Nice input Jigndoublewide.

To answer your question about the exploitation, I would say it is probably not a huge impact. Wester diet has left the minnow family in the dust really, leaving only asian markets. And really, they can often get carp, goldifsh, carpxgoldfish hybrids, blackfish, splittail and others for cheaper. Only 3-4 commercial licenses are issued for the harvest of minnow - mainly the Sacramento blackfish, and Hitch are required to be released now.