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Court considers interim measures to protect California’s sensitive native fish and amphibians from fish stocking

Posted by: Maven on November 12, 2008 at 2:26 pm

From YubaNet.com:

The Sacramento Superior Court has ordered the California Department of Fish and Game into talks with Pacific Rivers Council and the Center for Biological Diversity to develop interim measures to limit harm to native species caused by fish stocking. The intent is to minimize the adverse effect that hatchery-raised fish inflict on sensitive native fish and amphibian species while the Department prepares an Environmental Impact Report under the California Environmental Quality Act.

“Interim measures limiting stocking are needed to help save California’s native fish and frogs from extinction,” said Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Fish and Game should still be able to stock hatchery fish, but in places where they won’t harm native species.”

The court ruled in May 2007 that fish stocking has “significant environmental impacts” on “aquatic ecosystems” and “in particular, on native species of fish, amphibians and insects, some of which are threatened or endangered.” The court ordered the Department to analyze and mitigate the impacts of the stocking program in an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, by the end of 2008. The Department returned to court last month to ask for a one-year extension, to January 2010, because the agency has made little progress on the EIR.

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November 12, 2008 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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