Down the Pike

News & Analysis
In the News Gristmill Blog Muckraker Podcast Features

Columns
Ask Umbra Victual Reality Weekly Recipes The Bottom Line From A to Green The Grist List

Support nonprofit, independent environmental journalism.
Donate to Grist.

ADVERTISING POLICY

[Advanced]

Read more about: California | news | toxics | wildlife | all of these topics

Tools: print | email | write to the editor | subscribe | RSS

California officials will poison lake to target nonnative fish

Posted at 1:56 PM on 24 Sep 2007

We're not gung-ho about invasive species, but somehow poisoning an entire lake to get rid of them seems counterintuitive. Nonetheless, California's Lake Davis will get that treatment from state Fish and Game Department officials tomorrow, in the latest attempt in 15 years to rid the reservoir of nonnative northern pike.

source: Los Angeles Times

ADVERTISING POLICY

< Previous | Next >

Comments: (10 comments)

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have a Gristmill account, log in below. If you don't have a Gristmill account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.

destroy the invader!

Anyone remember the the Viet Nam era phrase "it became necessary to destroy the village to save it" ? It's insanity to spread poison like that, any fool knows. How has the petrochemical industry succeeded so well in pushing it's war-for-profit agenda? Why are people so stupid as to tolerate or encourage this? The nail in the coffin of 'nativism' is climate change and habitat destruction from human activities To blame any non-native organism for our wanton and thoughtless plundering of the planet is merely advanced displacement. And it probably will not work for long anyway... grrr., poison users make me mad...

by metalman at 3:17 PM on 24 Sep 2007

Get a clue...

Petrochemical industry? You don't know what you're talking about.

Some idiots illegally introduced northern pike into Lake Davis -- they're voracious predators and the danger is they'll escape and eventually arrive in the California Delta. Once there, they'll pretty much decimate the already-declining salmon runs (both coming and going), knock the steelhead for a loop, etc.

This isn't something done lightly, but it's hell of a lot better than watching what's left of our Sacramento River salmon runs disappear down the throat of a fish that doesn't belong within a thousand miles of here.

Any fool knows that.

by TCWriter at 8:35 PM on 24 Sep 2007

Whatever the cause...

...what a horrific plan.

Mary

by Mary at 10:08 AM on 25 Sep 2007

invasives

Gristmill had a lively discussion of the relative dangers of invasives and the occasional over reactions to their presence like in this case, here:

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/6/5/72157/85745

Add you 2 cents if you like.

Erik

The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

by Erik Hoffner at 10:09 AM on 25 Sep 2007

General Terms; This is Specific

I'd read the prior article about invasives, and felt it wholly lacked specifics. Invasive species are doing a great deal of damage to native species, and the "don't worry, it'll be OK" tone of the article seemed pointless.

In this case, yes, the plan to poison Lake Davis is wholly unpleasant, but everything else has been tried (what's your plan).

The environmental consequences of Northern Pike in the California Delta are truly horrifying, especially in terms of our already beleaguered salmon populations -- the returns for which this year have plummeted.

by TCWriter at 11:28 AM on 25 Sep 2007

Take action against Northern Pike

This is not the first time the California Department of Fish and Game has poisoned Lake Davis and it is not something that the biologists working on the issue take lightly. Northern Pike are a serious threat to our native fish populations. The really enemies here are the idiot fishermen (not all fishermen are idiots) that illegally introduce Pike to California lakes as game fish - a practice that we should all work to prevent.

by johna at 11:38 AM on 25 Sep 2007

Spike the pike

I agree: introduction of non-native species has got to be stemmed. No question.

Poisoning whole ecosystems to root out those that are already established is questionable.

Elsewhere it's likely that herbicides will be used around a large swath of the west's public lands in the coming year to kill off some of the weeds there, and this summer the state of NJ sprayed its northern forests with BT to kill the larvae of gypsy moths, but managed to kill lots of other moth and butterfly caterpillars. Hopefully no Luna moths were killed, but it's likely.

So, mixed results. I'll take Luna moths and a few gyspy moths thrown in, too, thanks.

The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

by Erik Hoffner at 12:33 PM on 25 Sep 2007

TCWriter

What's questionable is waiting for the pike to exit their existing habitat so they can lay waste to a much larger habitat -- the California Delta and its dwindling salmon runs.

I keep hearing "poison bad."

Yes it is. But given that fish & game has tried explosives, netting, electroshock and overharvest, I've gotta ask: What's your solution?

by TCWriter at 2:32 PM on 26 Sep 2007

solutions

The fact that there is no alternative solution to this pike problem, so far as I can imagine, does not make the plan to poison the lake the right one. I'd like to hear any other ideas as well.

The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

by Erik Hoffner at 5:07 PM on 27 Sep 2007

Lake Davis

I dug into this more and found that Lake Davis is man made, unsurprisingly, and has been pike-poisoned in the past, and that didn't work either. So the toxics they plan to use in this municipal water supply will be even more deadly this time? Sounds like a bad idea, again. If that were my tap water, I'd be pretty incensed.

A grassroots group in the region, South Yuba River Citizens League, has the dirt:

http://www.syrcl.org/sierra-citizen/sc-view_article.asp?i ...

Sounds like a cluster-you-know-what all 'round.

The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

by Erik Hoffner at 12:56 PM on 25 Oct 2007

The comments of Grist users reflect the opinions of those individuals only, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Grist, its staff, its board members, their psychotherapists, or their aestheticians. Got it?