It’s tiny, it’s silver and it’s at the center of a decades-long controversy over California’s water system. It’s the delta ...

For a small fish only found in the San Francisco Estuary, the delta smelt has caused a lot of controversy over the years.

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025 (main) and a Delta smelt fish (inset). Anna Moneymaker/Rich Pedroncelli/Getty/AP Photo California's water ...

And it aligns with his broader anti-environmental agenda.” Followers of California water politics have long known the delta smelt as a key indicator species for the health of a fragile ecosystem.

At issue is the longfin smelt, whose better-known relative, the delta smelt, has long been at the heart of high-profile habitat battles. The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed designating 91,630 ...

It's an attempt to change the environmental protections of the smelt, a three-inch-long fish once vital to California's ecosystem but now nearly extinct, and criticize the state's efforts while ...

President Donald Trump is taking executive action to override California's "actively harmful ... such as the Delta smelt. The order comes just weeks after Trump accused Gov.

In 1993, the smelt was listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act and the California Endangered Species Act, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website.

It's an attempt to change the environmental protections of the smelt, a three-inch-long fish once vital to California's ecosystem but now nearly extinct, and criticize the state's efforts while ...