Not sure why this is a good idea

[Lundboy54]

Hi All,

Scott's currently busy conducting spring gill netting surveys on Bear Lake right now, so I'm going to sub in for him.  I could write for a long time on this one, but I'm thinking it's best to provide some bullet points our partners in Idaho wrote up to provide some additional info and clarity on the project.  They're well written and illustrate the fine line the two agencies are trying to walk balancing sport fishing with native fish conservation. We realized this project and decision to support Idaho could be unpopular with some anglers; however, we do feel ultimately we're doing the right thing for the right reasons -  This project is not anticipated to have any impact on the Bear Lake fishery or angling experience, it's going to give us the best snapshot we've had on the Bear Lake lake trout population in decades, it will assist with native salmon conservation, and it will keep sport fishing opportunities going for lake trout as they transition to sterile lake trout in Stanley Lake.  Feel free to contact me by email or phone (preferred; 801-656-8694) if you have any additional questions or concerns after reading. 

• The purpose of this project is NOT to suppress the Lake Trout population in Bear Lake.  This is sampling to help the states monitor the population and check-in on progress toward the management goal of having a near sterile population.  This work is no different than other monitoring that is conduct in other fisheries, and it is essential to maintaining fishing opportunities for Lake Trout as well as other species in Bear Lake.

• Sterile lake trout stocking in Bear Lake has been a collaborative effort by IDFG and UDWR. From 2002–2016, sterile lake were reared and stocked from IDFG’s Grace Hatchery; UDWR resumed sterile lake trout rearing and stocking beginning in 2019. Only sterile Lake Trout from these outplants will be translocated to Stanley Lake.

•  Lake Trout will not be deliberately killed during the project.  In fact, the intent is to keep Lake Trout alive and return them to the fishery after collecting biological information.  Only those 400 fish translocated to Stanley Lake are expected to be removed from the fishery.

•  Short duration gillnet sets will be used to minimize Lake Trout and bycatch mortality.  Every effort will be made to not soak gillnets longer than 1–2 hours.  Results from similar netting in other large Idaho lakes has shown high fish survival following net soaks of up to 4 hours.

•  The intent is not to fish 7 miles of gillnets at a time, although we have heard this rumor.  The actual gillnet length is 11,700′ (approximately 2.2 miles).  That is still a very long net, but it is not 7 miles.  Gillnet mesh sizes range from 2" to 5", designed to capture all sizes/age classes of Lake Trout and to minimize vulnerability of smaller bodied fish like Cisco.

•  We are taking precautions to minimize bycatch and bycatch mortality by 1) soaking nets for short durations (1–2 hours) and 2) avoiding known areas occupied by nontarget species.  For example, our biologists intend to avoid areas of known Cutthroat Trout concentrations, such as the west side of the lake near spawning tributary inlets.

o  We expect some limited mortality of bycatch, but it is not expected to have population-level consequences to those species.  In other words, we do not anticipate levels of bycatch mortality that could cause a long-term population decline.  Biologists will monitor bycatch and make project adjustments, if needed, to reduce bycatch conflicts.

o  Idaho Fish and Game has extensive data from bycatch in Lake Pend Oreille where we’ve employed the same short duration gillnetting methods.  By catch concerns in this system include Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed bull trout, and using these techniques, we have been able to minimize encounters and mortality of bull trout. Bull trout bycatch has been very low (< 5%) for that project and we anticipate similar outcomes at Bear Lake.

•  The 400 translocated fish represent a very small proportion of the estimated Lake Trout population in Bear Lake.  The lake trout population (of only age-4 and older fish) in 1995 was estimated to be around 16,000.  Since that estimate, nearly 250,000 sterile lake trout have been stocked into Bear Lake. Four hundred fish translocated represents less the 1% of the 1995 estimate, and is likely much less than 1% of the current population size. Removal of 400 fish is not anticipated to have population-level consequences, nor compromise the quality of lake trout fishing people currently experience.

•  Sterile Lake Trout are being translocated to Stanley Lake as part of a dual effort to reduce potential impacts to endangered Sockeye Salmon in the upper Salmon River Basin and maintain fishing opportunity for Lake Trout.  Sterile Lake Trout represent a benign risk to long-term Sockeye recovery.  To maintain lake trout angling opportunity, IDFG is already stocking sterile hatchery lake trout to replace to the juvenile portion of the Stanley Lake lake trout population that has been removed. The Bear Lake translocation is designed to replace the adult portion of the Stanley Lake population that has been removed. Bear Lake is a logical donor source for re-stocking Stanley Lake because it’s the only source of large sterile fish that are needed to immediately replace the lost fishing opportunity for adult fish in Stanley Lake (essentially, circumventing many years of growth for hatchery fish to reach quality size).  **One quick comment from Chris Penne - the 400 fish moved won't be only the big ones - it will also be small and medium sized fish.  The fish transferred will be representative of what is caught in the short-term nets.

•  Our ultimate goal is to provide great opportunities for fishing, and we would not undertake a monitoring or collection project that could compromise that goal.  Providing opportunities to fish hinges on the understanding of populations, and that is only accomplished through the collection of biological information.  Idaho Fish and Game and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources fishery managers are avid anglers and intimately understand the passion that folks have for the fisheries they enjoy.  Maintaining opportunity to pursue that passion is our priority.

•  Both Idaho Fish and Game and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources have had meetings to discuss these concepts and the public optics of the project.  Internally, the agencies recognized the sensitivities that could surround a research project using large-grade sampling equipment.  However, discussion about the minimal expected impact of the work and the benefits of collecting robust fishery information from Bear Lake alleviated the concern of any substantive project impacts.  That decision was further supported and informed by data from other large lakes where gillnetting has been extensively employed to study Lake Trout populations.  Ultimately, the agencies do not expect for this work to have any sort of long-range impacts on the quality of the Bear Lake fishery.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Still dont understand why we are giving fish to a state that has not stocked fish in bear lake since 2016. And when you say no long term impact on fishing. That speaks volumes what is the short term impact you are taking 400 adult fish. If idaho wants them let them net their side of the lake. I understand that you cant please everyone but this is B&$#S!*$.