Tribes work to rebalance Flathead Lake and maintain native species

In all matters, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes choose to take the long view, and in fisheries management our first responsibility is to protect that which we have inherited from our ancestors. This approach has been instrumental in preserving the pristine waters, air and landscape that we all enjoy as residents of the Flathead and Mission Valleys.

Somehow in recent months, our approach has been misunderstood as shown by some passionate letter writers and fellow lake lovers who have aired their views. This short editorial will attempt to address some of the important details that have been lost in the public debate. This is also an invitation to a series of public meetings planned for the next few months on future management of the lake fishery.

I wish to correct the assertion that the Tribes are trying to destroy the non-native lake trout fishery and are seeking to profit from doing so. This is false. The Tribes have a long-standing plan to address the exploding lake trout population to help protect the native bull trout, which are in serious danger of vanishing from the lake. Our guiding principles in the plan include making incremental rather than severe changes and monitoring closely so that the brakes can be applied when necessary as we move toward a re-balancing of the fishery. While pursuing this rebalance, our goal is to maintain subsistence and recreational fishing opportunities. That’s been the plan for nearly a decade. It’s also true that it will be no small task to reduce the population of lake trout that has grown so large and dominant in the lake. However, we believe it is possible and imperative to stop the downward spiral of the bull trout population.

When the Tribes and the state joined forces a decade ago in co-managing Flathead Lake, we inherited many challenges. One hundred years ago lake trout were introduced into the lake. Forty years ago, mysis shrimp were introduced to benefit a kokanee salmon fishery, but instead the shrimp triggered huge ecological changes that caused kokanee to crash. This led to the end of the congregation of bald eagles in Glacier National Park, and most unexpectedly, greatly increased the top predator, lake trout. In 2000, after extensive public involvement, CSKT and Montana’s Fish Wildlife and Parks wrote a fisheries management plan designed to re-establish a balanced fishery and to prevent the expanding lake trout population from driving other species from the lake, especially native fish. Two top level scientific fishery review panels, the State/Tribal Reservation Fish and Wildlife Board, State and Federal agencies, and various private organizations endorse the current approach. Today many supporters are urging CSKT and the state to delay no longer and act now to protect the native bull and westslope cutthroat trout. Like us, they want to avoid a future where the bull trout population vanishes from Flathead Lake. CSKT will not sit on the shores and watch this amazing creature blink out of existence. We urge you to join an informed discussion that seeks solutions for our community.

To guide our actions, the Tribes have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into the best possible research, which shows that the lake trout population has expanded so greatly that it is pushing out native fish. The more fragile bull trout population shrank to such low levels that in 1998 it received special protection under the Endangered Species Act. Bull trout have been here for tens of thousands of years. Not everyone understands this passion to save the bull trout. The key difference is this: The exploding non-native lake trout live primarily in the lake and in deep water, far from shore and rarely leave the dark waters. Yet the bull trout and other native fish live not only in the lake but migrate throughout the watershed to spawn. During the spawning season, outdoor lovers have seen the naked backs of the large bull trout digging into spawning beds in streams. It’s a creature that comes toward us, and can be seen from the shore, which is unlike the non-native trout that may live its entire life without being seen except by deep water anglers. We have state and federal partners who share our goal in preserving bull trout. We need all the help we can get because, frankly, bull trout are just hanging on by their caudal fins; and these non-native trout are traveling into waters throughout the interconnected Flathead watershed and impacting other native fish populations.

We cherish our avid angler allies who participate in our management efforts.

By now, most of you have heard of Mack Days, the fishing competition on Flathead Lake. While fun and an inspiration for regular newspaper headlines, it’s a key component in the Tribes’ goal of reducing the non-native lake trout. Mack Days began in 2002 after other lake-trout reduction measures fell short. Those measures include the implementation of inexpensive fishing licenses; a hefty 50-fish trout limit and regulation softening that allowed anger’s to use two poles. Mack Days has helped. Hundreds of anglers have earned more than $300,000 in prize money and food banks have received about 20 tons of trout fillets. However, the harvest amounts have still fallen short. In 2010, CSKT will double our Mack Days investment to $200,000, but it’s becoming clear that Mack Days alone will not accomplish our lake trout reduction goals.

In April, we will begin an extensive environmental review process to analyze how best to achieve that additional amount of harvest that we need to reduce lake trout numbers. Please attend the first round of public meetings that will be held in Polson (April 12), Kalispell (April 13) and Missoula (April 14) that will gather your comments and ideas for an optimal solution. Strategies that will be discussed include angling, commercial fishing, bounties and agency netting. The environmental review process will ultimately determine the most appropriate suite of strategies that will be used under the plan. Gill netting, while controversial, is perhaps the most proven and precise method available to managers. The timing and numbers targeted for harvest via netting can be precisely set and adjusted as updated data become available. Once reduction is achieved, netting can be shelved. It is our hope that netting, if used, will be a temporary measure to reach our long-term goals. The same tool has been used successfully in many western lakes including nearby Swan Lake and Lake Pend O’reille in Idaho.

A reduction in non-native trout will generate positive responses - not only by the native trout - but also by the yellow perch and lake whitefish sport fisheries. Such a reduction could lead to improvements in the growth rate and condition of the lake trout fishery that will remain into the future.

Tom McDonald is Division Manager for Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation, Natural Resource Department of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes