DWR to stock Strawberry with 410,000 larger fish
Money to assist in the project will come through private donations. Plans are to put in 410,000 sterile fish.
For years, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists have worked to establish a healthy population of Bear Lake cutthroat trout in Strawberry.
The rainbow has been a recreational fish. They are easier to catch and, being sterile, grow faster. The problem has been twofold: First, to find sterile rainbow, and second, to come up with funding for the fish.
The Bear Lake cutts were put in the reservoir to control Utah chubs. The lake was treated ain 1991 to remove the overpopulation of chubs.
After the chubs were showing signs of a comeback, the Division of Wildlife Resources changed regulations to increase the number of larger cutts.
For those who like to catch and keep fish, however, there is a down-side to the regulations. That is, many of the cutthroats being caught fall within the 15- to 22-inch slot limit that anglers aren't allowed to keep. And among those fish larger than 22 inches, anglers can keep only one.
There are no length restrictions on rainbow or kokanee salmon. But there aren't many in the reservoir. Many of those being stocked are ending up as food for the larger cutts.
The smaller rainbow and cutthroat trout have been on the decline for the past couple of years, which can be linked to the increase in more and larger cutthroat.
The larger cutthroat have no trouble eating an 8-inch fish — chub, rainbow or cutthroat. When fish reach 8 inches in length, however, there is a significantly higher survival rate. The fish are larger and smarter and know how to avoid being eaten.
Previously, cutthroat planted in Strawberry in the spring were between 6 and 7 inches, and those planted in the fall were 4 to 5 inches.
Predictions are that there are more than 200,000 cutthroat larger than 20 inches in Strawberry. There were years in the mid-1990s where modeling projected there were fewer than 500 of the larger fish in the lake.
Biologists have found that if they stock larger rainbow, 8 inches or larger, the fish's chances of being eaten are greatly reduced. They suggest that stocking the larger rainbow could well be the solution to the shortage on rainbow.
Growing fish that large, however, means they must remain in the hatchery for a longer period of time. Which, of course, means it costs more to raise the fish.
One of the goals this year is to plant 410,000 of the larger rainbow in the reservoir. But along with a shortage of fish, there is also a shortage of money.
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