Alpine County depends heavily on fishing.

Plentiful trout in the sparsely populated area 45 miles southeast of Placerville draw anglers who, in turn, keep restaurants and hotels running.

So when the state Department of Fish and Game this week released a list of lakes and streams that won't be stocked with fish until at least 2010, it landed in Alpine County with a thud.

"These waters are our economy," said Skip Veatch, an Alpine County supervisor and its former sheriff. "If they are not populated our economy is going to go down the drain."

Last week, state Fish and Game officials agreed to stop stocking fish reared in hatcheries – including trout, bass and catfish – in lakes and streams where the practice threatens 16 native fish and nine native frog species. The deal was struck with environmental groups pushing reforms of state hatchery and stocking programs.

After a tense weekend, several communities got the news Monday: The Sierra would be hit hard.

Eleven lakes or streams in Alpine County won't be stocked until at least 2010. Sixteen El Dorado County fishing spots, including large swaths of the American River, won't be stocked. Twenty-two lakes or streams in Nevada County won't be stocked.

In Sacramento County, Lake Natoma will not be supplemented by the state.

"That's trophy trout fishing," said Dan Bacher, editor of the Fish Sniffer, a biweekly magazine for fish enthusiasts, referring to Lake Natoma. "I can't see any reason not to stock that lake."

Bacher said he has mixed feelings about the state's announcement. Fish are threatened in many places, and something needs to be done. But the lakes that won't be stocked seem random, Bacher said. And the wild fish now in those lakes might see their ranks drastically reduced.

"What might seem like a good thing for the environment – if they are putting pressure on the wild population, that's going to have the opposite effect," Bacher said.

Others offered an unqualified endorsement of the new measures.

"A lot of these lakes were historically barren," said David Lass, Northern California field coordinator of Trout Unlimited. "All of these fish have been stocked over the last 100 years, maybe in places they shouldn't have been."

In many cases, Lass said, stocking lakes and streams with hatchery fish has run counter to the state's mission of preserving native species.

"The Department of Fish and Game has kind of just been haphazardly planting fish for recreational value," Lass said. "This will make the Department of Fish and Game take a look at (its) stocking program and be strategic about it."

Others said many fisherman prefer catching wild fish, anyway. Casual fishermen who like easy catches will be disappointed, they say.

Philosophical debates aside, most agree the new rules will have a negative short-term impact on communities that depend on visits from anglers, especially those near the high-altitude, smaller lakes that tended to be targeted.

"Our county is in really bad shape," said Tonya Dowse, executive director of the Siskiyou County Economic Development Council. "So, obviously, this is very bad news."

About three dozen lakes in Siskiyou County will not be stocked by the state until at least 2010 – the highest number in California. Siskiyou is known for its rustic climate, plentiful hiking opportunities – and its fishing.

"We want to make sure nothing goes extinct, but I suppose we're just another place where they've not shown a balance," said Jim Cook, a Siskiyou County supervisor.

That imbalance has created a situation where some counties with multiple lakes that won't be stocked sit next to counties that hardly will be impacted at all.

Many popular fishing lakes, including Folsom Lake and Oroville Lake, will still be stocked.

"We could actually get some traffic coming our way," said Dan Lyster, director of Economic Development for Mono County, which sits directly south of Alpine County. Mono had only one lake on the no-stock list.

The lakes and streams were chosen according to the specific terms of a court order, said Fish and Game spokeswoman Jordan Traverso. The list is still tentative.

One option available to Cook and others is to stock the lakes themselves, Traverso confirmed. But that's unlikely given the tough budget situation many counties are in.

"Alpine County lives on a thread and they're going to destroy the economy," said Melanie Sue Bowers, whose family has owned a cabin on Lower Blue Lake since the 1930s. "What will happen is they are going to condense so many people in the area that the lakes that are going to be stocked are going to be overfished."

Call The Bee's Phillip Reese, (916) 321-1137.