Save the Yellowstone Cutthroat
TU, the NPS, and the USGS Team in Lake Trout Effort
The East Yellowstone Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Yellowstone National Park, and the US Geological Survey (USGS) have joined forces to raise money to fund a research effort to identify and develop better methods to control lake trout populations in Yellowstone Lake. The research would be conducted by Montana State University/USGS in Bozeman, Montana and is expected to cost $169,000. Ideas that would be explored include targeting lake trout eggs on the spawning beds with electroshocking, ultrasound, microwaves, biodegradable polymers, or application of piscicides (fish toxicants). Lake trout have been widely introduced into lakes and reservoirs of the western United States, outside their native range; and have, in some cases, led to the establishment of trophy fisheries. However, the predacious nature of lake trout has, in some cases turned them into problematic predators that pit them against other popular sport fish like kokanee salmon and rainbow trout and against native species such as bull trout, Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and westslope cutthroat trout. They not only compete with these fishes but also prey upon them. Gill netting has been used for the last 14 years In Yellowstone Lake to control an expanding lake trout population. These efforts target juvenile and adult fish and have eliminated over 270,000 lake trout at a cumulative cost of over $3,000,000. In spite of that effort, the Yellowstone cutthroat trout population has declined to less than 10% of its historic number while the lake trout population has continued to increase. The loss of Yellowstone cutthroat trout has significant effects on the entire Yellowstone ecosystem. The proposed research effort intends to develop new techniques that target lake trout eggs where they are deposited, in lake trout spawning beds. The result will be a dramatic decline in the number of eggs developing and thus far fewer juvenile lake trout surviving to the point where they become predatory. Reducing this lake trout recruitment should be more cost effective and, along with gill netting, should result in a dramatic reduction in the number of lake trout in the system. Technologies developed to reduce lake trout numbers in Yellowstone Lake can be applied to other water bodies. There currently are more than 15 major western waters where lake trout have outgrown their forage or have negatively impacted native species. Yellowstone Lake is the most severely impacted. Several of the western states along with the National Park Service have initiated efforts to control lake trout numbers in their impacted waters but with only marginal success. Want to learn more? Check out these articles....Casper Star Tribute "Saving Yellowstone Lake" article (March 20, 2008) Billings Gazette "Effort launched to save park's cutthroat" article (April 9, 2008) Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 3008, Cody, Wyoming, 82414For more information contact Dave Sweet at davidps@tritel.net. |
