Blog: Extinction’s Edge: Zero Delta smelt found in September 2021 during CDFW Fall Midwater Trawl Survey
For the fifth September in a row, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has caught zero Delta smelt in its Fall Midwater Trawl Survey (FMWT) throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Once the most abundant fish on the entire estuary, the fish is now near extinction in the wild, although UC Davis continues to raise the fish in a captive breeding program. The Delta smelt population has plummeted over the decades since the State Water Project began exporting Delta water to San Joaquin Valley grower sin 1967.