Field Reports: Northern pike suppression work to begin
From staff reports
Crews are beginning to net northern pike in Lake Spokane this week as part of annual efforts to control the invasive fish in Eastern Washington.
Staci Lehman, a spokesperson for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in an email Tuesday that the annual effort begins this week and will continue through June, with netting operations taking place on Lake Spokane, Lake Roosevelt and in the Pend Oreille River.
Northern pike are a nonnative, predatory fish that can have major impacts on other fish populations. They can grow to more than 45 pounds and live more than 20 years.
The fish were introduced into rivers in Montana in the 1950s that drain into the Columbia River basin. They were also introduced into the Coeur d’Alene drainage in the 1970s.
Since then, the fish have expanded downstream, according to WDFW, and officials have been trying to limit their spread into Washington. They have been found in the Pend Oreille, Spokane and upper Columbia drainages in the eastern part of the state.
They have also been introduced to Lake Washington in King County and a pond on San Juan Island.
WDFW works with the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to control pike on Lake Roosevelt and the Kalispel Tribe on the Pend Oreille River to kill the fish with gillnets.
The work on Lake Spokane will happen mostly between the McLellan Conservation Area and Nine Mile Recreation Area, Lehman said. In April, the work will shift toward Lake Roosevelt as water temperatures warm.
The goal of suppression efforts is to limit the impact of the pike and stymie their potential distribution into the part of the Columbia that’s home to salmon and steelhead, which is downstream of Grand Coulee Dam.
Earlier this month, WDFW released a northern pike response plan that details how fisheries officials would deal with pike showing up in new places.
Washington plans public meeting on salmon, steelhead seasons
Fisheries managers will hold a public meeting next week in Clarkston to discuss the next round of salmon and steelhead seasons in central and eastern Washington.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a news release that the meeting will be held March 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Clarkston campus of Walla Walla Community College at 1470 Bridge St.
Attendance will be in-person only.
The meeting is part of the annual North of Falcon salmon season-setting process. It will focus on the fisheries in Snake River and the Columbia River upstream of McNary Dam.
WDFW officials will present salmon forecasts and their season proposals, and they’ll take public comment.
More information about the process is available at WDFW’s North of Falcon webpage.