Lake Pend Oreille Fishery Recovery Meeting

Idaho Fish and Game will be hosting a public meeting Saturday morning, January 21st from 8 am to noon at the Sandpoint Community Center, 204 S. First Ave. We will be updating the community on results from the deep water trap net project, the status of the kokanee population and will be seeking input on predator/prey management issues. Individuals with disabilities needing special accommodations to attend the meeting should contact Ned Horner at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at 208-769-1414, or through the Idaho Relay Service at 1-800-377-3529 (TDD). Deep water trap netting indicated a significant increase in lake trout numbers over the past two years. Currently about 1,600 lake trout have been caught in 15,000 hours of effort compared to 1,100 lake trout in 31,000 hours in 2003-04. The current population estimate for lake trout is around 10,700 fish over 20 inches, compared to 6,400 fish in 2003-04. During the summer of 2005, three widely recognized and experienced lake trout scientists from the Great Lakes and Canada were asked to interpret data from the Lake Pend Oreille (LPO) system and provide a critical analysis of IDFG's research and management direction. Deep set gill nets were recommended to reduce sampling bias and improve the population estimate. Research work on lake trout and lake whitefish will resume in February 2006 and emphasis will shift to gill netting. Gill nets will be used to provide a better estimate of the entire lake trout population in Lake Pend Oreille. The gill nets will be set overnight in 50 to 200 feet of water to target lake trout and lake whitefish. The nets will be approximately 900 feet long and 9 feet tall. Three to nine nets will be used, and moved around the lake on different days. Up to 100 locations over the entire lake will be sampled during the February through April time frame. All salvageable lake trout and lake whitefish will be filleted and donated to area food banks. Any bull trout mortalities will be saved and scanned for PIT tags, have otoliths removed for ageing, have a genetic sample taken and analyzed for maturity and stomach contents. We do not anticipate many if any rainbow or cutthroat trout being caught due to the deep water locations where gill netting will take place. Similar data will be collected from rainbow and cutthroat trout that are inadvertently killed. There is both good and bad news with kokanee. Higher winter pool levels are providing a significant improvement in egg to fry survival. Survival was only 2% during the drawdown winter of 2003-04, but 9% during the winter of 2004-05 when the lake was held at elevation 2055. Right now we've got a relatively high number of kokanee fry in the lake. The bad news is that the gains are being eaten up by predators. Survival rates of kokanee from age 1-2 are declining. There are fewer age 3 kokanee in the lake and the total pounds of all kokanee (biomass) is declining. All these factors point to a collapsing kokanee population. Major fishing regulation changes were implemented in 2000 to try and reverse the kokanee decline. Kokanee fishing was closed, rainbow trout limits were increased to 6 any size and the limit on lake trout was removed. A commercial rod and reel fishery on lake trout was implemented in 2003. Rainbow trout anglers released a higher percentage of fish (70%) during the fall derby than any time since implementation of more liberal limits in 2000. "Management for trophy rainbow trout is part of the Commission approved management plan for Lake Pend Oreille, but if we lose kokanee, we will be out of business" said Ned Horner, Regional Fishery Manager. Predator/prey management will be part of the discussion at the meeting. Angler incentive awards of up to $30,000 per derby for lake trout have done little to curb the expansion of lake trout. "It's becoming increasingly clear that we will not be able to control lake trout expansion in Lake Pend Oreille with a sport fishery alone" said Horner.