Thursday January 4, 2024
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources —
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is reminding the public that it is both illegal and harmful to introduce new fish species into a waterbody in response to an illegally released walleye recently caught at Strawberry Reservoir.
The DWR was contacted on Dec. 21, 2023 by an angler who reported catching a walleye at Strawberry Reservoir. The DWR verified the report and believes that someone illegally introduced the fish species recently. Only one walleye has been reported thus far.
In Utah, it is illegal to move live fish from one waterbody to another or to take them home alive. It is also illegal to dump unwanted aquarium fish into a waterbody. All of these actions can result in a class A misdemeanor.
When a fish is illegally introduced into a pond, stream or lake, it can have several negative effects on that fishery, including:
- Illegal fish species can prey on and outcompete other fish species, including sportfish, native fish and endangered fish species.
- The new fish can introduce disease because they weren’t properly tested before being dumped into that waterbody.
- The new fish can negatively impact water quality.