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Troubled Waters: The Golden State’s trout and salmon are in peril, and that’s bad news for humans

Posted by: Maven on December 25, 2008 at 8:14 am

From Bohemian.com:

Two years ago, UC Davis biologist Peter Moyle set out to document the condition of California’s salmon and trout. The findings took him by surprise.

“Basically, two things impressed me,” says Moyle. “One was how many fish were in trouble. I had a feeling things were not good, but I didn’t realize collectively how many were in serious trouble.

“The second thing that surprised me, though, is how many of these fish are hanging in there.”

Moyle’s research, commissioned by the sportfishing group California Trout and summarized in SOS: California’s Native Fish Crisis, found that if present trends continue, 65 percent of California’s native trout and salmon will be extinct within a hundred years. Moyle and his fellow researchers applied seven criteria to each of the state’s 32 salmonids (a family that includes trout) and came up with an index. On a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being “extinct” and 5 being healthy, 20 of the fish scored a 2 or lower. Only five scored a 4 or 5. The state’s 12 salmon species are under particular pressure; 83 percent of them could vanish in the next century.

“Only two populations of Chinook are at low risk of extinction, but even these are declining,” Moyle told reporters at a press conference last month announcing the results. “At the end of the century, they’ll be curiosities.”

On the other hand, Moyle points out, most of the fish still persist in their native range, albeit in small pockets. “Like the steelhead in Southern California—that’s truly amazing,” he says. “So the fact that these fish are still maintaining marginal populations in so many areas tells you conservation efforts are worthwhile.”

Read more from the Bohemian.com by clicking here.

December 25, 2008 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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