Get your Voice Heard! Stripers on Top of the Food Chain
I would have to agree on this one and can add a professional perspective to this post……
Stripers have dominated most lakes in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. This argument is a double edge sword! Southern California is a “highly populated desert” where ground water and mountain run off from snow melt is not enough to meet, or sustain our communities and agriculture needs. On one side of the coin, Metropolitan Water District (other water agencies included), with State and Federal funding, has created these great lakes to hold surplus water used to sustain life in “all” communities. A secondary usage for these lakes is for recreation purposes, which includes fishing. The California Aqueduct system fills these lakes which creates a way for these fish to migrate, and then begin to consume anything smaller being on top of the food chain. Basic survival of the fittest! On the other side, the imported water has allowed striper to destroy our fisheries, and now, sometime in the future, the quagga mussel will be in every lake and begin clogging the pumping infrastructure which conveys this precious resource, water. This will cause our water rates to increase in the future because there will be a significant increase in maintenance cost to ensure water reaches these communities. Someone will have to pay and it always falls on the end user, the consumer. It is unfortunate that there is a need to imported water from areas where striper have already become the dominate species. I’m not sure that there is a solution for this one, but there may be a way to control the population of striper while protecting other fishery species.
I have worked in the water/wastewater industry for over 25 years, and the best way to go about this is to get the word out to Bass Clubs, small clubs all the way up to the larger clubs that fish these lakes. Representatives from these Bass Clubs should attend Metropolitan Water District’s board meeting and have your concerns heard in unity. Write letters to the State Water Board in Sacramento, and include Fish and Game. The Bass Clubs should write and/or meet with local state representatives. These agencies must be addressed at the same time, making sure all bass clubs are on the same page, standing together. Just remember, these lakes were created first for consumer consumption for the communities, and recreation was just a secondary bonus to create a source of revenue. However, there is an environmental aspect to this problem and if Bass Clubs unite together as professionals, which we are, they will consider looking at a way to “control” the over population of striper. We just need to make sure our voice is heard in unity, continuously, and with volume, and the Bass Clubs is a great vehicle to be heard. Just remember, the squeaky wheel, gets the grease………..