The recent announcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that is will consider placing the Clear Lake Hitch on the endangered list has captured statewide attention. The Center for Biological Diversity in 2012 petitioned the FWS to place the hitch on the endangered list. The Center at the same time petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to do the same. The Fish and Game Commission did classify the hitch as “threatened,” which put various protections on the species.
The FWS recently announced it will do a one-year study and make a final determination on whether to protect hitch under the federal act. From all indications it appears the feds will classify the Clear Lake hitch as endangered. What impact this will have on the lake’s tourism industry and agriculture has yet to be determined. There are already steps being taken by local Pomo tribes to improve the stream flows where the hitch spawn. There hasn’t been any work done yet but it is in the planning stage and there have been efforts to obtain federal grants to do the work.
There is no question the hitch should be protected and saved. Hitch are one of the oldest fish in Clear Lake, dating back at least 10,000 years. The primary reason for the hitch decline has been the four-year drought. Hitch have to be able to migrate up streams entering Clear Lake to lay their eggs. There also has to be enough water for the hitch fry to be able to swim back down to the lake.
In recent years the primary hitch spawning creeks such as Adobe and Kelsey have been pretty much dry by May. These creeks also hold a lot of debris such as old concrete blocks, downed trees and other items.
The hitch are a member of the minnow family. The adults can reach lengths of up 14 inches and exceed 1 pound in weight. The Clear Lake hitch is a subspecies of a hitch found throughout the Sacramento Valley and along the North Coast. It differs from other hitch in that it has larger eyes and a deeper body. The scientific name for the Clear Lake hitch is “lavinia exilicauda chi.”
For thousands of years Clear Lake hitch were in the lake in abundance and provided a valuable food source for the Pomo tribes. During annual spring spawning runs the streams that flow into Clear Lake would hold hitch from one bank to the other. The last 10 years has seen a dramatic decline in this native fish and during the past five years there has been very little spawning. In fact, this year’s drought has had a major impact on the hitch failing to spawn.
Biologists believe hitch will not spawn in Clear Lake itself but must migrate up one of the streams flowing into the lake. Of the thousands of eggs hatched only a small percentage of the juvenile hitch survive to make it back into the lake. Once back in the lake the juvenile hitch spend their first months concealed along the shoreline in the tules and other weed growth. It is during this time that predator fish as well as birds prey on the young hitch. The juvenile hitch that survive grow to two inches in length in about 80 days, at which time they will leave the shoreline and move out into the main body of the lake. Hitch live to about five years. They feed on plankton and small insects.
Whereas just about everyone wants to save the hitch there are concerns on how the feds and the DWF will go about it. Two years ago there were rumors that the DFW would remove the size limit on bass and require fishermen to keep all the bass they caught. If that happened the bass tournaments would stop coming to Clear Lake and the economy would suffer greatly. There were also rumors going around that all pumps that remove water from the lake would have to have a small mesh screen installed on their inputs to prevent juvenile hitch from being sucked into the pumps. Farmers also have been concerned, especially those who border the creeks. They are afraid their ability to pump water for their crops would be curtailed to protect stream flows.
How all this pans out is anyone’s guess. Hopefully common sense prevails and the hitch can be saved without wrecking the county.
