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The Decline of the Pyramid Lake Fishery
Author(s) -
Sumner Francis H.
Publication year - 1940
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1939)69[216:tdotpl]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - trout , fishery , spawn (biology) , overfishing , salmo , fish migration , environmental science , geography , fish <actinopterygii> , biology
The history of the Pyramid Lake (Nevada) cutthroat trout (Salmo henshawi Gill and Jordan) fishery, conducted by reservation Indians, shows a rapid decline in the catch within the last few years. While the Indian is blamed for overfishing, the white manˈs demand for trout, the dams and diversions that he built along the Truckee River where the trout have spawned, the pollutants that he has dumped into the river, the spawn that he has taken, the competing species of fish that he has introduced, and principally the large amounts of water that he has diverted to another watershed, have led to a condition which has prevented the trout from reproducing its kind. The revival of the fishery is made doubtful by an agreement concerning the use of the Truckee Riverˈs flow, the expense of hatching and rearing a stock of the Pyramid Lake trout (not to mention the questionable availability of its eggs), and inadequate regulation of the fishery. Thus, the Pyramid Lake cutthroat trout fishery appears to be doomed.