As a resident of Lake County I feel compelled to answer the opinion of Jeff Miller in the Oct. 9 Lake County Record-Bee.
Miller, an advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, decided to bash Ted Elliott, a biologist who has been in the endangered species field for some 20 years, without any sufficient data.
Maybe Miller should come to Lake County and visit with the guides and citizens who make their livelihoods on Clear Lake.
He should talk to the people who were born here, still live here and have observed the hitch spawning in the tules and close to the shore.
Miller wants a grant from the federal government.
Miller is representing the local tribes in the form of a grant to continue the study of the hitch while most of us in Lake County have to be employed to make a living.
We derive our income either directly or indirectly from Clear Lake.
We are all aware of what happens when politicians get involved in local issues.
If the hitch is put on the endangered species list, we can forget bass tournaments and the tourist trade. Lake County will become a ghost town.
Anyone doubting this should research the Endangered Species Act.
The hitch will become the primary source in the lake and everything revolves around their preservation. Everything will be predicated on preserving the hitch.
The California Department of Fish and Game introduced the Florida strain of bass in the 1970s. The hitch are growing to large sizes. In 2012, a 19-inch hitch was found in Clear Lake.
Everything in Miller”s petition can be found on the Internet. Starting on Page 38, he indicates he wants the destruction of the largemouth bass in order to preserve the hitch.
The citizens of Lake County need to take this petition seriously because it will have a direct effect on all of us now and in the years to come.
If you believe that our economy is bad now, just wait until the hitch is entered on the endangered species list.
Pat Westfall
Lucerne
