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FWP Commission Approves Mandatory Walleye Kill

Discovery of illegally planted fish in Swan Lake prompts unprecedented enforcement decision

By Tristan Scott

Following the recent discovery of illegally introduced walleye in Swan Lake, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission on Dec. 10 approved a rule requiring anyone who catches the nonnative fish to kill it and turn in the carcass.

The rule requires anglers on Swan Lake and the Swan River to kill any walleye they catch, report the catch to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and bring in the dead fish for examination.

Fish and Wildlife Commission Chair Dan Vermillion said the introductions are the work of criminals, and he hopes the mandatory-kill order will serve as a disincentive to anglers aiming to mount a robust walleye population in the Swan Lake system.

“There is some kind of seemingly underground but consistent effort to put species that are not native and are not authorized in a particular watershed by folks who are taking biology into their own hands,” Vermillion said. “These folks are in my opinion nothing more than vandals and they are disregarding the public management of these waterways.”

Joel Tohtz, the state’s fisheries management bureau chief, said the mandatory-kill measure is unprecedented, but that turning the fish in is necessary because forensic laboratory analysis can determine how long a fish has been in the system and possibly reveal where it spawned. Those details might help nab the culprit who introduced the fish, and help biologists understand the extent of the infestation.

Prohibiting anglers from keeping the fish also serves as a disincentive, fisheries managers said, an important step toward curbing the widespread problem of illegal introductions.

Mark Deleray, FWP’s regional fisheries manager in Kalispell, estimated that nearly 600 illegal introductions have occurred in 250 bodies of waters in the state, and roughly half of those incidents were in Northwest Montana. “Bucket biologists” have cost FWP hundreds of thousands of dollars as the agency attempts to remove the invasive predators and preserve existing fish populations.

Illegal fish introductions displace existing fish by squeezing out established populations, resulting in a loss of fishing opportunity, as well as irreversible damage to the fishery. In the case of a highly predacious fish species like walleye, or the introduction of northern pike in the Clark Fork River, the impacts on native bull trout and kokanee salmon – both of which thrive in Swan Lake – have been immense.

Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited, said his organization added pressure on would-be bucket biologists when members posted a $20,000 reward for prosecution of the Swan Lake walleye, and the Montana Angler’s Forum offered another $4,500. The Angler’s Forum includes the Montana Walleyes Forever organization.

“This is one of the tools that you can use to not reward these guys for dumping fish where they shouldn’t,” Farling said of the mandatory-kill measure. “These introductions are occurring all over the place because anglers think they can go back one day and catch a particular species of fish. Well we’ve had it. This puts a multimillion-dollar fishery at risk.”