Predator-Prey Balance Needed To Save Kokanee

Ned Horner likens the current situation with kokanee at Lake Pend Oreille to the beginning of a Charles Dickens novel.

These are the best of times and the worst of times, says the Idaho Fish and Game Department’s regional fisheries manager in Coeur d’Alene.

“Ironically, the year we have an all-time record egg take and fill the Cabinet Gorge Hatchery, we also have a kokanee population in the lake that is at risk of collapsing,” he said.

The IFGC has liberalized the limit on the lake’s trophy rainbows to help reduce predator pressure on the kokanee. But Horner isn’t sure that’s enough to prevent a total collapse.

Fisheries surveys this fall found kokanee numbers to be the lowest in 22 years, he said.

In addition to the low population numbers, there has been a large decline in the survival rate for kokanee from age 1 to age 2, Horner added. Kokanee between age 1 and 2 are the preferred size for predators to eat, he said. “The concern is that the existing predator population is too large to be supported by a weak year class of kokanee,” Horner said.

If the predator-prey balance is not maintained, predators consume all kokanee from a weak year class and the population collapses, he added.

Many anglers are asking why the focus on rainbow as the main predator? Aren’t bull trout and lake trout equally important?

“The answer is no, for three important reasons,” Horner said.

In the recent University of Idaho study on predator populations, rainbow were the most numerous of all predators -rainbow trout 15,454, bull trout 12,928 and lake trout 2,106.

Rainbow accounted for 83 percent of all kokanee consumed, while bull trout ate 14 percent and lake trout 3 percent.

Bull trout are listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, and harvest is not an option at this time.

Information meetings regarding emergency proposals to sustain Lake Pend Oreille kokanee have been set for 7-10 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Hall, 204 S. First St., in Sandpoint and on Wednesday at the Fish and Game Regional office, 2750 Kathleen Ave., in Coeur d’Alene.

Meetings for elk relocation

Proposals for relocating surplus elk from the Hanford Reservation to northeastern Washington and the Blue Mountains, along with proposals for Washington’s 2000-2002 hunting seasons, will be revealed at public open house meetings next week.

The meetings are to be held in the Tri-Cities, Clarkston and Newport from 5 p.m.-9 p.m. as follows:

Jan. 12 in Kennewick at the Benton County Public Utilities District, 2721 West 10th Ave.

Jan. 13 in Clarkston at Heights Elementary School, 1917 4th Ave.; this session will also include information on aerial surveying and the hunting permit draw system.

Jan. 14 in Newport at Stratton Elementary School, 1201 W. 5th St.

A meeting specifically geared to new hunting regulations proposals is scheduled in Spokane on Jan. 18 from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at Spokane Falls Community College Student Union Building.

Wild Game Feast

Hunters who didn’t fill their tags last season can taste what they’re missing at a Wild Game Feast, Jan. 21, sponsored by the North Idaho College Alumni Association.

Hunters who filled their tags will be able to get insight on preparing wild fare as Bill Rutherford, a certified Culinary Institute chef, comments on the preparation of dishes such as roasted pepper saute with rabbit, bison brisket rubbed with dry herbs, braised duck sausage in sweet Guinness and honey, goose with winter vegetables and wild mushroom saute, and Oregon berry and rattlesnake flambe.

The five-course dinner will start with appetizers at 5:30 p.m. at the new Edminster Student Union Building.

Tickets are available through Jan. 14 for $25 at the College Relations office, (208) 769-3316.