EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

history cycle. Exposure to pollution is also of significant concern for all life stages, but is likely
particularly significant for freshwater life stages. Organic pollutants, particularly PCBs, DDT
and its congeners, pesticides, and endocrine disruptors are of particular concern. These
chemicals can inhibit smell, disrupt reproductive behavior and physiology, impair immune
function, and lead to mortality through impairment of water balance when traveling between
fresh and salt water systems (Varanasi et al. 1993). Diffuse and extensive population centers
contribute increase contaminant volumes and variety from such sources as wastewater treatment
plants and sprawling development. Urban runoff from impervious surfaces and roadways often
contains oil, copper, pesticides, PAHs, and other chemical pollutants and flow into surface
waters. Point and nonpoint pollution sources entering rivers and their tributaries affect water
quality in available spawning and rearing habitat for salmon. Juvenile salmonids that inhabit
urban watersheds often carry high contaminant burdens, which is partly attributable to the
biological transfer of contaminants through the food web (Varanasi et al. 1993).
California Coastal Chinook Salmon
Distribution and Description of the Listed Species
The California Coastal Chinook salmon ESU includes all naturally spawned populations of
Chinook salmon from rivers and streams south of the Klamath River to the Russian River,
California. Seven artificial propagation programs are part of this ESU. California Coastal
Chinook salmon are a fall-run, ocean-type fish. A spring-run (river-type) component existed
historically, but is now considered extinct (Bjorkstedt et al. 2005).
Status and Trends
NMFS listed California Coastal Chinook salmon as threatened on September 16, 1999 (64 FR
50393), and they retained their threatened status on June 28, 2005 (70 FR 37160). California
Coastal Chinook salmon were listed due to the combined effect of dams that prevent them from
reaching spawning habitat, logging, agricultural activities, urbanization, and water withdrawals
in the river drainages that support them. Historical estimates of escapement, based on
professional opinion and evaluation of habitat conditions, suggest abundance was roughly 73,000
in the early 1960s with the majority of fish spawning in the Eel River (Good et al. 2005). Since
its original listing and status review, little new data are available or suitable for analyzing trends
or estimating changes in this population’s growth rate (Good et al. 2005). Long-term trends in
Sprowl and Tomki creeks (tributaries of the Eel River), however, are negative. Good et al.,
(2005) caution making inferences on the basin-wide status of these populations as they may be
weak because the data likely include unquantified variability due to flow-related changes in
spawners’ use of mainstem and tributary habitats.
Critical Habitat
NMFS designated critical habitat for California Coastal Chinook salmon on September 2, 2005
(70 FR 52488). Specific geographic areas designated include the following CALWATER
hydrological units: Redwood Creek, Trinidad, Mad River, Eureka Plain, Eel River, Cape
Mendocino, Mendocino Coast and the Russian River. These areas are important for the species’
overall conservation by protecting quality growth, reproduction, and feeding. The critical habitat
designation for this ESU identifies primary constituent elements that include sites necessary to
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