Fish Restoration Program Tidal Wetland Restoration Monitoring in Upper San Francisco Estuary, 2015-ongoing

The Fish Restoration Program Monitoring Team assesses the biological effectiveness of 8,000+ acres of tidal wetland restoration in the Upper San Francisco Estuary (Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh) through a contract with the CA Department of Water Resources. The restoration is pursuant to requirements in the 2008/2009 and 2019 Biological Opinions for state and federal water project operations. Data on fish and invertebrate abundance on or near these sites was collected as baseline monitoring data and to determine the most efficient methods for monitoring wetlands. Understanding how invertebrate and fish communities change pre- to post-restoration is essential to evaluating the benefits of tidal wetlands to native fish species. Invertebrate data was collected using sweep nets, benthic cores, neuston nets, and zooplankton trawls. Fish data was collected using otter trawls, lampara nets, and beach seines. For each method, the team recorded the catch of fish or invertebrates, length of organisms, and a suite of environmental information, including: dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, specific conductance, turbidity, chlorophyll a, phycocyanin, and dissolved organic carbon. Data are collected before and after restoration at project and reference sites (Before-After-Control-Impact-design), as well as at adjacent water bodies.