10-29-2008, 06:16 PM
CL, your fears are well founded. It is going to be very expensive to remove the carp, BUT, it is going to be MORE expensive to not try. The Endangered Species Act ( ESA) does not make any [/u]exceptions for the economic feasibility in recovering a listed species. It MANDATES that all listed species be recovered, period, by what ever means, no matter the cost.
Therefore, we cannot say it costs to much to recover the June Sucker and move on. The ESA mandates that we recover the sucker. The recovery is dependent on the recovery of the Utah Lake Eco System. Carp are the primary destructor of that ecosystem, hence we have to remove/control them. The fac that by restoring the Utah Lake EcoSystem we will be benefitting the LMB, SMB, WB, Channel cats, perch, crappie, walleye, etc, is not even part of the consideration for the ESA, as far as it is concerned, they don't exisist, the only organism that the ESA is concerned with is the listed one, the June Sucker.
We, on the other hand, who fish and love Utah Lake, are passionate about all the other fishies in the pond and desire to see them survive and thrive. So even though we don't like the current method and process, the alternative is far worse, so we need to get behind this and hope it works.
Therefore, we cannot say it costs to much to recover the June Sucker and move on. The ESA mandates that we recover the sucker. The recovery is dependent on the recovery of the Utah Lake Eco System. Carp are the primary destructor of that ecosystem, hence we have to remove/control them. The fac that by restoring the Utah Lake EcoSystem we will be benefitting the LMB, SMB, WB, Channel cats, perch, crappie, walleye, etc, is not even part of the consideration for the ESA, as far as it is concerned, they don't exisist, the only organism that the ESA is concerned with is the listed one, the June Sucker.
We, on the other hand, who fish and love Utah Lake, are passionate about all the other fishies in the pond and desire to see them survive and thrive. So even though we don't like the current method and process, the alternative is far worse, so we need to get behind this and hope it works.