Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants, Notice of Reopening of Comment Period on the Proposed Threatened Status of the Sacramento Splittail

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants, Notice of

Reopening of Comment Period on the Proposed Threatened Status of the

Sacramento Splittail

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule, notice of reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), pursuant to the

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), provides notice of

the reopening of the comment period for the proposed threatened status

for the Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus). The comment

period has been reopened to acquire additional information on the

status, abundance and distribution of the Sacramento splittail in the

Central Valley of California.

DATES: Comments received by July 17, 1998 will be considered by the

Service.

ADDRESSES: Written comments, materials and data, and available reports

and articles concerning this proposal should be sent directly to the

Field Supervisor, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, 3310 El Camino Avenue, Suite 130, Sacramento,

California 95821. Comments and materials received will be available for

public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the

above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Thabault, at the address listed

above (telephone 916/979-2725, facsimile 916/979-2723).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus), is the only

large cyprinid that is endemic to California's Central Valley, where

they were once widely distributed (Moyle 1976). Historically, splittail

were found as far north as Redding on the Sacramento River, as far

south as the present-day site of Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River,

and as far upstream as the current Oroville Dam site on the Feather

River and Folsom Dam site on the American River (Rutter 1908).

In recent times, dams and diversions have increasingly prevented

upstream access to large rivers, and the species is now apparently

restricted to a small portion of its former range (Moyle and Yoshiyama

1992). Splittail enter the

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lower reaches of the Feather (Jones and Stokes 1993) and American

rivers (Charles Hanson, State Water Contractors, in litt., 1993) on

occasion; however, the species now is largely confined to the delta,

Suisun Bay, Suisun Marsh, and Napa Marsh. The ``Delta'' refers to all

tidal waters contained within the legal definition of the San Francisco

Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, as delineated by section 12220

of the State of California's Water Code of 1969. Generally, the Delta

is contained within a triangular area that extends south from the City

of Sacramento to the confluence of the Stanilaus and San Joaquin Rivers

at the southeast corner and Chipps Island in Suisun Bay.

In recent years, splittail have been found most often in slow

moving sections of rivers and sloughs and dead-end sloughs (Moyle et

al. 1982, Daniels and Moyle 1983). Reports from the 1950's, however,

mention Sacramento River spawning migrations and catches of splittail

during fast tides in Suisun Bay (Caywood 1974). California Department

of Fish and Game survey data from the last 15 years indicate that the

highest catches occurred in shallow areas subject to flooding.

Historically, major flood basins, distributed throughout the Sacramento

and San Joaquin Valleys, provided spawning and rearing habitat. These

flood basins have all been reclaimed or modified into flood control

structures (bypasses). Although primarily a freshwater species,

splittail can tolerate salinities as high as 10 to 18 parts per

thousand (Moyle and Yoshiyama 1992).

On January 10, 1995, a second comment period was opened for 45

days, and a 6-month extension added to the final rulemaking time frame,

in accordance with section 4(b)(6)(B)(i) of the Act. A moratorium on

listing actions, imposed on April 10, 1995 (Pub. L. 104-6), was lifted

on April 26, 1996. Severe funding constraints imposed by a number of

continuing resolutions between November 1995 and April 1996 were

followed by passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act on April

26, 1996, allowing work to continue on various listing actions in

accordance with fiscal year guidance that assigned priorities in a

multi-tiered approach in accordance with section 4 of the Act (61 FR

64479). The guidance stated that handling emergency situations was

highest priority (Tier 1), and resolving the listing status of

outstanding proposed rules was second highest priority (Tier 2).

Processing of this proposed rule fell under Tier 2.

On March 19 and March 20, 1998, the California Department of Water

Resources and the State Water Contractors, respectively, requested a

reopening of the comment period. The basis of this request is that

substantial data have been collected since 1995 regarding the abundance

and distribution of the splittail. The Service believes that

consideration of this and any new information is significant to make

the final determination for the Sacramento splittail. For this reason,

the Service particularly seeks information concerning abundance and

distribution data for this species from 1995-1997. Specifically, the

Service seeks comments regarding the paper ``Resilience of Splittail in

the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary'' (Sommer et al. 1997), and how the

information contained in this paper effects the Service's

recommendation for listing the Sacramento splittail as a threatened

species.

Written comments may be submitted until July 17, 1998 to the

Service office in the ADDRESSES section.

Author.

The primary author of this notice is Diane Windham, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service (see ADDRESSES section).

References

Caywood, M.L. 1974. Contributions to the life history of the

splittail Pogonichthys macrolepidotus (Ayres). M.S. Thesis,

California State University, Sacramento.

Daniels, R.A., and P.B. Moyle. 1983. Life history of the splittail

(Cyprinidae: Pogonichthys macrolepidotus) in the Sacramento-San

Joaquin estuary. Fish. Bull. 84:105-117.

Jones and Stokes Assoc., Inc. 1993. Sutter Bypass fisheries

technical memorandum II: Potential entrapment of juvenile chinook

salmon in the proposed gravel mining pond. May 27, 1993. (JSA 91-

272). Sacramento, California. Prepared for Teichert Aggregates,

Sacramento, California. 31 pp. + Appendix.

Moyle, P.B., J.J. Smith, R.A. Daniels, and D.M. Balz. 1982.

Distribution and ecology of stream fishes of the Sacramento-San

Joaquin Drainage System, California: A review. Univ. Calif. Publ.

Zool. 115:225-256.

Moyle. P.B., and R.M. Yoshiyama. 1992. Fishes, aquatic diversity

management areas, and endangered species: A plan to protect

California's native aquatic biota. Draft report prepared for

California Policy Seminar, Univ. of Calif. Berkeley, California.

July 1992. 196 pp.

Rutter, C. 1908. The fishes of the Sacramento-San Joaquin basin,

with a study of their distribution and variation. U.S. Bull. 27:103-

152.

Sommer, T., R. Baxter, and B. Herbold. 1997. Resilience of the

Splittail in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary. Transactions of the

American Fisheries Society 126:961-976.

Authority

The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 1973

(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Dated: May 12, 1998.

Thomas Dwyer,

Acting Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1.

[FR Doc. 98-13083 Filed 5-15-98; 8:45 am]

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