South
Delta
A
Little Delta History
Indians
had called the California Delta home for hundreds of years before
the Spaniards discovered is beauty in 1772. What they saw as a great
inland lake as they gazed at the rain swollen system from atop Mount
Diablo has really become the Heart of California.
French Trappers were here in 1832 selling there goods, but it was
the discovery of gold in 1848 that started the rush and we have never
looked back since. Soon after the discovery of gold, the rapid reclamation
and settlements of the Delta started to grow. It wasn’t long
at all before the steam powered paddle wheelers started bringing dreamers
east to the waterfront towns of Stockton and Sacramento. From there
they headed across the land to the gold fields of the Motherlode.
The recreation aspect of the California Delta didn’t really
start to take hold until after WWII. Then Boating and fishing aspects
of the delta really started to grow, and boy did they. Soon Californians
discovered this Delta was something special recreationally. The Levees
grew and the deep water channels were deepened more and more opportunities
abounded. The Stockton Deepwater Channel was completed in 1933, and
since then freighters from around the world have been calling on the
Port of Stockton. The dug Sacramento Ship Channel was completed in
1963, firmly establishing the Port of Sacramento (located in West
Sacramento) in the shipping business. Channels for both of these ports
have been further deepened so the ports could handle larger ships.
Then there were the Striped Bass or were there? Originally there were
no striped bass in California. They were introduced from the East
Coast, where they are found from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Alabama.
The initial introduction took place in 1879, when 132 small bass were
brought successfully to California by rail in oak tubs from the Navesink
River in New Jersey and released near Martinez. It didn’t take
long as fish from this lot were caught within a year near Sausalito,
Alameda, and Monterey, and others were caught occasionally at scattered
places for several years afterwards. While at the time there was much
concern by the Fish and Game Commission that such a small number of
bass might fail to establish the species, so a second introduction
of about 300 stripers was made in lower Suisun Bay in 1882.
Almost overnight (well, a few years Later), striped bass were being
caught in California in large numbers. By 1889, just ten years after
the first lot of eastern fish had been released, bass were being sold
in San Francisco markets. 10 years later, the commercial net catch
alone was averaging well over a million pounds a year. By 1935, all
commercial fishing for striped bass was stopped to help the sport
fishery.
Striped bass had long been one of California’s top-ranking sport
fish. With about 1/3 0f a million sport anglers fishing for stripers
in California each year, most of them fish in the San Francisco Bay
and delta area, and annually catch over 200,000 fish. These spend
over $24 million for goods and services directly connected with striped
bass.
There
down fall wasn’t the anglers, the Federal Government started
water diversion in the 1950’s with the development of the Delta–Mendota
Canal. At that time striper fishing began a noticeable decline. Then
the knock punch came in the early 1960’s the State of California
built the California Aqueduct, diverting delta water to Southern California.
With this added water diversion, striped bass began to decline. From
over three million adult bass in the 1950’s to fewer than seven
hundred and fifty thousand in the early 1970’s prompted dedicated
fishermen to unite and form the California Striped Bass Association.
From a hand-full of fishermen in 1974 to currently seven chapters
and several thousand fishermen all dedicated to the goal of returning
the striped bass to its historic levels.
The last 40 years has seen some dramatic changes take place. In the
early 1930’s the striped bass count was approximately three
million fish. By the early 1990’s the striped bass count was
down to approximately seven hundred and seventy five thousand adult
fish. Of these, thirty percent were hatchery-reared fish.
Yes,
we still catch ‘em. Yes, we can still fish for ‘em, but
as the Delta has evolved certainly that gold rush of opportunity on
the once fertile delta has changed. It’s is amazing that so
few prospered in the late 1800’s yet today’s numbers continue
to decline.
