Save Our Stripers

[Papasequoia]

The latest news, State Assemblywoman Jean Fuller from Bakersfield has introduced a bill to eradicate stripers (not strippers) from CA. Been hearing about it for awhile, here is some more information from today's Midcurrent: http://www.midcurrent.com/news/2009/04/ ... ts-st.html

Btw, I wrote to the editor of Midcurrent informing him that his link goes to the spot for businesses to sign a petition against this bill. However, if you hunt a bit on the SOS website you will see that there are links to sign a petition as a business, an individual or from a fishing organization. Here is the link for individuals to sign:

http://individual.saveourstripers.org/contactus/

Btw, this idiot (Fuller) came to our college and gave a speech and told the students that yes, school was hard but that the only really important thing was to get it behind you and get that piece of paper signed (degree) so that you could go out and get a good job. Nothing about the importance of learning, or knowledge for the sake of knowledge, wisdom, hard work, etc. etc., no it was to just get that piece of paper signed. What an idiot. I got up in the middle of her speech and walked out.

[briansII]

Thanks Jon. Please take the 30 seconds to fill it out and hit the send button.

This bill will not only effect stripers(not stippers), but pretty much any fish that uses the Ca. Delta.

Here's an short cut & paste/overview

AB 1253 is the brainchild of large water districts that receive taxpayer subsidized irrigation water from California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. AB 1253 represents a cynical attempt to destroy the will of our striped bass advocates by decimating the fishery, eliminating the fishermen, and starving the related businesses. However the water districts would never admit this publicly; instead they claim that striped bass should be eliminated so that threatened and endangered delta smelt, salmon and steelhead will be free from striped bass predation. The water districts will have you believe that striped bass predation is, in fact, significant. The problem is that the science does not support their claim. Scientists with the California Department of Fish and Game, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the California Department of Water Resources, and our State’s colleges and universities are in agreement: striped bass predation is not, nor has ever been, a significant contributor to the decline in smelt, salmon and steelhead.

See the full story here

http://www.saveourstripers.org/

Sigs need to be done ASAP, as everything needs to be compiled and sent in in a couple(?) weeks.

briansII

[rayfound]

I'm also going to go out on a limb here and say that eliminating all the stripers would be impossible.

I guess I'm at a loss though... if we want to restore the Salmon/Steelhead up there, are the Striper NOT a threat to that?

What is the nature of the proposal? On what basis do they want striper eliminated?

[Papasequoia]

I'm not an expert (but I do play one on TV!) but from what I have read I believe that dams and things like pesticide runoff are more dangerous to salmon and steelhead than the striper could ever be.

[NorcalBob]

I've already signed on for both me and my business!
As for eliminating all stripers as impossible, it is unfortunately very possible. The current striper population has dropped almost to the point of not being sustainable. DFG experts (Marty Gingras-Chief Biologist for the Delta) predict that if the current conditions continue (especially the devastatingly low survival rate for striper larvae), the striper population will not be sustainable within 5-10 years. It will just wither away until eventual extinction (unless Delta conditions change). And yes, contrary from what you hear from the fishing groups, striper predation is in fact a threat to recovering salmon populations. However, the losses due to striper predation is very low compared to many other negative factors that affect salmon survival.

[strohble]

I was under the impression that seal predation was more of a concern, this proposal is utterly ridiculous. I sent mine even though I rarely fish for em'. Good luck!!

[castaway]

I went steelhead fishing twice this year. Saw a lot of fish in the 10-12" range fresh from the hatchery. However, I saw more sea lions than adult spawn ready steelhead. (saw one large fish jump about 2 feet out of the water about 30 feet from me... but he ignored my offer)

Its pretty neat to be 10-15 up from the ocean and have a sea lion pop his head up about 30 feet from you - but it also means its time to move...

I think saving the steelhead and salmon will (and should) take priority over stripers... despite my enjoyment of catching stripers.

Although, this bill is a joke... it wont go anywhere.

[unskunkable]

we cant forget our strippers either. please remember t carry plenty of singles with whenever you hit the clubs

[Papasequoia]

we cant forget our strippers either. please remember t carry plenty of singles with whenever you hit the clubs

[Flyjunkie]

we cant forget our strippers either. please remember t carry plenty of singles with whenever you hit the clubs

Well Dave, how do You think I have been Stimulating the Economy lately??????

[briansII]

I'm all for saving our strippers, but i'm kinda fond of stripers too.

Gleaned off another forum. A Mickey Weir production.

If you haven't signed the petition, please do so today.

http://savedeltafish.wordpress.com/

briansII

[eric hein]

I'm trying to sign no on ab1253 petition but can't get beyond validation code.Tried to contact Dave Sellers via link from website but e-mail won't go thru.HELP

[Bernard]

I'm not an expert (but I do play one on TV!) but from what I have read I believe that dams and things like pesticide runoff are more dangerous to salmon and steelhead than the striper could ever be.

Agreed and add to that that curious substance called water (which is probably what you meant by Dams - in addition to spawning habitat).

Seems like the crux of the Wier vid is simply that lurking behind all of this is the loss of water hence the disruption of fisheries. Stripers have been in the system for a good 100 years now but salmon and steelhead collapses don't correlate perfectly with the striper's presence.

Seems like many of the administrators in Sacto. continue to have a very narrow perspective on how things work and interact in this crazy state; not that that is news to anyone.

Sigh ...

B

[Trootfisher]

how many of you have read the entire bill?

If you haven't, become informed . . .

http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/a ... oduced.pdf

or in HTML

http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/a ... duced.html