Above Carmel Point

The South-Central Coast Steelhead Have Declined to the Low Hundreds

 From: Carmel River Watershead

 The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published in 2013 a Recovery Program for our distinct population of steelhead trout named the South-Central Coast Steelhead (SCCS). 

The "grade" they gave the Carmel River steelhead recovery at that time was "Poor," as the numbers of adult steelhead in our river had declined to the low hundreds if even that many. 

NMFS stated that to delist (remove) our SCCS from the Threatened Species list a number of conditions would have to be met including: mean annual run size of 4,500 adults, adequate ocean conditions, density of spawning fish, and certain fish genetic histories in our river.

Carmel River Lagoon February 2023

 

Photo by Brian Mack from: Carmel Valley Locals