If you value striper fishing in California, you’re going to have to act quickly because assemblywoman Jean Fuller, (R) Bakersfield, wants them dead!
Fuller introduced AB 1253 to take game fish status away from California’s striped bass.
AB 1253 will remove all protections that striped bass currently enjoy and will allow unlimited harvest in all waters, fresh or salt, throughout the entire state. Even commercial harvest of striped bass will be legal if this bill becomes law. And guess what, largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, crappie, bluegill, catfish, brown trout, brook trout, mackinaw, kokanee are next on the list!
What you can do:
1) Sign the petitions at:
2) Comment on AB1253 at CA STATE ASSEMBLY (Just type “1253″ in the bill number box and “Fuller” in the “Author/Text” field.
30 Attend the rally. The Assembly Bill AB 1253 Hearing will be held on Tuesday, April 28 at 8:00 am at the California State Capital Building and we need a STRONG showing of anglers!
Also, watch the following video for more information…
More facts on this subject, from www.savedeltafish.com:
AB 1253 is only the latest ploy by water agencies to divert attention from the major cause of fisheries collapse; the massive, unsustainable export of water from the Delta. For example:
1. Striped bass have coexisted with Delta smelt (and salmon) for more than 130 years.
2. Striped bass have co-existed with Atlantic Salmon on the east coast for (THOUSANDS of years)
3. All key Delta fish species are at historic lows! – the decline of striped bass closely parallels the declines of salmon, Delta smelt, and other fish.
4. Water exports from the Delta peaked to historic highs between 2003 and 2007 (above 6 million acre-feet/year), and in this period ALL these fish populations have plummeted. 2008 survey’s fish survey’s clearly show a Delta ecosystem in collapse.
5. Federal law (CVPIA) calls for the protection, indeed, the doubling of striped bass (and salmon) populations.
6. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Delta smelt Biological Opinion acknowledged that there is no evidence that striped bass pose a significant threat to Delta smelt.
7. Recent surveys of predators in the Delta have not found Delta smelt in the stomachs of striped bass. Indeed, the evidence indicates that striped bass may actually help Delta smelt by preying on significant predators of smelt.
8. Respected fishery scientists like Peter Moyle and Matt Nobriga agree that there is no hard evidence that striped bass have caused Delta smelt populations to decline.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I have been monitoring this situation from the east coast, and I find it very troubling. Not only does this affect those who fish for stripers, environmentalists, and conservationists, but it has implications for the overall economy. Over here, we have people come from hundreds of miles away to fish for these stripers. In doing so, they stay at local hotels, eat at the restaurants, buy supplies for the trip, and so forth. Even if they only catch one fish on an outing, think about what that one striped bass brought into the economy, not to mention sales tax receipts. Every effort should be made to preserve the striped bass.
Thanks for the input, Wishbone. I agree…
Bill, as someone who has lost 6-7 months of very steady income due to the salmon colIapse, I agree with you that we need to do something to protect California salmon ASAP! However, this crazy bill really has nothing to do with protecting salmon or Delta smelt.
Yes, stripers eat salmon. In fact, they’ve been doing it since 1870. But there is no hard evidence that says they’re contributing to the decline of the Chinook population.
In 2002, we had record numbers of salmon in the Sacramento Valley (800,000+)…and huge populations of salmon as well.
There’s no way that suddenly stripers started eating so many salmon that the population dipped 90% in a few short years.
Yes, northern pike are voracious and DFG felt that ANOTHER non-native apex predator in the system wasn’t such a good program. While I agree they had to do something with the Lake Davis situation, it’s possible that salmon wouldn’t have felt a huge impact from Northern pike.
Northerns are ambush predators that prefer weedy shallows. They may not have crossed paths too often with salmon — and in fact, may have eaten their share of salmon-eating predators like crappie, bass, squawfish and small stripers. In effect, the introduction of pike may have been a “wash.” Furthermore, on Alaska’s Nushagak River, where I guided for 7 years, there is a massive Northern pike population — along with Alaska’s largest king salmon run, so who knows. But I digress…
It is extremely ignorant to think that this bill will do anything to help recover our salmon populations…considering poor ocean conditions have been cited by an expert panel of state and federal biologists as the major culprit in the decline. That, and habitat degradation.
And one final counterpoint…you say that lifted restrictions on striped bass will boost DFG revenues…however, it will be just the opposite. By declassifying stripers as gamefish, they will be open to commercial gillnetting which will wipe them out in relatively short order. Then, we’ll have no salmon and no stripers. Who wins then?
Answer: the water districts.
We need to do something immediately to protect our Pacific Salmon! I feel Stripers (for now) should be taken off the game fish list or at least the limit be raised (immediately). After all we poisoned Lake Davis (twice) to eradicate Pike. Aren’t Stripers just as voracious? They thrived and exist at the expense of Salmon (and Steelhead).
Water quality/loss is another factor but do we really think that its going to get better? We are just lying to ourselves. Also, natural history indicates that the entire Pacific will continue to become drier and get less water – snow melt, rain, etc. The best, quickest solution then for now is to pass this bill!!! This law, if passed, will never totally eradicate Stripers but it should help to get Pacific fisheries back into balance. It should also boost revenues to the F&G and economy (bait and tackle shops, boat shops, reel and motor repair) as people may flock to go Striper fishing!!!
When we introduce non-native species of all types the results are usually always bad for native species. Although it has taken 100 years to get Salmon (and Steelhead) numbers this low it may be due in part to the fact that we used to be able to walk across our rivers on the backs of Salmon (and Steelhead) -there were enormous amounts!
Stripers on the east coast have also been linked, in part, to Atlantic Salmon decline/endangerment.
Again, this is another example of government greed and ineptitude that doesn’t effect them, only the American public -in this case it was the DFG and FWS that brought the Stripers here.
S.O.S – Save Our Salmon (now)!!!
Sincerely,
Bill Lentz
Cat Creek Outdoors
P.O. Box 107
Greenwood, CA 95635
530-409-9720