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Item Title  Rob Grasso

Interviewer  Thull, James

Interviewee  Grasso, Rob

Biography  Rob Grasso learned fishing from his dad at a young age out on the boat together in New Jersey. He says that it was instilled in their family and they were going out good weather or not. Grasso spent a lot of time in California and saw how protecting marine areas was beneficial. In the 1950s, trout began to be introduced to high mountain lakes where they were historically found. This prompted anglers and outdoorsmen to hike miles up to these lakes to fish. The problem was that the fishermen would take all of the fish from the lake, leaving it in need of more stocked fish. Grasso talks about the rainbow trout and how, while it is not a native fish to the area, it is still accepted and targeted by anglers. He also talks about the genetic engineering of trout species by hatcheries to make a fish better suited for higher elevation. Grasso talks extensively of the struggles of native fish competing with newly introduced fish. For instance, cutthroat trout sharing habitat space with Brown trout can be detrimental to the cutthroat. There is also the concept that while a species may not be native, they may not be hurting the ecosystem. The changing weather and droughts in California affect the trout greatly, and is making it harder to understand the fish. Also, with farmers needing water for irrigation, there is less water for fish habitat.

Genre  oral histories

Oral History Length  00:50:48

Digital Object Filename  grasso-rob-2018-09-10.mp4

Interview Date  2018-09-10

Related Topics

 National parks and reserves

 Native fishes

 Fish habitat improvement

Geographic Locations

 Yosemite National Park (Calif.)

 California

 United States

 37.8651011,-119.53832940000001

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Preferred Citation

Rob Grasso, Angling Oral Histories, Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT, https://n2t.net/ark:/75788/m4ww7760h

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