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_ _ -~,>.. .. E,~ .. lat. -- `~` ,.;.~+~ CHANGE S7 ,-,,,syu1 Intiative work was never published. Although pioneering work was done at these two schools, ~ K~~ly fragile too many problems (e.g., gamefish~nongame fish interactions; natural history and ~ ,,y; ucu now in distribution of native fishes) were left unsolved and both native fishes and fisheries * ,~ to develop management in California suffered. 12. Private organizations have become increasingly effective in helping to set aside ~,,,~ ~ pdangered natural areas, either by obtaining desirable lands and then transfering them to public ,~,~r~cred fishes, agencies (e.g., The Nature Conservancy) or by pressuring the agencies themselves to ~,~,~ for them. purchase them. °~~ the progress 13. Between 1961 and 1971 close to 6 million dollars was spent by the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Fish and Game to study the Sacramento- ~,~mo pepartment San Joaquin Estuary, including the Delta, in an effort to find ways to minimize the , .,.;~ tvr trout and impact of the California Water Project on the fish and wildlife resources (Skinner, „yK Ord simply as 1972). The studies, which are continuing, have made the estuary one of the best ..- mrdt, hrge•scab understood in the world and they will assure the survival of its important sport ,.~ a 1957 (Pintler fisheries, if at a reduced level. 14. Carp, sucker, squawfish, and other nongame fishes, long despised by most ~~~ ~Y fishermen, are gaining limited public acceptance as being both sporty and edible. Once .~ •~~ulations. an active fishery, such as exists in Europe, develops for native minnows and suckers, ~d a California their long-term survival will be assured. w~r;es of these 15. The survival of California's native fishes ultimately depends on a stabilized - ~ r~rt,cular have human population and stabilized or decreasing per capita energy consumption. ••+ tad love been Population growth rates have been decreasing in recent years and~the growth in per ~ aaaagement capita energy utilization will necessarily decrease as energy sources dwindle. All this will mean less increase in the pressure on California's fish resources. ~ Wpen" basis --~ ~ Fish and CONCLUSIONS yes even an . -~=~ca of white The composition of California's fish fauna is still changing, but the rate of change +~° ~s, such as seems to have slowed somewhat. Given proper and imaginative management, trout and k# pony more salmon populations should at least be able to hold their own in future years, although the catch per angler is bound to decrease as more people take up fishing. Warmwater +*a~ition of gamefish populations should increase as better techniques for managing reservoir "~ "x,1971). fisheries are developed and as more farm ponds are constructed. Fishing pressure on >: warmwater fishes should consequently increase, especially as more of California's ~ '~ ~pback freshwater anglers realize that there are species of fish worth catching besides. trout. `wr Cobrado Some of this pressure will be absorbed by the increased willingness of anglers to accept -~ ~ ' ~0'"~hwater species now generally considered to be undesirable, such as carp and Sacramento ; ~` ~ersities sucker. Nevertheless, the future of California's native nongame fishes does not appeaz to be ~; ~"''a4tors. as hopeful as does the future of the state's largely introduced sport fishes. Refuges ~. ,,,~ ~ bcen have been set up, or are proposed, for a number of rare or endangered forms but more '~~ and are needed. If a species is not rare or endangered, it is largely ignored, even in 'fence Environmental Impact Reports. This is a tragedy because complex and fascinating ~ by natural associations of fishes and other organisms, as described in the ecology section '"~ of the of this book, are rapidly disappearing, even though the individual species may survive