Or just more unnecessary meddling in an fish ecosystem that’s already turned upside down from previous mismanagement management decisions? I’m sorry, but I start right off being cynical just about anytime I see Region 1 fisheries management proposals any more. This one is actually a continuation of an ongoing program but lets take a look at what they would like to continue doing.
FWP proposes to continue removing hybrid and rainbow trout from the mouths and channels of Abbot, Sekokini, Rabe, Ivy, and Third Creeks in the mainstem and the North Fork of the Flathead River. Trapping and electrofishing would be used to catch fish during their spawning season (April-May) and move them to community fishing ponds. FWP would also electrofish between July and September to remove hybrid and rainbow trout offspring. The goal of the proposed suppression effort is to minimize the loss of westslope cutthroat trout populations in the Flathead River system.
The goal of the proposed suppression effort is to minimize the loss of westslope cutthroat trout populations considered to be conservation populations, especially the genetically pure portions, in the interconnected Flathead River system. “Conservation” populations, as defined by the Memorandum of Understanding and Conservation Agreement for Cutthroat Trout in Montana (FWP 2007), are those that contain less than 10% hybridization based on genetic data (i.e., are > 90% genetically pure westslope cutthroat trout). It is not possible to eliminate hybrid trout from a large, interconnected river drainage such as the Flathead. Nevertheless, results from experimental suppression work suggest that it is possible to reduce the number of rainbow or hybrid trout adults in targeted source populations and help FWP to maintain the current number of identified conservation populations at a level of 90% westslope cutthroat trout or better.
A relative reduction or maintenance of hybrid and rainbow trout numbers, given equal effort over time would indicate success at reducing the number of spawning adults. Although genetically pure westslope cutthroat trout will likely continue to be lost due to hybridization with rainbow trout in the interconnected Flathead River system over time, information from suppression efforts so far indicate that FWP may be effective at reducing the rate and magnitude of that loss. Evaluation of our stated success criteria will occur within six years at the earliest, when one generation of fish will be complete. Ten years will provide a more comprehensive window to reevaluate the status of hybridization spread.
Ok. So the whole project revolves around saving the genetic purity of the all mighty Westslope Cutthroat, one of Montana’s native trout. The other being the Bull trout. A noble cause. My question on a project like this is, where are FWP Region 1 priorities? Are they suffering from amnesia, forgetting that the lake trout are eating their way up the main stem and into the tributaries of the North Fork right now. Do lake trout not eat westslope cutthroat along the way or just rainbows and hybrids? In ten years will it really freaking matter whether or not they have preserved 90% of the cutthroats genetic purity if the lake trout have decimated their numbers to such an extent that they have “become locally extinct (extirpated) in the North Fork, Middle Fork, and mainstem of the Flathead system” anyway? They’ll share the same fate the bull trout has. Is the rate of hybridization out pacing the rate the lake trout are overrunning the entire river system? I think not. The lake trout are there now and they don’t give a s**t what color their food is.
The total cost of this program for a year is just under $10,000. So, it doesn’t sound like a lot of cash but if you add it up over time- 10 years, that’s $100,000. Well over the cost of $86,000 that it would cost for a season of lake trout gill netting on Swan Lake, just as an example. Is there not a project somewhere in region 1 that might actually benefit from another 10K a year until these guys can actually figure out what the hell it is they are doing? If they are going to actually do something about preserving our native trout, then do it. Base it on real science, not politics money and government welfare. If they can’t do that at least leave the damn hybrids in the river for the fishermen to catch. Comments on this project are open until March 8.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Wayne,
Good job laying out the need for a larger effort to help native fish in the Flathead. FVTU supports the hybrid removal project. Yes, the overarching problem in the Flathead watershed is an overabundance of predatory lake trout and northerns in the lake and the lower river. We must do something to address the big problems and do it soon if we are to continue to have a viable population of native bull trout.
That said, FWP has been very reluctant to do anything about lake trout, or pike, and the most they are willing to do is meddle around the edges with small projects like this one. We have to address the problem of lake trout, but we don’t know when, or if, that is going to happen. In the mean time, it is important that we do something. When we finally get to the big projects, these smaller efforts will become unnecessary, but it is important that we get to that point with secure and viable populations of native fish. The hybrid removal project is not intended to remove rainbows from the system. That would in fact be impossible. The aim of the project is to delay the spread of rainbows and hybrids until such time as we can increase the native cutthroat population to a more secure point.
So, while our main focus is to reduce the populations of invasive lake trout and pike, we also support smaller efforts that will in some small way help to secure native fish populations. Here is a link to the chapter comments on the hybrid project. http://flatheadtu.org/indexFiles/HybridProjectComments.pdf
Thanks for being involved. If you like the hybrid removal project you are going to love the next one. Suppressing the walleye population in Noxon Reservoir in order to save the bass fishing tournaments. The EA uses many of the same arguments for removing walleye that FWP has opposed for removing lake trout from Flathead. http://tinyurl.com/cys5yxc
Lucky,
Thanks for your (and TU’s) more rounded perspective on the project. I think I must feel like a lot of people do, to paraphrase- like a dog that’s getting teased from the opposite side of the fence. For years now we have heard FWP talk and talk and talk about restoring native trout species. They throw out little projects like these every once in awhile yet they continue to skirt the larger more looming issues. Their credibility in most circles isn’t much better than the current congress and if their track record from the past is any indication, their will be no meaningful addressing of the big issues in the future. Negative as that may seem the lake trout are not waiting around while FWP culls out a few hybrids. They don’t care, if FWP takes out all the hybrids then they’ll just eat more natives.
Wayne, Agreed. The only problem is that lake trout eat many times more natives. Rainbows don’t use the lake for growth, cutts do. Cutthroats have to navigate the bottleneck of the lower river pike and macks to get to the lake where more macks sit waiting.
It’s time to tear down the fence and face the problem. With new leadership in Helena, it’s time that we demand FWP get in the game.
Might point exactly. Just written WAY better.