Public Project
- The Delta
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- The Delta
Location: West Los Angeles
Nationality: Danish /America
Focus:
Photographer, Photojournalist, Journalist, Researcher, Politics, Travel, Environment, Science, Documentary, News, Photography, Foreign, Portraiture, Culture, Freelance, Assignments, Editorial, Climate, Environmental Stories, Conservation
Covering:
Asia,
USA & Canada
Skills:
Research
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
The UC Davis research boat heads in to Cache slough, in the Bay Delta. Cache Slough has been known as a hotspot for delta smelt.
“It’s funny, because the smelt are a small fish, and now they’re a rare fish, but they still loom large over all our environmental and water policies,”
“It’s funny, because the smelt are a small fish, and now they’re a rare fish, but they still loom large over all our environmental and water policies,”
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
An otter trawl net is cast into the Cache slough in search of Delta smelt. But it’s been four years since the research team of researchers from the University of California, Davis, have found the finger-length fish that gleam golden and “smell kind of like cucumber” in the brackish streams and sloughs of northern California’s bay delta.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
Caroline holds on to her hat as the research boat moves locations.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
Caroline on of the graduate student helping with the research checks and identifies fish.
For California farmers with thousands of acres to irrigate and millions of dollars on the line, the smelt are in the way – the state listed the species as endangered in 2009, and in effect constrained how much water can be pulled from the delta.
For California farmers with thousands of acres to irrigate and millions of dollars on the line, the smelt are in the way – the state listed the species as endangered in 2009, and in effect constrained how much water can be pulled from the delta.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
A juvenile bluegill sunfish is measured and recorded.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
The northern California delta is home to many species of fish.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
Dragging a net and recording the position researching compare years of dates to help evaluate the delta's health.
Soon after UC Davis researchers first began sampling in the delta, nearly 40 years ago, the delta smelt populations suffered a huge blow: their numbers had suddenly declined by more than 80%. Their numbers dipped even lower after a period of extended drought in the late 80s and early 90s, then lower still during California’s most recent drought, which lasted from 2012 through 2016. During these dry spells, California’s cities and farms needed to pump more and more delta water – leaving these fish without enough fresh, cold water to survive.
Soon after UC Davis researchers first began sampling in the delta, nearly 40 years ago, the delta smelt populations suffered a huge blow: their numbers had suddenly declined by more than 80%. Their numbers dipped even lower after a period of extended drought in the late 80s and early 90s, then lower still during California’s most recent drought, which lasted from 2012 through 2016. During these dry spells, California’s cities and farms needed to pump more and more delta water – leaving these fish without enough fresh, cold water to survive.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
A large catfish has be caught, an invasive spices to the Delta.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
Teejay and Chris gather the nets, ready to move on to a new place to sample.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
Suisun marsh, one of the largest brackish water marsh on west coast of the United States of America. The marsh land is part of the San Francisco Bay tidal estuary, and subject to tidal ebb and flood .
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
A striped bass stomach gets emptied to check on what it has been eating and seeing if there is any smelts in it diet.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
A bass has been caught.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
All fish are measured and recorded and logged.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
Fishing is a popular recreational activity along the delta’s complex maze of sloughs and rivers.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
A shallow catches a ride crosses on the Steamboat Slough ferry in the Sacramento Delta, connecting Grand Island to East Ryer Island.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
The American flag blows in the wind on board the ferry. One of the few ferry's left connecting islands, in the part of the delta.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
The sunset over the Sacramento River in walnut grove.
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© 2024 Mette Lampcov
'Stop the tunnels' has been left on the tree as many residence in the delta are opposed to the delta water tunnel project. That would take water from the Sacramento river under the delta in to Clifton court up to Bank pumping facility bringing water to southern California.
"Because most Delta smelt live for just one year, even temporary environmental changes can decimate the population. It’s not just the overpumping, but the pumps themselves that have strained the smelt"
"Because most Delta smelt live for just one year, even temporary environmental changes can decimate the population. It’s not just the overpumping, but the pumps themselves that have strained the smelt"
from The Guardian " For conservationists and ecologists like Durand, the delta smelt are harbingers, their diminishing numbers a signal that the delta’s ecosystem is dangerously close to collapse. For California farmers with thousands of acres to irrigate and millions of dollars on the line, the smelt are in the way – the state listed the species as endangered in 2009, and in effect constrained how much water can be pulled from the delta.
Now, the creatures caught in the crossfire of the state’s water wars have all but disappeared, and biologists worry that newly empowered forces within the Trump administration could usher them into oblivion
Now, the creatures caught in the crossfire of the state’s water wars have all but disappeared, and biologists worry that newly empowered forces within the Trump administration could usher them into oblivion
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