The California Fish and Game Commission in San Diego voted 3-0 on February 7th to designate the longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), a native fish that has dropped to record low numbers in the San Francisco Bay-Delta and is nearing extinction in other northern California estuaries, as a "candidate species." This is the first step toward a formal listing as an endangered or threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act, according to a press release from a coalition of three environmental groups.

Scientists believe that the number one cause of the food chain collapse is massive increases in water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta since 2001, followed by toxics and invasive species. The state and federal governments exported a record 7,000,000 acre feet of water from the California Delta to subsidized agribusiness and southern California in 2007. Read More

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