Endangered Species Law & Policy

At its February 2012 meeting, the California Fish and Game Commission unanimously rejected a recommendation by the California Department of Fish and Game, National Marine Fisheries Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to initiate environmental review of a staff report and proposal (pdf) jointly developed by those agencies to alter the striped bass sport-fishing regulations in order to reduce predation by non-native striped bass on native species that are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).  In addition to the three state and federal wildlife agencies, the proposal received the endorsement (pdf) of the Delta Stewardship Council.  At the hearing, anglers claimed the change would cause economic devastation to communities in the Delta, but economist and University of California, Berkeley professor David Sunding submitted an assessment of the economic effects (pdf) that called into question those dire predictions and urged the Commission to use the environmental review process to explore the economic consequences of adopting the proposal.  In rejecting the proposal, Commission President Jim Kellogg declared the striped bass to be a native species of the Bay-Delta.