December 6, 2008

For fi rst time in decades, Kaweah, Kern rivers won’t be stocked with fi sh

and outfi tters, however, has been where no recent surveys have been BY BRETT WILKISON loud and critical. done. A back-room deal quietly put a lid The temporary ban will hurt “This lawsuit is not about fi shing. on 100 years of California fi shing communities dependent on fi shing We don’t oppose fi shing,” said Noah history two weeks ago. dollars such as Kernville, above Greenwald, a program director for As part of a 2006 lawsuit by Lake Isabella, opponents say. the Center for Biological Diversity. two environmental groups, the “Our intent is to make sure that the The town on the banks of the Kern stocking doesn’t contribute to the California Department of Fish and River gets much of its summer Game agreed to stop stocking — or extinction of those fi sh and frog business from anglers, who come species.” planting — fish in 175 streams, for the dependable trout fi shing. lakes and reservoirs across the That concern is well-placed and the state. Stop the stocking and that business science behind the groups’ legal will go elsewhere, said John The interim agreement, which took claim is sound, two noted biologists Strange, sporting goods manager said this week. effect immediately, covers almost at James Sierra Gateway Market 10 percent of the 2,000 waterways in Kernville. In the High Sierra, where with the agency stocks, some since early the exception of the Kern River last century. “I shudder to think at what this will drainage trout did not historically do to us,” Strange said. It includes stretches of the live above 7,000 feet, the mountain Sacramento, American and Yuba Groups: Science shows stocking’s yellow-legged frog was once the rivers, angler destinations such effect most common vertebrate, found in as Lake Amador and the Truckee most of the range’s 4,000 lakes. The The groups behind the lawsuit, the River, and locally the Kaweah River frog now occupies only a fraction Center for Biological Diversity and and Kern River, one of the state’s of those lakes. the Pacifi c Rivers Council, say a most popular trout fi sheries. Lake comprehensive study of Fish and Disease and pesticides are partly to Kaweah and Lake Isabella will still Game’s stocking program is long blame for that decline, but planted be stocked, as will all privately run overdue. trout are an equal if not larger trout ponds. factor, said Roland Knapp, a veteran The groups convinced Sacramento The deal is intended to protect 25 research biologist at University of Superior Court Judge Patrick rare native fi sh and frog species, California, Santa Barbara’s Sierra Marlette that until the agency which some scientists say are Nevada Research Laboratory in fi nishes its environmental impact threatened by fi sh stocking, while Mammoth Lakes. report — ordered by the judge the department completes a broad as part of the 2006 lawsuit and The fi sh feed on frog tadpoles and study of its stocking program. The originally due out this year — adults, Knapp said, and all recent study is due to be released in early stocking should be halted in areas studies, some even by Fish and 2010. where any of 16 native fi sh or nine Game, have found the same thing, Reaction to the deal from anglers native frog species occur, or in areas according to Knapp: Where there are introduced trout there are likely their habitat. he said. “But it’s not going to be a no frogs. [situation] where people are going That is partly why so few waters up there and there’s not going to be Same goes for native fi sh, which from the Sierra or the south Central any fi sh.” are often eaten, out-competed or, in Valley — none outside of the the case of native trout, interbreed Kaweah and Kern — landed on the But going beyond 2010 without with the introduced fi sh, reducing no-stock list this time around, one stocking could result in a major their chance of survival, according local offi cial said. They had already decline in the trout population, to University of California, Davis, been taken off years ago. Mitchell added. fi sh biologist Peter Moyle, an expert That situation could be grounds for on the state’s native freshwater fi sh Yet, while a comprehensive study of lowering the catch limit, currently species. the stocking program will ultimately be a good thing, offi cials said, the five on stretches of the Kaweah Most stocking in California over selective ban could still be excessive and Kern, or for an expansion the last century has been “willy- and unwarranted on certain waters, of catch-and-release regulations, nilly,” ignorant of those effects, including