After decades of advocacy by environmental groups, a tiny silver fish is finally getting federal protection in San Francisco Bay. On Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the bay’s population of longfin smelt is now on the federal endangered species list, 12 years after the agency first deemed the fish threatened or endangered. Once so abundant that it was fished commercially, the fish has plunged in numbers by over 99% since the 1980s.  The roughly 4-inch fish joins five other San Francisco Bay species on the federal endangered species list — a dubious distinction that should offer it better protections. Longfin smelt, which also spend time in the ocean, do not spawn as much in years when there is not enough freshwater flowing into the bay during winter and early spring, scientific studies have found. … Reestablishing the population of longfin smelt will require fewer diversions of Sierra Nevada water from Central Valley rivers to farms and other human uses, said Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist at the nonprofit organization San Francisco Baykeeper. 

Related articles:

• Los Angeles Times: Another California fish is added to the federal endangered species list
• E&E News by Politico: Feds protect California fish hurt by water diversions
• San Francisco Baykeeper: Making waves at 35: Protecting the Bay’s fish and flows
• Fish & Wildlife news release: Endangered species status for the San Francisco Bay-Delta distinct population segment of the longfin smelt