Wednesday December 21, 2022
KPIC —
A pikeminnow angler participating in the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program won almost $70,000 as part of a conservation project.
Northern pikeminnow are significant predators of Oregon’s native fish, consuming millions of young salmon and steelhead every year and threatening the population.
Nearly 1,200 people registered to be part of the 2022 Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program that ran from May 1 through Sept. 3. The program, funded by the Bonneville Power Administration, pays registered anglers $6 to $10 per fish, nine inches or longer. The more fish an angler catches, the more each pikeminnow they reel in is worth.
Each year, state fish and wildlife biologists also release hundreds of specially tagged northern pikeminnow each worth $200 – $500.