EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

elow the dam and the older dam counts may be incomplete. Between NMFS’ 1997 status
review and 2005 status update, continuous data from San Clement dam suggests that the
abundance of adult spawners in the Carmel River has increased. Carmel River time series data
indicate that the population declined by about 22% per year between 1963 and 1993, and
between 1991 and 1997 the population increased from one adult to 775 adults at San Clemente
Dam. Good et al., (2005) deemed this increase too great to attribute simply to improved
reproduction and survival of the local steelhead population. Other possibilities were considered,
including that the substantial immigration or transplantation occurred or that resident trout
production increased as a result of improved environmental conditions within the basin. The
five-year geometric mean calculated by Good et al., (2005) for the Carmel River population
(1998-2002) was 611 steelhead (range 1-881).
Critical Habitat
NMFS designated critical habitat for South-Central California Coast steelhead on September 2,
2005 (70 FR 52488). Specific geographic areas designated include the following CALWATER
hydrological units: Pajaro River, Carmel River, Santa Lucia, Salinas River and Estero Bay.
These areas are important for the species’ overall conservation by protecting quality growth,
reproduction, and feeding. The critical habitat designation for this DPS identifies primary
constituent elements that include sites necessary to support one or more steelhead life stages.
Specific sites include freshwater spawning sites, freshwater rearing sites, freshwater migration
corridors, nearshore marine habitat and estuarine areas. The physical or biological features that
characterize these sites include water quality and quantity, natural cover, forage, adequate
passage conditions, and floodplain connectivity. The critical habitat designation (70 FR 52488)
contains additional details on the sub-areas that are included as part of this designation, and the
areas that were excluded from designation.
In total, South-Central California Coast steelhead occupy 30 watersheds (fresh water and
estuarine). The total area of habitat designated as critical includes about 1,250 miles of stream
habitat and about 3 square miles of estuarine habitat (e.g., Morro Bay). This designation
includes the stream channels within the designated stream reaches, and includes a lateral extent
as defined by the ordinary high water line. In areas where the ordinary high-water line is not
defined the lateral extent is defined as the bankfull elevation. In estuarine areas the lateral extent
is defined by the extreme high water because extreme high tide areas encompass those areas
typically inundated by water and regularly occupied by juvenile salmon during the spring and
summer, when they are migrating in the nearshore zone and relying on cover and refuge qualities
provided by these habitats, and while they are foraging. Of the 30 watersheds reviewed in
NMFS' assessment of critical habitat for South-Central California Coast steelhead, six
watersheds received a low rating of conservation value, 11 received a medium rating, and 13
received a high rating of conservation value for the species.
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
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