that California could only use the smelts' water after receiving an exemption from the God Squad. In January 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court declined review without comment. The smelt is unpopular among farmers, with a common complaint being that 200,000 acres of farmland have been left fallow due to "four buckets of minnows". Although allegations have been made that this protection has hurt California's agricultural sector, with the devastation of hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the Central Valley, a 2009 UC Davis study estimated that job losses due to smelt protection were closer to 5,000. See also California Aqueduct References External links The State Water Project Hypomesus Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta Fish of the United States Endemic fauna of California Environmental controversies Fish described in 1963 Taxa named by Donald Evan McAllister Critically endangered fauna of the United States