Replies

It was my understanding that the smelt that gives the EPA such groinal tumescence is not the same smelt that is indigenous to the delta.

Incorrect. From Wikipedia:

Delta smelt, Hypomesus transpacificus, is an endangered[1][2] slender-bodied smelt, about 5 to 7 cm (2.0 to 2.8 in) long, in the Osmeridae family. Endemic to the upper Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary of California, it mainly inhabits the freshwater-saltwater mixing zone of the estuary, except during its spawning season, when it migrates upstream to freshwater following winter "first flush" flow events (around March to May).[3] "Endemic" therefore native. Where they are in trouble is that the crooked "biologist" behind this listing is Peter Moyle, who is known to have put the screws over the nativity of "southern coho" salmon (a bogus subspecies) to the icthyological archaeologist Ken Gobalet. Gobalet claims to have found one (1) sample of Hypomesus transpacificus in an Indian midden in Yolo County (I'd give you a link, but it's tough to get a pdf link off a search page these days, search gobalet yolo and "delta smelt" and it should come up).

You will note the name Hypomesus transpacificus. That is because they are common on the other side of the Pacific Ocean... but not so much here. As a result, the academic whoredom er "community" has been going through all sorts of "evolutionary biology" to explain why they are native here. Gobalet's "find" has given them the breathing space they wanted.

USING ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS TO DOCUMENT REGIONAL FISH PRESENCE IN PREHISTORY; A CENTRAL CALIFORNIA CASE STUDY

KENNETH W. GOBALET1 Department of Biology, California State University, Bakersfield, CA 93311, USA

ABSTRACT: The aquatic ecosystems of California were dramatically altered by humans over the past 150 years. The introduction of numerous exotic fish species has made most native freshwater ecosystems of the Central Valley unrecognizable with the replacement of native endemics by alien species. Credible fisheries surveys often postdated environmental alteration and make it difficult to know what the “natural” ecosystems were like. Because of these types of problems, habitat and faunal restoration projects may depend on intuitive guesswork. In this paper I demonstrate the value of the archaeological record in helping to establish which fish species inhabited the waterways of California before late-Holocene habitat alterations. Case studies include data from archaeological sites on Marsh Creek in Contra Costa County, Putah Creek in Yolo County and an encouraging comparison of ichthyological survey records with the archaeological record of sites beside Cache Creek in Yolo County and Clear Lake in Lake County, California. The archaeological record is a valuable and potentially accurate resource that can be used to document the native fishes that existed prior to European contact.

Key words: California freshwater fishes, delta smelt, hardhead, restoration, Cache Creek, Clear Lake, Marsh Creek, Putah Creek

TRANSACTIONS OF THE WESTERN SECTION OF THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY 40:107-113

If you are interested, I suggest you read the paper. You'll see the pressure put on Gobalet between the lines, and by whom.