To those of you who don't immerse yourself, live, breath, toil, sweat, daydream, drool and celebrate in the splendor of our Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta fisheries...
You wouldn't know this... but there is currently a bill in the US Senate (drafted by assembly woman, Jean Fuller) which comes up for review on April 28th. which if passed would be devastating to the striped bass population and fishery and ultimately to most if not all fisheries and all forms of flora and fauna in the delta which depend on a sustained, healthy inflow of fresh water.
The bill seeks to remove the striped bass from game fish status and remove any and all restrictions on their take. Ultimately, this would very likely extirpate the striped bass from our pacific coast and inland watersheds.
In a nutshell, striped bass were introduced (from New Jersey) to California in 1886 as they are a hardy and desirable game fish species. These fish thrived and coexisted with salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, delta and long fin smelt, and all of California's native species in healthy numbers for over 125 years.
The relatively-recent, sharp decline- particularly in salmon and the endangered delta smelt- has been scientifically proved to correlate with increased water exports and NOT predation by striped bass.
In fact, the numbers of striped bass themselves, have decreased exponentially right alongside the fish they are being charged with endangering.
The bill is backed by California agribusiness farmers and the politicians whose votes are bought and sold by such constituencies.
The greatest travesty is that with no scientific basis, a group of politicians is attempting to divert public attention and awareness away from the truth (that the faltering state of our delta ecosystems is directly related to increased fresh water exports) in order to promote their agenda (to divert and export even more fresh water from that already fragile ecosystem).
The baseless conclusion, portraying striped bass as the main culprit in the disappearance of delta smelt and salmon stocks is merely the latest (red herring) attempt at justifying greater water exports out of the Sac/SJ Delta under a false premise.
After all, if the public buys the propaganda and is duped into believing that striped bass, rather than lack of water, is responsible for dwindling salmon and delta smelt populations, the bureaucrats may proceed unchecked to increasingly drain the delta.
Anyone who has fished this region since the 1960's can tell you (not from politics, not from studies nor collected data but rather from first-hand experience) how the numbers of sport-fish of ALL species have exponentially declined since the 1960's when water exports were significantly increased.
Yes, there are other factors which challenge the survival troubled fish species; habitat loss, climate, oceanic, estuarine, riverine conditions, pollution, poaching, and cyclical events... but it does not take a rocket scientist to know that above all, fish need water and in the absence of water, they will perish.
I love to fish for striped bass and so of course I do not want to see them eradicated... but my bigger concerns are A) the overall health of the Sac/SJ Delta ecosystem and B) our rights as anglers who pay increasing revenues each and every year to have the privilege and right to enjoy the sport of fishing... both of which will certainly be severely compromised if this bill is passed into legislation.
And what will be next? Will largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bluegill, crappie, American shad, threadfin shad, brown trout, brook trout, lake trout, kokanee, white/yellow/black/brown/blue/flathead and channel catfish (and the list of California's currently-thriving non-native fish species is MUCH longer) all be wiped out also due to their non-native status?
I hope that someday, humankind will wake up and take responsibility for the travesties it has inflicted upon our suffocating planet. There are places (like Alaska) I've never been but which I hold close to heart simply knowing that they have largely remained wild and free from the spoils of our species....
I sincerely hope that whether or not you fish, you'll see through to the core of what this 'anti-striper' legislation is really about and will opt to at least click on the link below and sign the petition to undermine it.
Please click on the underlined links below. If you need to get back to this page, you can left-click the left arrow on your web browser page or hit the BACKSPACE button on your keyboard.
VIDEO OF LOCAL ANGLERS EXPLAINING THE SITUATION
PETITION
THANKS!
Mark L. Lynn
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