Why Don’t We Plant Non-native Sport Fish?

November 22,  2018

Question: Why doesn’t California plant Walleye and Lake Perch in Southern California? The lakes are deep enough, and these fish are tasty. I’m from Michigan and I’ve been here two years. We’re missing out! (Floyd)

Answer: Currently only Salmonids (that is, trout and salmon) are raised and released by CDFW. In fact, increasingly it is primarily native trout and salmon that are raised in our hatchery system – species that have been in California for hundreds of thousands of years. However, in addition to native salmonids, CDFW also raises and plants non-native brown trout, brook trout and Kokanee Salmon. Introducing non-native species to most ecosystems, though, almost always has unintended consequences that disrupt the balance of nature.

California has more native trout and salmon species than any other state. These fish are fun to catch, excellent to eat, and support ecosystems and tribal, recreational and commercial fisheries. In the past, the State of California did raise and release non-native sportfish (catfish and striped bass) for recreational angling, and currently there are several introduced fisheries in the state (for example, large and small mouth bass, crappie, blue gill, catfish and striped bass). There are sport fisheries for these introduced species that are self-sustaining, so we don’t need to stock them.

Walleye were planted in California waters between 1959-1963. But the anticipated angler benefits did not develop, so the program was abandoned. Thus, while it’s unlikely that Walleye will ever be stocked in California waters again, the Sacramento Perch (California’s only native sunfish) is an excellent sportfish and CDFW fisheries managers are open to seeing more of them in the wild, both for conservation and recreational fishery purposes. While we don’t have the Sacramento Perch in our hatcheries at this moment, it is an idea of interest and certainly not out of the realm of possibility for the future!