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Lawsuit: Striped bass to blame for California’s salmon decline

Posted by: Maven on February 27, 2010 at 8:45 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

“Some fish do the eating and others get eaten. That is the nature of nature. But if man helps one voracious eater that doesn’t belong, is that fair?

This is the essential question in a lawsuit over the striped bass, a non-native fish introduced to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from the East Coast in 1879 to create a commercial fishery.

Today the striper is caught only for sport – prized by anglers for its tasty flesh and hard fighting on the rod.

But while the California Department of Fish and Game props it up as a sport fish, the striper has become the Delta’s top predator, feasting on Delta smelt, juvenile salmon and steelhead. These are endangered species in California – and the focus of Herculean conservation efforts.

The suit was brought by the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, a nonprofit made up of San Joaquin Valley water agencies linked to Stewart Resnick, a billionaire with a huge Kern County farming operation. … “

Continue reading this article from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

February 27, 2010 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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