Peter Moyle Commentary: Let’s make a future for California’s fish

From the Sacramento Bee:

California has a remarkable diversity – 32 species – of native salmon and trout, thanks to our long coastline and high mountains. However, the disappearance of bull trout in the 1970s may foretell a series of salmon and trout extinctions in the near future, including our coho salmon and golden trout.

In collaboration with my colleagues at UC Davis and with support from California Trout, I recently completed a two-year research study that indicates 65 percent of California’s salmon and trout species face extinction within this century, if not sooner.

These are not just obscure species that only a few people care about, but species that support fisheries, that are extraordinarily beautiful, and that are emblematic of California’s diverse streams, rivers and lakes.

For example, silvery spring Chinook salmon once ascended streams of the Central Valley in the hundreds of thousands. Today, just a few thousand spawn in three small streams in the shadow of Mount Lassen. Lahontan cutthroat trout, a spotted bronze trout that was once found throughout the northeastern Sierra, is now fighting to survive in a few protected localities. And just a handful of oceangoing steelhead remain to struggle up the damaged streams of Southern California.

Read more of Peter Moyle’s commentary from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

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