Fishing on: State works out deal

Interim pact allows limited stocking of trout to resume.

Published online on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008

Trout planting has resumed in most central San Joaquin Valley reservoirs and rivers following a judge's decision earlier this month that could significantly alter how state-grown hatchery fish are stocked throughout California.

After blowing a court-imposed deadline to prepare an environmental impact report on its trout and salmon stocking programs, the Department of Fish and Game was ordered into talks with two plaintiffs on how to minimize the negative impacts these programs have on environmentally sensitive species.

During the past two weeks, DFG officials and representatives from the Center for Biological Diversity and the Pacific Rivers Council have made enough progress in their discussions to continue stocking trout in man-made reservoirs, said Neil Manji, DFG's fisheries branch chief. Stocking is limited to larger-sized lakes where none of the 25 sensitive species identified in the lawsuit are present, Manji added.

The interim agreement includes all area lakes except Hume, which is smaller than the agreed upon 1,000 surface-acre size threshold, plus tailwater sections of the Kings and San Joaquin rivers. Hume Lake does not get stocked this time of year.

"Every day we chip away a little," Manji said.

The two sides are due back in front of Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette on Monday

The DFG has been stocking non-native fish for more than 100 years, a practice some environmentalists have long called into question.

The debate reached a tipping point in May 2007 when the two non-profit groups successfully sued the DFG. Marlette ruled fish stocking has "significant environmental impacts" on "aquatic ecosystems" and "in particular on native species of fish, amphibians and insects, some of which are threatened or endangered," and ordered the DFG to prepare an EIR on how to mitigate those impacts.

The EIR was supposed to be completed last month. But the DFG, citing personnel and funding issues, asked for an extension until January 2010.

Marlette did not grant the extension. Instead, he ordered the two sides to seek interim measures that would allow the DFG to continue stocking in agreed-upon, non-sensitive areas pending the EIR's completion.

Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director for the Center of Biological Diversity, said the plaintiffs are most concerned about hatchery-raised fish preying on native fish and frogs at high-altitude lakes, possibly driving them to extinction.

"It's certainly not our goal to shut down all fish stocking," Greenwald said. "Fish and Game should still be able to stock hatchery fish, but in places where they won't harm native species."

Dr. Chris Frissell, director of science and conservation for the Pacific Rivers Council, said the "far-reaching, often disastrous" consequences of stocking hatchery fish have been known for decades.

"It is far past time the Department of Fish and Game completed a credible review," Frissell said.

Manji does not dispute that native amphibians such the mountain yellow-legged frog have seen their numbers and range greatly reduced in areas where non-native, hatchery trout are introduced.

However, the DFG fisheries branch chief would prefer to manage fish and frogs together in the areas they inhabit rather than as individual species. For example, a lake in a certain basin popular with anglers and known to produce large fish would continue to be stocked while others that aren't as popular would not.

"If we stick to 'fish eat frogs, therefore fish are bad,' there would be a lot of waters that by definition would not get stocked," Manji said.

If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, the judge indicated he would consider limiting stocking only to water bodies where no at-risk species have been found.

Such an outcome could have far-reaching effects for California anglers. For example, residents who spent $38.85 this year for annual fishing licenses may no longer find plentiful trout in high-altitude lakes that have been stocked for decades.

Last week, as word spread that the San Joaquin and Kings would not receive their weekly allotment of rainbows, San Joaquin Hatchery manager Greg Paape said his office received about 40 phone calls.

Making matters worse, hatchery staff had planned to stock the San Joaquin with 1,000 pounds of jumbo-sized trout weighing up to 6 pounds apiece in addition to the usual half-pound "catchable" fish.

"It really stirred up a hornet's nest, especially when people found out we were supposed to plant the big fish," Paape said.

Thanks to the interim agreement, the first allotment of jumbo trout will be stocked in the San Joaquin on Friday at several locations below Pine Flat Dam.