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:
SAVE DELTA FISH.COM
SAVE OUR STRIPERS.ORG
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…
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Hey JD, do you have any input regarding a theory that the non-indigenous Stripers may have a contribution to the current downturn in several indigenous species (i.e. Pacific Coast Salmon, Delta Smelt) populations?
–Don B.
Don, while stripers do dine juvenile salmon, there’s no evidence that suggests that they have big impact on salmon populations. Though non-native, stripers have been coexisting with salmon for 150+ years. In surveys of predators conducted in the Delta recently, Delta smelt have not been found in the stomachs of striped bass and in fact, stripers may actually help Delta smelt by preying on fish that like to eat smelt.
Nope, stripers are not the cause of all this. The main problem with the smelt is poor water quality in the Delta. caused mainly by epic water diversions. Back when we had big numbers of salmon and smelt, the striper numbers were also high…everything has collapsed since record water exports started a few years ago. The salmon are influenced by poor water quality though the major cause in their decline has been lousy ocean conditions.
