Monday June 27, 2022
EIN Newswire —
In our April newsletter we described the background and justification for our ongoing efforts to conserve native Cutthroat Trout in the South Fork Snake River by suppressing Rainbow Trout (RBT). Below is an update with some preliminary results from our suppression efforts over the spring of 2022. Follow this link for a short video showing some of the processes involved with Rainbow Trout suppression.
This is the second year where we attempted achieving the goal of removing 30% of the RBT population. We completed 16 days of electrofishing from April 18 through May 19, which was 8 days less than in 2021. We typically operated two electrofishing boats, except on four days we experimented with operating four electrofishing boats.
In 2022, we averaged about two Rainbow Trout per minute of shocking, and we averaged about five hours of electrofishing per day which were both consistent with 2021 suppression. This resulted in the removal of 9,551 Rainbow Trout. We weighed and measured 342 (3.6%) Rainbow Trout, and they averaged 16.3 inches and 1.7 lbs.
We transported Rainbow Trout removed from the South Fork Snake River to four other fisheries. Most (n = 7,506) were transported to John’s Hole on the Snake River in Idaho Falls. Rainbow Trout were also transported to the Big Lost River (n = 715) stocked at Jim Moore Pond (n = 652), and Trail Creek Pond (n = 427). Similar to last year, fish survived the removal and transport experience well, and on average, 97.5% of the fish swam free upon release.