STANLEY, Idaho — The Idaho Department of Fish and Game will have a company net lake trout in Stanley Lake this May as part of a three-year effort to protect sockeye and kokanee salmon populations.
According to the department, a contracted company will spend ten days in May netting lake trout in order to help protect other fish populations. Lake trout are predatory fish that feed on smaller fish like kokanee and young sockeye, so netting them will reduce their risk to endangered fish populations and establishing populations of their own in nearby waterways.
"In other lake and river systems across the West, lake trout have also migrated long distances and colonized connected lakes. Lake trout in Stanley Lake are currently reproducing, and therefore pose a risk to establishing populations in nearby waters," officials said in a statement.
After netting lake trout for ten days, sterile lake trout will be restocked in the lake during the summer and fall "to continue to provide anglers a lake trout fishery at Stanley Lake," the department said.
The sterile lake trout will be restocked by the Fish and Game's Grace Fish Hatchery in the fall.
Officials added that this is the second year of a three-year project that was outlined by a committee formed by the Stanley Lake Fisheries Management Plan. The committee was developed after an advisory committee from Fish and Game met several times in 2017. The advisory committee consisted of local anglers, fishing guides, business owners, US Forest Service staff and Fish and Game biologists.
The Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund provides funding for the project, Fish and Game officials said.
