01-05-2007, 08:49 PM
Bigcat, I think you misunderstood what I meant...I think that the restoration of Utah Lake won't happen without the june sucker program because of the lack of money...the major reason all this work to fix Utah Lake is being done is because of the sucker....the funding comes through the ESA. If the June sucker dies off and they are gone, the funding goes with it. The cleaning up of Utah Lake could happen through many other means...but who/what is going to fund it?
I can honestly say that I don't THINK the June sucker would ever really interest me if it were around in number...BUT, I don't know. I would like to find out if they are a decent fish...I do know that historically they were used as food and found to be tasty by those who came before us (afterall overfishing is one of the reasons these fish declined so rapidly in number). I also know that they are much different than the suckers we all have come to know--they are not bottom feeders and are adapted at feeding throughout the water column and not off the bottom. They are only found one place in the world and are very unique--much like the cisco in Bear Lake. I can also say with much certainty that most fishermen have never caught them and never will...they are too few in number...so, most fishermen know as much about them as I do the African titsi fly--nothing. And, even though i don't care anything about the cisco in Bear Lake, others do...and others may very well like these unique fish found nowhere else.
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I can honestly say that I don't THINK the June sucker would ever really interest me if it were around in number...BUT, I don't know. I would like to find out if they are a decent fish...I do know that historically they were used as food and found to be tasty by those who came before us (afterall overfishing is one of the reasons these fish declined so rapidly in number). I also know that they are much different than the suckers we all have come to know--they are not bottom feeders and are adapted at feeding throughout the water column and not off the bottom. They are only found one place in the world and are very unique--much like the cisco in Bear Lake. I can also say with much certainty that most fishermen have never caught them and never will...they are too few in number...so, most fishermen know as much about them as I do the African titsi fly--nothing. And, even though i don't care anything about the cisco in Bear Lake, others do...and others may very well like these unique fish found nowhere else.
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