Saving Steelhead Trout

The Carmel River Steelhead Association is an organization advocating for steelhead trout for 50 years. The organization gathers a team of volunteers and rescues, by hand, over 10,000 steelhead yearlings from the drying waters of the Carmel River tributary streams every year. The Carmel River has historically supported a run of now federally listed steelhead population. The ongoing conflict over water usage, worsened by excessive pumping, drought, and climate change, creates uncertainty for both the steelhead population and the river's future. The Carmel River is just one of many rivers in the western United States facing water scarcity due to overuse and climate change. Efforts to address these challenges can offer valuable lessons for other watersheds.

A group of steelhead yearling groups together in a deep pool in a drying creek in the Carmel River Watershed. Carmel Valley, USA.

A volunteer fishes the steelhead young inside a water tank to release them in the Carmel River in a section where the river runs year-round. Carmel Valley, USA.

A group of volunteers from the Carmel River Steelhead Association go downstream in a drying creek in the Carmel River watershed looking for stranded steelhead fish to rescue from the drying waters. Carmel Valley, California, USA.

Brian LeNeve, past president and conservation chair of the Carmel River Steelhead Association, carries a heavily loaded backpack electroshocker upstream, along with James C Jeffery III, Carmel River Steelhead Association secretary, and a volunteer. They use nets to rescue steelhead from the stream. Carmel Valley, California, USA.

A group of volunteers from the Carmel River Steelhead Association gather the rescued fish from the oxygenated buckets to return them to a section of the Carmel River that remains flowing all year. Carmel Valley, California, USA.

A Carmel River Steelhead Association volunteer holds a rescued steelhead young in his hand. This fish suffered injuries during the rescue and transport process and will not survive. The Carmel River Steelhead Association keeps a record of the mortality rate during the rescue events and will use the dead fish for DNA sampling. Carmel Valley, USA.

Brian LeNeve, past president and conservation chair of the Carmel River Steelhead Association, an organization that has been advocating for steelhead trout for 50 years. Carmel Valley, California, USA.

Steve Park, President of the Carmel River Steelhead Association, shows a replica of a steelhead adult to a group of citizens during the 2024 California Wildlife Day in Palo Corona Regional Park, Carmel Valley, California, USA.

Upper image: Finch creek during the wet season on September 2, 2023. Lower image: Finch creek during the dry season on October 27, 2021. The Water Year 2021 was the second driest year on record for California based on statewide runoff.