Re: NANFA-- blue pike

Jay DeLong (thirdwind_at_att.net)
Tue, 23 Jan 2001 21:37:47 -0800

<x-flowed>
At 01:26 PM 1/23/01 -0500, you wrote:
>And maybe I was reacting to large amounts of resources being invested in
>an attempted species rescue of "charismatic megafauna". Many species like
>the Barrens Topminnow, Fundulus julisia, or the Slackwater Darter,
>Etheostoma boschungi, still exist patchily but receive little in active
>protection (with the exception of CFI!). As Jimmy Carter pointed out,
>life's not fair... I know. I hope the blue pike still exists and will
>rebound, but it seems likely that it's slid out of existence due to
>environmental changes followed by genetic swamping of any survivors by
>interbreeding with walleyes.
>
>--Bruce Stallsmith

I guess you've hit upon a real problem that many small, rare, nondescript
and non-commercial species face, and that is the curse of being unpopular--
not part of the "charismatic megafauna". Club a seal and you'll have half
of Hollywood on your doorstep; club a opossum and no one cares. There
wouldn't be the billions of dollars going to salmon restoration were it not
for the species' economic and recreational values. There wouldn't be so
much spent on zebra mussel studies and eradication were it not for their
economic impacts. Meanwhile, dozens of species of native mussels are
silently going extinct.

It's humorous that some Great Lakes groups oppose the blue pike recovery
efforts because of possible effects on the walleye fishery. Don't mess
with walleye in Ohio. There's been a nasty debate in the Ohio Senate and
House on the official state fish-- walleye or smallmouth bass. Any of you
Buckeyes know the outcome?

--
Jay DeLong
Olympia, WA
Ain't is sad that any species has to justify its existence by having some 
clear human benefit?

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