FWP seeks comments on state fisheries plan

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has released a draft statewide fisheries management plan, a blueprint that will guide how state waters are managed for the next six years.

Most bodies of water in the Flathead River drainage will see few changes in management direction and philosophy. It will continue to be illegal to fish for bull trout in all but a handful of select waterways where the endangered species is doing well, and cutthroat trout fishing will continue to be catch-and-release in the mainstem and North and Middle forks of the Flathead River outside the wilderness boundaries.

Inside wilderness areas, a special limit of three fish under 12 inches has proven to be exceptionally successful, according to Region 1 fisheries manager Jim Vashro.

Vashro and fellow biologists surveyed fish in the upper South Fork drainage in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. They fished for two days and conducted a catch-and-recapture survey where westslope cutthroat trout were caught, marked and released, and then 30 percent were re-caught using fly-fishing gear.

They estimated a population of 730 fish per mile, 50 percent of which were under 10 inches, 25 percent were 10-12 inches and 25 percent were over 12 inches. The largest fish was 18.5 inches long.

Vashro called that a vast improvement from 26 years ago, when the fishery was over harvested. He said the native fisheries in the Flathead are in good shape now and should get better as an effort to eradicate hybrid trout from wilderness waters continues.

Westslope cutthroat trout will cross-breed with non-native rainbow trout, which results in a hybrid fish and destroys the genetic integrity of the trout population. Hybridization is a big problem in the lower Flathead River drainage, where the fear is that native westslopes could eventually disappear. Under the new management plan, the state would continue efforts to research how and why hybridization is happening or formulate methods to stop it.

The plan also calls for continued suppression of lake trout in the drainage but stops short of recommending that lake trout be netted from Flathead Lake. The Salish and Kootenai Confederated Tribe, which manages the south end of the lake, has suggested netting as a viable way to suppress lake trout. But a netting program hasn’t been popular with fishermen.

The purpose of the statewide management plan is create efficiencies in FWP’s management of state waters, FWP fisheries bureau chief Bruce Rich said. In the past, waters were often managed on a case-by-case basis, depending on public demands and other criteria, he said. With this plan, “we’ve got our direction chartered,” he noted.

The plan will also provide the agency with public transparency, he noted. Management for each body of water “will be laid out right there — there isn’t any question,” he said.

One of the biggest problems facing the state is illegal introduction of nonnative species. Walleyes have been illegally introduced into the Clark Fork River, many local lakes have seen illegal introduction of perch, pumpkinseed sunfish and various bait fish. Even bass have been illegally introduced.

Vashro said an angler recently caught a smallmouth bass in the Kootenai River, which is primarily a Blue Ribbon trout stream. There are also concerns about aquatic invasive species like zebra and quagga mussels, which have the potential to decimate lakes.

The 470-page document is available online at http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/fisheries/statewidePlan/default.html. Comments will be accepted until early October. The hope is to implement the final document by January 2013, Rich said.