Title
Consider recommending that the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board of Supervisors adopt a resolution authorizing and directing the General Manager to enter into a grant agreement with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to receive a grant of $17 million dollars for the construction of Fish Exclusion System in conjunction with the Interlake Tunnel construction.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board of Directors:
Recommend that the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board of Supervisors
adopt a resolution authorizing and directing the General Manager to enter into a grant agreement with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to receive a grant of $17 million dollars for the construction of a Fish Exclusion System in conjunction with the Interlake Tunnel construction.
SUMMARY:
The Fiscal Year 19/20 budget for the State of California included seventeen ($17) million dollars for the construction of a Fish Exclusion System (fish screens) in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) budget. In order to secure these funds, MCWRA and CDFW must enter into an agreement by June 30, 2021.
DISCUSSION:
White Bass (Marone chrysops), native to St. Lawrence-Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and Red River Basin, and Mississippi River basins from Quebec to Manitoba and south to Louisiana are present in the Nacimiento Reservoir and have periodically been physically observed in the Nacimiento River, a tributary of the Salinas River. White Bass were introduced to Nacimiento Reservoir in 1965, but concerns about the spread of the fish during the 1970s resulted in management actions to eradicate the species in all but Nacimiento and subsequent regulatory and state code changes to preclude White Bass from any waters of California other than Nacimiento Reservoir.
White Bass are a non-native species listed by state regulation as Detrimental as they may alter/affect existing sport fisheries...
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