Salmon Survey in the Calaveras River

Chinook salmon are a species of anadromous fish that migrate up the Calaveras River every year. As settlements grew in San Joaquin County however, the migrations essential for salmon reproduction have been experiencing decreased success due to water diversions and impediments. In 1973 the Chinook Salmon were finally placed under the Endangered Species Act. The goal of this project was to aid the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Fish and Game and the California Fisheries Foundation in their mission to monitor the number Chinook salmon in the Lower Calaveras River. The task was to observe and record Salmon sightings along the Calaveras River from the UOP campus in Stockton to the Bellota Dam about 20 miles upstream. The goal was to determine the amount of spawning salmon and to discover any injured or dead salmon along several sites on the river