Stricter Chinook limits aim at kokanee recovery

The Idaho Fish and Game Department is proposing to boost the Chinook salmon harvest limits on Lake Coeur d’Alene next year in an effort to help the ailing kokanee population.

The agency hopes that by reducing the number of Chinook, the smaller kokanee fish will be given a better chance at recovery, according to a statement issued by agency spokesman Phil Cooper.

Fish and Game is proposing a limit of six combined kokanee and Chinook on the lake. Until last month, when an emergency closure order was issued, anglers had been allowed to take home 25 kokanee per day. But with the lowest number of reproductive-age kokanee on record, the fishery was closed.

Meanwhile, the agency is reporting high numbers of predatory Chinook in the lake. An annual survey of Chinook spawning beds completed Monday revealed a record high number of spawning beds for the salmon, with 141 counted on the bottom of the Coeur d’Alene River and 16 in the St. Joe River.

Agency biologists plan on destroying 57 spawning beds, known as redds, in an attempt to lower the number of young Chinook next year, according to the agency. The remaining 100 redds are expected to produce 40,000 smolts. No hatchery fish will be stocked next year.

This year, an estimated 71,200 smolts entered Lake Coeur d’Alene.