Last Tuesday I went to the Assembly meeting and voiced my opposition to the bill and at the end I added that the committee should also consider the native stressors as well as the non-natives. I mentioned the Pike Minnow (Squawfish), as well as the cormorants and the merganser ducks that all take their toll on salmon and steelhead smolt.
As I read a bit more on the pike minnow, there have been numerous studies about their predation especially on salmon and steelhead smolt. At Lake Pillsbury they were introduced which lead to a complete devistation of the salmon and steelhead on the Eel River. Oregon has had a bounty on them in the Columbia River system where there are no striped bass. The Russian River right here in California has had a bounty on them for some time. These "native" stressors are prolific in every river system they enter, and they gorge native salmon, trout, and I'm sure Delta Smelt too.
I think if anyone were to compare the damage by predation between squawfish and striped bass, they'd see that squawfish are a much bigger threat to endangered species than ever thought.
On the Sacramento and Feather rivers these things are as thick as fleas and they're not small by any means. They eat tons of smolt and fry all year long. I'd like to see more concern get placed on these pike minnows as a culprit and get away from blaming striped bass for everything.
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