Cathy Perfect
Kern Valley Sun

The Visalia Times Delta Oct. 5 reported that the Environmental Impact Report Draft recently completed by California Department of Fish and Game indicates that the fish stocking ban for the Kern River could be extended two years or indefinitely. “This no-stocking ban has already had a significant negative impact on fishing in the Kern and on the local economy and could only serve to make the situation worse,” said Jim Hunt, former president of the Friends of the Hatchery.

Under a pair of options presented last week by the California Department of Fish and Game, a ban that has prevented the state from stocking fish in the Kaweah and Kern rivers and other waters in Tulare County since last year could be extended for two years or indefinitely.

At a April 17 meeting called by Assemblymember Jean Fuller, a disgruntled-looking crowd of Kern Valley residents and business owners listened to the California Department of Fish and Game’s explanation of why the ban on stocking the Kern River with trout would continue.

The current ban, which covers 175 lakes and streams across the state, was the result of a 2006 lawsuit by two environmental groups who claim that the state's century-old stocking program may be harming 25 rare native fish and frog species.

In November, a Sacramento Superior Court judge ordered the ban in waters where the 25 native species occur or where the state had not conducted recent surveys for them while Fish and Game completed a broad study of the stocking program.

A draft version of that study, released Oct. 2, suggests that the ban could remain in place for the next two years at least on the Kaweah and Kern rivers, plus more than 180 other lakes and streams in the state.

Lake Kaweah and Isabella Lake, where stocking has continued, are not affected by the proposals. However, a handful of other popular destinations in Tulare County, including Poso Creek and White River, are on the list of waters where stocking could end.

Three options considered

Among the three options presented in the draft study, one would extend the temporary ban indefinitely, ending stocking of nonnative species, including trout, bass and other game species, in about 10 percent of the waters stocked across the state.

A second option would do away with the temporary ban altogether and reinstate stocking in all waters covered under the program last year.

A third option, preferred by Fish and Game, would extend the ban on 187 lakes and streams to allow the agency to study each of the waters and determine whether they are suitable to continue receiving planted fish.

Some could return to the stocking list quickly, while other waters could require an “aquatic-biodiversity-management plan,” a document that Fish and Game would prepare over the next two years and would determine the shape of any future stocking activity.

Under this option, Fish and Game estimates that about 85 of the 187 waters will ultimately be returned to the stocking program.

Hatcheries, including the Kern River facility, also will continue to operate under the Fish and Game-preferred option, sending their surplus fish to waters that are not covered by the stocking ban.

Some local fishermen and outfitters said this week, however, that they were very skeptical about the package of proposals.

Jim Hunt, a resident of Kernville wondered why the Kern and Kaweah were kept on the no-stocking list to begin with. He said he and others were assured last year by Fish and Game officials that they planned to take the rivers off, based on evidence that stocking does not impact the rivers' populations of hardhead minnow, one of the native species.

"I don't know what's driving this," Hunt said.

In response, a Fish and Game spokeswoman said the two rivers were kept on the no-stock list so the agency could fulfill its obligations to study them under the California Environmental Quality Act. Kern Valley residents asked why Fish and Game would stop stocking the Kern River but continue stocking the river’s reservoir. "Those fish can just come out of the reservoirs and go up the rivers," one said. "It just doesn't make sense." Meanwhile, any extension of the current temporary ban could spell the end for some local fishing businesses, said John Strange, a sporting-goods manager for James Sierra Gateway Market in Kernville.

Strange said his sales of fishing tackle are down 40 to 50 percent since the ban was put in place. He said anglers already are reporting sparser fishing days on the Kern, which was last stocked in 2008 with about 88,000 fish.

Anglers rack up to 100,000 fishing days on the Kern every year, according to Fish and Game.

"I'm afraid we're going to lose more [fishermen] to other areas," Strange said. "I don't think this town can handle two more years of this."

Since this report is at the draft stage, the Department of Fish and Game has scheduled a community meeting for Oct 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the Lake Isabella Senior Center to provide updated information about the fish stocking issue. “This meeting is an opportunity for valley residents to offer comments that may affect a change in the proposed outcome,” Hunt said. The Department of Fish and Game will hold another meeting on Oct 28, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Double Tree Hotel in Bakersfield and is seeking public comment.

“These two upcoming Fish and Game meetings related to non-stocking of trout in the Kern River are quite possibly the most important current issue related to the future of the Kern River Valley,” Hunt said. “Attendance to these meetings is an opportunity for your input.”