Striped bass are pawns in water games

[Soundbounder]

From the Stockton Record - California


Since 1879, when striped bass were introduced into the Delta from the East Coast, stripers and Chinook salmon coexisted so well that their numbers expanded into the millions of adult-sized fish. That is until 1999, when excessive water exports to Southern California set the Delta's ecology on its ear and caused severe declines in many species - Delta smelt, sturgeon, steelhead and American shad - in addition to the collapse of stripers and salmon.

Now, in a brazen move by the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, striped bass have been made into pawns at the center of a $1.5 million lawsuit against the Department of Fish and Game. The coalition isn't made of Delta interests as the name implies. Instead, it represents mega water barons - billionaire businessmen and the Westside Water District, among others - who are blaming striped bass for the predating on endangered species.

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