Utah Goes Native

Fishing

Utah state Rep. David Jones has won approval for a bill that would name the Bonneville cutthroat as the state fish. The current state fish, the rainbow trout, is from California.

Tongue in cheek, Jones said the state has perpetrated a “grave injustice” by allowing a California fish to represent the state of Utah.

“It’s a fine fish, a colorful fish,” he said. “But the reality is it is not a Utah fish.” The rainbow was brought to Utah in 1883 and has flourished.

The Bonneville cutthroat hasn’t done as well, but still can be found in the headwaters of many central Utah streams. It is also being raised in some fish hatcheries.

Jones pointed out that the early Utah pioneers relied on the cutthroat trout to get them through the first years after they arrived in the Salt Lake valley.

The bill was accompanied by a few groans.

“I hate bills like this,” said Majority Leader Marty Stephens, R-Farr West. “It’s an election year and if you vote for it, some constituent is going to accuse you of being a rainbow trout-hater.”