the Kern and Kaweah. both of which would have to be Moyle said. approved by the state Fish and Studies on Kaweah, Kern Game Commission, he said. Among the fish that have been harmed are the California golden The Kern was placed on the list Neither step has been seriously trout and Little Kern River golden out of environmentalists’ concerns discussed yet, he said. trout. Partly because of ill-advised that a type of minnow called the Anglers, communities, wild trout stocking, those and other native hardhead was imperiled by planted caught in middle trout face a 65 percent chance of trout. extinction within the next century, The hardhead, however, are Still, local outfi tters and fi shermen Moyle said. abundant in the Kern and have say that environmentalists and state managers are overlooking “We are at the point were we need coexisted with introduced fi sh for the impact that even an interim to take drastic steps to save these years, said Dale Mitchell, a Fish stocking ban could have on fi shing- species,” he said. and Game environmental manager based in Fresno. dependent communities and on Fish and Game responds wild, native trout. The Kaweah landed on the list Fish and Game offi cials said they because no recent surveys have Anglers rack up 100,000 fi shing have been put in a tight spot. They been done for sensitive species. But days on the Kern every year and say that while part of their job is Mitchell said he’s almost certain around 140,000 trout had been to protect species, another part is that no rare species exist in the planted annually in the river to providing fishing to the masses, Kaweah. support that use. The Kaweah and barring stocking makes that receives about a fifth as many diffi cult. “We don’t like having those waters angler days and was last stocked in on [that list],” he said, referring to 2005 with 1,000 trout, according to The agency has overhauled its both the Kern and Kaweah. Fish and Game records. stocking operations in recent years out of concern for native fi sh and The completed study should support Without stocking, anglers, including frogs. Non-native trout are no reinstating stocking on the two families that often fi sh the stocked longer planted in water bodies with rivers in 2010, he said. stretches, could get skunked and primarily wild, native trout, and in Until then, both rivers should still decide to take their business out of the High Sierra the department has prove worthwhile destinations for the area, outfi tters say. removed hundreds of lakes, most anglers, he said. That could cost a community such of them seldom visited, from the as Kernville millions in license stocking program to give frogs back “The catch per hour will go down,” fees, hotel bookings, shopping trout. But the lawsuit didn’t take that into revenue and fi shing services, said consideration, in the eyes of local Guy Jeans, owner of Kern River Fishing license fees pay for game fi shermen. Fly Shop in Kernville. wardens. Fewer stocked water bodies could result in fewer license “The problem is lawsuits tend to “It’s a big blow and a lot of people purchases, driving game warden be draconian,” said Mark Cave, a are pretty upset,” Jeans said. funding down and decreasing Visalia fly fisherman who fishes fi shing patrol, fi shermen said. mostly for wild trout. “We need An estimated 70 people packed a to have a balance. I recognize that room at the Kernville Community A Fish and Game spokeswoman there needs to be a place for people Center this week, where the said the agency doesn’t expect to take their kids to fi sh. And no discussion turned on trying to get the ban will lead to decreased one is against frogs. I think we can the Kern River removed from the enforcement. do both.” no-stock list through a letter-writing and petition campaign that draws on Nevertheless, anglers are worried Fish and Game’s latest science on that with fewer stocked fi sh, water hardhead minnow populations. bodies that are designated catch- and release refuges for native, wild “We’re fi ghting for the sportsmen trout, such as the Kern River above and for our fi shing heritage,” said Johnsondale Bridge, will see more Strange, the Kernville sporting fi shermen and more illegal take of goods manager. wild fi sh. Future of fi shing “I’m a fi sherman, but I’m also a conservationist,” said Fred Naylor, Meanwhile, local fi shermen, many president of Kaweah Flyfishers of who say they’ve supported in Visalia. “Stocking allows for previous reforms of the stocking the survival of those native, wild program, are weighing in about a fi sh.” potential double whammy effect of the stocking ban on wild, native