Letter: Fish, taxpayer dollars wasted

Once again, the California Department of Fish and Game demonstrated that bureaucracies breed idiocy.

We all know the population of Chinook salmon has been in dire straits the past few years. The demise of the salmon has created economic hardships for both those depending on the sport fishing industry and for commercial salmon fishermen. We went two years without any season at all; then last year we had a limited season.

During this time, the population has somewhat increased. DFG has hatcheries to breed salmon fry that are supposed to be released so that the population can increase.

So what did DFG do recently? It released thousands of salmon fry into the Feather River at the height of our local striped bass spawning migration. The local rivers are loaded with hungry stripers, and DFG supplied these gluttonous fish with a buffet loaded with one of their favorite meals.

Instead of migrating into the ocean to grow into adult salmon, most of these salmon fry end up in the bellies of the stripers.

It was a waste of the fish and a waste of taxpayer dollars used to finance the hatchery operations. The timing could not have been worse.

Why not truck the fry to the San Francisco Bay and bypass the migrating stripers? Because DFG could not figure that out, once again proving its incompetency. It should have been a simple matter to figure out.

What a waste.

Bruce A. Marshall

Yuba City