Who needs them? Cutthroat, that is. Specifically, Bonneville cutthroat—Oncorhynchus clarki utah. Who needs another subspecies of a fairly healthy species of trout? Really, I truly mean that. Are they needed on planet earth?
How about the “web of life” that binds all life on the planet, and the concept that the loss of one (sub)species damages the entire web—is that a valid argument, or just so much hokum thrown around by environmentalists?
Is there anything wrong if any given subspecies (or species, for that matter) becomes extinct? How has the planet suffered from the demise of dinosaurs? Saber-tooth tigers? Mastodons? How about the dodo bird? Did an entire ecosystem collapse with the demise of the carrier pigeon? So what if the polar bears go? Or cutthroat trout?
In a non-religious way, what makes humans different within the environment that they should be held accountable? Does the differentness (dare I say, “uniqueness”) of humans require them to have a moral obligation toward other species?
And what about organized religions, like Christians—do they have the same obligation as given to Adam in the Garden to “dress” and “keep” it (Genesis 2:15)? Or instead, does the directive to “subdue” and have “dominion” over the earth (Genesis 1:28) drive them in their relationship to other species? What is their obligation to God’s planet?
Oh yeah, and let’s not forget mosquitoes—who in their right mind would want to protect them? (Not that they’re endangered, but they are an animal.)
If we don’t need carrier pigeons, we don’t need Bonneville cutthroat.
Right?
Interesting start to this post-looking forward to see where this is headed. Nice tease though.
Thanks Harry. Feel free to agree/disagree with anything up there in its current state. I added just one word at the bottom to try and encourage a little participation until the next part gets posted next week.
Therefore…nonnative brookies are in favor of mosquitoe preservation and big browns are in favor of genetically reengineering carrier pigeons that land on river surfaces in northeastern cities. Would someone please petition the feds for some bail out money to put mosquitoes on the endangered list.Might as well do some stem cell testing on behalf of the defunct carrier pigeon project. Maybe we can swap it with North Korea…with them giving us back all their nuclear arsenal and U.S. giving them cp’s.It’s Friday…I am dying here at school on Halloween day…the kids are cukoo…or can I say dodo…and all I can think about is going fishing on the West Fork. I doubt there are any dinosaurs or saber-toothsto cause any problems there. Just miles of untouched streams with lots of fat eager Oncorhynchus, clarki, utah…living in Idaho of course. $82.50 could never be better spent.
Dan, Take a deep breath. I’ll try to make it to the West Fork with you. Do I need to bring a dose of Prozac for you, or will the fishing be your balm?
Oh boy… I’ll need another few weeks to think about this one. Gets the mind going that’s for sure.
Yeah, sorry Bryan. It’s an issue that’s been swirling in my head for years.
In spite of my advanced age, several of God’s creations fell to extinction long before my arrival. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would have given both the dumb-looking dodo bird and the pooping passenger pigeon about a 2. Today, I hate mosquitoes, but I kind of like the polar bear, and have no opinion on the fruit bat. Now, that colorful Bonneville cutthroat, the trout dating back to Lake Bonneville in the Pleistocene Age, I give it a solid 10!I’m just guessing that many fly fishermen from the West would agree with my cutthroat rating, while the guy who trolls pop gear for northern pike in Minnesota is thinking that a Bonneville cutthroat is an aggressive Pontiac salesman. Hey, that’s kind of like the fly fisherman from the West who is not aware of the fruit bat’s pending demise, isn’t it?
Hey Granny. You’re right, I didn’t know about the fruit bat. If I remember correctly, we had quite a lot of them when I was a kid living in Guam. Sure enough, I just googled it and it says the Guam fruit bat is endangered. I’ll be jiggered. Apparently several species/subspecies are endangered besides the Guam fruit bat. Hmph.
Ok, ok, I’ve been sitting on my hands for a few days waiting for part deux but patience has run. I’ll bite.
The examples you give are varied and good. The passenger pigeon in particular. The loss of so many million didn’t make a difference? Trouble is we don’t know. By the time people actually started to look at ecosystem function, biodiversity and extinction the poor pigeon was long gone. We don’t know what changed after because there is no record of before and it is difficult to imagine a species, in such numbers, not having a major role. There is a good paper on commonness and extinction (Gaston, K. J. & Fuller, A. Commonness, population depletions and conservation biology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 23, No 1, pages 14-19). I can send you the .pdf if you are interested and can’t get direct access.
And the loss of the little, inconsequential Bonneville CT? Here’s an analogy. You live on a street. A very diverse street. It has peoples from all continents and of all ages from newborn to nonagenarian. There are assorted restaurants, Chinese, Italian, Swedish, Indian, Thai and the inevitable Starbucks among others. You exterminate the Indians. No loss, plenty of other places to choose from. But one evening you fancy a Malai Gosht. Rich, sticky and pungent. No go. No Indian restaurant. A bit of your diversity has vanished too. You could make it yourself (though it wouldn’t be the same) but the Indian grocery attached to the restaurant has gone with the Indians. Hey ho. You can live without it. Trouble is the Chinese and Thai restaurant relied on the Indians for some of the key ingredients in their dishes. Consequently their menus contract – become less diverse. Their restaurants aren’t as attractive any more and their clientele fewer. They start to live on the ragged edge, still present and, without close scrutiny, outwardly the same as they have always been but now a shimmer away from collapse. One little nudge and they go, in turn weakening the connections they have made. After awhile all that is left is Starbucks.
Flocks of passenger pigeons a mile wide and 300 miles long. Just thinking about it I feel the loss of that spectacle.
Eccles,
Thanks for getting off your hands. Part 2 sometime late this week (I’ve spent way too much time trolling polls and news and whatnot dealing with the election). The plan is for Part 2 sometime late this week (I hope Thursday). Before Part 2 is posted I plan on posting a fishing report from this past Saturday and a little profile on a fly fishing author.
In the meantime, I guess I’ll have to forgo the fancy cuisine and stick with the hot dogs (please, don’t tell me the ingredients) in my neck of the homogeneity restaurant world
.
PS – send me the PDF (there’s no such thing as too much reading material, right?).
No Prozac…just more fishing trips to the West Fork or other comparable
streams for me.