The Yolo Bypass Fish Monitoring Program (YBFMP) operates a rotary screw trap and fyke trap and conducts biweekly beach seine and lower trophic surveys in addition to maintaining water quality instrumentation in the bypass. The YBFMP serves to fill information gaps regarding environmental conditions in the bypass that trigger migrations and enhanced survival and growth of native fishes, as well as provide data for IEP synthesis efforts. YBFMP staff also conduct analyses of YBFMP monitoring data to address pertinent management related questions as identified by IEP. The Yolo Bypass has been identified as a high restoration priority by the National Marine Fisheries Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinions for Delta Smelt, Winter and Spring-run Chinook salmon and by California EcoRestore. The YBFMP informs the restoration actions that are mandated or recommended in these plans and provides critical baseline data on the ecology of the bypass and how it interacts with the broader San Francisco Estuary. Program objectives include: Collecting baseline data on water quality, chlorophyll, lower trophic level biota, and fish in the Yolo Bypass to monitor spatial and temporal changes in trends and abundance; Analyzing and communicating Yolo Bypass data with stakeholders and the scientific and management communities to address pertinent management related questions; Providing technical expertise on Yolo Bypass aquatic ecology and monitoring and sampling methods.

We collect discrete water quality data using a YSI ProDSS and sample phytoplankton, chlorophyll and nutrients as discrete water grabs taken biweekly (or weekly during Yolo Bypass inundation) along with lower trophic tows. Water is sampled at three sites along the Yolo Bypass and Sacramento River, then processed and analyzed by an internal DWR laboratory.