley Streams: A Plan For Action, Status of Implementation. June.

California Department of Fish and Game. 1993. Restoring Central Valley Streams: A Plan For Action. November.

California Department of Fish and Game. 1990. Central Valley Salmon and Steelhead Restoration and Enhancement Plan. April.

California Department of Water Resources. 1991. Draft-Effects of Central Valley and State Water Project Delta Operations on Winter-Run Chinook Salmon. Sacramento, California.

CH2M HILL. 1991. Assessment of Options for Excluding Adult Salmon From Entry into the Colusa Basin Drain. Prepared for Reclamation District 2047. Redding, California.

CH2M HILL. 1991. Guide to Upper Sacramento River Chinook Salmon Life History. Prepared for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Central Valley Project.

Resource Agency of California. 1989. Upper Sacramento River Fisheries and Riparian Habitat Management Plan. Sacramento, California.

State Water Resource Control Board (SWRCB). 1990. Sacramento River Toxic Chemical Risk Assessment Project. Final Project Report 90-11WQ. October.

WESCO (Western Ecological Services Company, Inc.). 1991. Environmental Attributes of Rice Cultivation in California. California Rice Promotion Board. Yuba City, California.

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