Lake Pend Oreille Meeting Planned

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has scheduled a public meeting to provide an update on fishery recovery efforts in Lake Pend Oreille. The "State of the Lake" meeting will be from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday, February 10, at the Sandpoint Community Hall, 204 S. First Ave. Anyone interested in the Lake Pend Oreille fishery is encouraged to attend. Fish and Game will provide refreshments. Kokanee numbers are continuing to decline, and survival of juvenile kokanee is at an all time low because of predation. Lake trout and rainbow trout are the primary predators. The current program using angler incentives, trap netting, and gill netting have combined to significantly reduce lake trout populations in the lake. Internationally recognized lake trout expert Dr. Mike Hansen has been working with Fish and Game to assess recovery efforts, and has constructed a lake trout population model for Lake Pend Oreille. By continuing all of the removal methods at the current level, the lake trout population is projected to collapse in the lake within five years. With angler harvest alone, or net harvest alone, the lake trout population is projected to take 50 or more years to collapse. A collapse of the lake trout population is needed before kokanee numbers can recover. Fortunately, the total number of kokanee fry in the lake in 2006 was relatively high. In addition, 9.3 million eyed kokanee eggs are being hatched at the Cabinet Gorge Hatchery for release as fry next summer into Lake Pend Oreille. While this year's healthy egg take helped to "buy time" for the kokanee population, unless predation by lake and rainbow trout is significantly reduced in the near future, hope for restoring the lake's kokanee will be lost. Discussion topics at the meeting will include an update on the population status and trends of kokanee, rainbow trout and lake trout in Lake Pend Oreille; and information about research and suppression of predators through the angler incentive program and netting programs. The meeting will include an interactive question and answer session. Anyone with a disability requiring special accommodations to attend the meeting should contact regional fishery manager Ned Horner, at 208-769-1414 by February 7.