California Fish & Game Sued by Stanford Law Students

[stan]

Department of Fish and Game News Release

November 10, 2008

Contact: Jordan Traverso, Office of Communications, (916) 654-9937

Department of Fish and Game Responds to Potential Injunction on Salmon and Trout Stocking Programs

SACRAMENTO – Following a Sacramento Superior Court Judge’s decision Friday regarding the Department of Fish and Game’s (DFG) fish stocking program, Director Donald Koch made the following statement:

“We look forward to meeting with the petitioners from Stanford Law School within the next two weeks to seek agreement on the continuance of our fish stocking programs. The department is concerned with the recreational impacts that curtailing our stocking programs have on the fishing community. In addition, our stocking program has important benefits to many small businesses and communities that depend on fishing.â€

In October 2006, Stanford Law students sued DFG over fish stocking programs it has engaged in for more than 100 years, claiming that no Environmental Impact Report (EIR) had been completed for the programs. The result of the case was a court order requiring DFG to complete an EIR. DFG is engaged in the years-long and multimillion dollar EIR process, now scheduled to be completed in January 2010.

Due to delays in the EIR process, on Friday, Nov. 7 Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette told the department to negotiate with the petitioners to seek an agreement on terms for how and where DFG may continue stocking fish during the time it is preparing the EIR. If an agreement is not reached, the department might face an injunction that could stop altogether or significantly reduce its fish stocking programs. If an agreement can be reached in the next two weeks, the parties will take that agreement back to the judge for his approval.

[muskybob]

Must be a class project to familiarize themselves with the judicial system. I'm sure an agreement will be reached. Nice catch by them I have to admit. Sometimes bureaucracies get lax & overlook this sort of thing thinking no one will notice.

[Tim Bromund]

I disagree Bob. IMO This is a stupid waste of everyone's time and resources and this kind of nonsense is exactly why lawyers are held in such low esteem.

Do you really think the fisheries biologists at CDFG just arbitrarily started stocking without thought or care to environmental impact? All it really accomplished was that it forced a State that was already under tight financial constraints, to needlessly spend millions of dollars to satisfy a frivolous legal action.

Tim

[Iceman]

I can see the wanna be pinhead lawers from Stanford just wetting their pants with glee over this one. They have pi$$ed off a bunch of folks who fish for sport. I am with Tim B. on this one, & this why I always say that CA is the land of fruits & nuts!!! This is another example of it. Just like the unanomus vote against same gender marriage there, now the gay's want to fight the decision in court. Remember OJ?? They finally got him too!

Just lovely!!!!

[stan]

Just wait a min Iceman where not all fruits and nuts out here A few nuts yes for puttin up with this crap. ..This whole subject is the buzz of the fishing industries out here. From fisherman to tackle makers, lots of upset people and no where to turn. Man you have to love tree huggers

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Deal reached to limit planting fish for sport

By Matt Weiser

[email protected]

Published: Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 | Page 3A

Anglers may no longer be able to catch rainbow trout in many of California's mountain lakes, the result of an agreement reached Thursday to protect native fish.

The California Department of Fish and Game has agreed to cease stocking fish reared in hatcheries – including trout, bass and catfish – in many lakes and streams where the practice threatens 16 native fish and nine native frog species.

The deal was reached after weeks of negotiations with two environmental groups that sued the state over its hatchery and stocking practices. The interim rules are meant to protect native species while the state prepares a broader, permanent plan to reform its hatchery and stocking programs.

The agreement will have potentially far-reaching effects on sport fishing in the state.

Species targeted for protection range from Central California steelhead, found in the American River, to the California golden trout, found in lakes and rivers of the southern Sierra Nevada. Protected amphibians include the California red-legged frog and mountain yellow-legged frog.

Hatchery-reared fish have been planted by the state into lakes and streams for a century to support recreational fishing. But these fish compete with native species for food and habitat, and in some cases also prey on native fish and frogs or their young.

"Interim measures limiting stocking are needed to help save California's native fish and frogs from extinction," Noah Greenwald, program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "Fish and Game will still be able to stock hatchery fish, but mainly in places where they won't harm native species."

Greenwald's group and Pacific Rivers Council sued the state in Sacramento Superior Court in 2006 to force reform of its hatchery and stocking practices. The Department of Fish and Game is preparing an environmental impact report on the program but recently asked Judge Patrick Marlette for a one-year extension, until January 2010, to complete the study.

In response, environmental groups asked for interim measures to protect native species, resulting in the agreement announced Thursday.

Fish and Game officials had little to say about the deal, except to confirm its basic terms.

"Nothing is final until the judge certifies it on Monday," spokeswoman Jordan Traverso said.

Greenwald said the deal will take effect immediately if approved by the court. It was structured, he said, so that some stocking can continue in order to support the state's popular inland sport fishing industry.

He said the state will be allowed to continue stocking hatchery fish in reservoirs that have more than 1,000 acres of surface area. That means popular fishing spots like Folsom Lake and Lake Oroville will probably continue to be stocked.

The American River also will not be immediately affected. Fish are not stocked directly in the river, though procedures at the state's Nimbus Hatchery, which produces most of the salmon found in the river, could be altered by the permanent changes being studied.

Stocking may also continue in smaller reservoirs if they are not connected to a stream that hosts any of the 25 native species. And Fish and Game will be allowed to renew existing permits for fish stocking on private land or backyard ponds.

But natural lakes and streams that are home to the native species will no longer be stocked. And new requests for private stocking permits must first prove that no native species are present.

Greenwald said Fish and Game has identified 81 water bodies where stocking will be halted. Another 112 also might be affected, and the state may be hoping for some leeway to continue stocking these waters. Neither list was available Thursday.

Mike Seefeldt, vice president of the Hot Creek Hatchery Foundation in Mono County, said the agreement could harm many small businesses that depend on fish stocking for a major portion of their tourism-related income.

"It's going to have a significant impact on Mono County and the people that run the resorts," said Seefeldt, who lives in Sacramento and is a retired Fish and Game hatchery manager. "A lot of them are only open in fishing season. If they're on a lake that's not stocked, they're probably going to be facing catastrophic financial impacts."

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Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264.

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[muskybob]

My bad Tim. I misread & thought it said the EPA study was in the plan but never done. I think they're a bunch of fruits & nuts too. I'm with you on this too. My apologies.

[Iceman]

Hey Musky;

I was the first one with the "friuts & nuts" line, come up with your own stuff!

[muskybob]

Hey Musky;

I was the first one with the "friuts & nuts" line, come up with your own stuff!

Hey John, I thought it was a pretty good one. Besides, Cheerios just didn't sound right.

[skipper19]

Environmental impact :?: ...What did the trout eat too many mosquitos or something :?: ....Hope the darn skeeters go to bite all the Stanford U fruits with their infected probiscus :evil: