Sportsmen take charge. The gill netting proposal for Flathead Lake (Feb. 17 Beacon: “Proposed Flathead Lake Gill Netting Angers Anglers”) is no more than a jobs program and educational experience for a select few. Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks should be ashamed for side-stepping the real issue being that no matter what action is taken it will not be enough to restore the bull trout population in Flathead Lake.
Tom McDonald, fish, wildlife, recreation and conservation manager for Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said that the goal is “to bring the bull trout population to what existed in the 1960s” is formidable but clearly unfounded on science. The forage or habitat base for lake trout in Flathead Lake is exceptionally strong, and unless it is diminished no amount of gillnetting is going to bring bull trout back. The ecological advantage is in the camp of the lake trout, and neither wishing nor kneejerk fisheries work is not going to change this.
Obviously, an argument can be made that depression of the lake trout population through the sport fishery or by gill netting or a combination of both will improve bull trout survival, but to what degree and to what annual cost to the sport fishery and tax payers? Scientific literature indicates that the proposed netting program will have little if any measurable impact except on the sport fishery which would sustain a major loss in yield, especially if the netting program is expanded. If McDonald truly believes that it “is absolutely impossible to crash Flathead’s lake trout population because it is so large and widespread,’’ which this author agrees, then why does the tribe propose gillnetting and expect the public to believe that bull trout restoration is at all probable for Flathead Lake?
It is certainly unfortunate that bull trout and kokanee are but a shadow of what they were historically. It is time to properly address the situation and more forward. Bull trout refuges currently exist in the Flathead drainage and should be vigorously managed and protected. Flathead Lake and the Flathead River are no longer viable refuges, and no amount of wishing, money, or predator control will bring them back to historic numbers. Flathead sport fishers, you could have a top-notch fishery that goes well beyond the current lake trout fishery. To do such you are going to have to take charge and demand strong accountability and a change in direction from FWP.
As a suggestion, FWP and the Salish tribe may wish to consider developing a self-sustaining mysids shrimp commercial fishery similar to what is being done in several Canadian systems. Also evaluate the releasing of hatchery-produced sterile Chinook and/or Coho salmon into Fathead Lake.
Bruce Barrett
Fisheries Biologist
Lakeside