Pelagic Organism Decline Overview
The Interagency Ecological Program (IEP), a consortium of nine state and federal agencies, has been monitoring aquatic organisms and water quality in the San Francisco estuary for decades. Since late 2004, scientific and public attention has focused on the unexpected decline of several pelagic (open-water) fishes (delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass, and threadfin shad) in the freshwater portion of the estuary known as the Delta. This decline has collectively become known as the Pelagic Organism Decline (POD). In 2005, the IEP formed a multi-agency POD Management Team tasked with designing and managing a comprehensive study to evaluate the causes of the decline and to synthesize and report the results. The causes under investigation include stock-recruitment effects, a decline in habitat quality; increased mortality rates; and reduced food availability due to invasive species.
Delta Smelt Distribution Comparing smelts |
 Longfin Smelt |
Striped Bass DFG Striped Bass Program |
Threadfin Shad |
2010 POD Workplan
- 2010 POD Work Plan and Synthesis of Results
- Call for Study Concepts
- Study Concept Form
- Review Process and Criteria
IEP POD Synthesis Reports
- 2008 Synthesis of Results - Pending Release
- Summary of Ammonia Results, March 2009 prepared for the CALFED workshop on Ammonia/Ammonium
- 2007 Synthesis of Results
- 2005 Synthesis of Results
- 2005 CALFED Review
IEP POD Workplans
