"FWS grossly expanded federal control of California resources, unilaterally deciding who got how much water in the state."
Give me a walleye from a Minnesota lake, a trout from a mountain stream in Idaho or even a catfish from a commercial farm in Mississippi and you have far tastier fish than any smelt I've ever eaten. Most of them are so damn small and bony, you are better off pressure cooking them, packing them in chilli sauce and eating them whole like a sardine.
It doesn't sound to me like delta smelt are even a fish species, merely a variety. And varieties in the animal kingdom (as well as the plant kingdom) come and go all the time.