EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

earing/migration corridor downstream of the spawning range has a high conservation value.
Limiting factors identified for Snake River Basin steelhead include: hydrosystem mortality,
reduced stream flow, altered channel morphology and floodplain, excessive sediment, degraded
water quality, harvest impacts, and hatchery impacts.
Final Protective Regulations
On June 28, 2005, as part of the final listing determinations for 16 ESUs of West Coast salmon,
NMFS amended and streamlined the 4(d) protective regulations for threatened salmon and
steelhead (70 FR 37160) as described in the Protective Regulations for Threatened Salmonid
Species section of this document. Under this change, the section 4(d) protections apply to
natural and hatchery fish with an intact adipose fin, but not to listed hatchery fish that have had
their adipose fin removed prior to release into the wild. The amended June 2005 4(d) (70 FR
37160) rule applies to the Snake River Basin steelhead DPS.
South-Central California Coast Steelhead
Distribution and Description of the Listed Species
The South-Central California Coast steelhead DPS includes all naturally spawned populations of
steelhead (and their progeny) in streams from the Pajaro River (inclusive) to, but not including
the Santa Maria River, California. No artificially propagated steelhead populations that reside
within the historical geographic range of this DPS are included in this designation. The two
largest basins within this DPS are the inland basins of the Pajaro River and the Salinas River.
Both of these watersheds drain intercoastal mountain ranges and have long alluvial lower
stretches. Principle sub-basins in the Pajaro River that support steelhead include: Corralitos
Creek, Pescadero Creek, Uvas Creek and Pacheco Creek. Principle sub-basins in the Salinas
River that support steelhead include the Arroyo Seco River, Gabilan Creek, Paso Robles Creek,
Atascadero Creek and Santa Margarita Creek. Other important watersheds include the smaller
coastal basins of the Carmel River, and St. Rosa and San Luis Obispos creeks.
Status and Trends
NMFS listed South-Central California Coast steelhead as threatened in 1997, and reaffirmed
their status as threatened on January 5, 2006 (71 FR 834). Historical data on the South-Central
California Coast steelhead DPS are sparse and no credible historic or recent estimates of total
DPS size are available. Steelhead are present in a large portion of the historically occupied
basins within this DPS (estimated 86-95 %) but observed and inferred abundance suggest many
of this basins support a small fragment of their historic run size. Present population trends
within individual watersheds continuing to support runs is generally unknown, but may vary
widely between watersheds. No data are available to estimate the steelhead abundance or trends
in the two largest watersheds in the DPS, the Pajaro and Salinas basins. These basins are highly
degraded and expected to support runs much reduced in size from historical levels.
Steelhead in the Carmel Basin have been monitored at San Clemente Dam since 1964,
representing one of the longest data sets available for steelhead in this DPS. However, this data
is also limited because a nine year gap exists in the series, a large portion of the run spawns
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