02-22-2013, 04:07 PM
The thought of stocking baitfish into Utah lakes and reservoirs has been brought up many times and in manyr threads. I have read numerous fishermen on this site and others ask why the DWR doesn't stock more baitfish to supplement what is or is not already present to help allow game fish to grow.
Here are some reasons why:
1) baitfish may compete with gamefish--especially juvenile gamefish--for the same food source and eventually outcompete the very fish they are supposed to help.
2) high reproductive rates of many baitfishes force the biomass of many fisheries to transition from predominantly game fish to predominantly baitfish. Fisheries where the biomass is comprised mostly of baitfish or nongame fish are generally not very appealing to fishermen.
3) ESA. Many of our streams or inlets to reservoirs and their associated drainages have endangered species issues that do not allow the DWR to stock some species of fish for fear that they will outcompete endangered species.
4) By adding a new species to a reservoir, many times growth rates of other fish actually decline and average sizes of game fish decline because of competition for food. In such cases, some very large fish are found because they are able to get through a bottleneck that is created and become entirely dependent on prey species for food, but most fish remain small. Joes Valley Reservoir is a prime example of this...some very large splake exist, but most trout are small and relatively skinny and unhealthy. The reservoir actually gets very little fishing pressure compared to when it did not have high numbers of chubs.
5) Disease certification. Because of the rampant spreading of diseases like VHS and whirling disease, all fish stocked must first be certified as disease free. This becomes very problematic for many species of fish...especially those fish that are not native to Utah.
The link below has some good information on the reasons shad are not stocked in more reservoirs/lakes to supplement prey species. The same concepts would apply to other minnows/chubs/shiners...
http://fishing.about.com/...shfacts/a/shad_2.htm
http://www.ncwildlife.org/...04/pg00_mar04_16.htm
And, again, remember the biggest fish ever caught out of Strawberry came BEFORE nongame fish ever lived there...
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Here are some reasons why:
1) baitfish may compete with gamefish--especially juvenile gamefish--for the same food source and eventually outcompete the very fish they are supposed to help.
2) high reproductive rates of many baitfishes force the biomass of many fisheries to transition from predominantly game fish to predominantly baitfish. Fisheries where the biomass is comprised mostly of baitfish or nongame fish are generally not very appealing to fishermen.
3) ESA. Many of our streams or inlets to reservoirs and their associated drainages have endangered species issues that do not allow the DWR to stock some species of fish for fear that they will outcompete endangered species.
4) By adding a new species to a reservoir, many times growth rates of other fish actually decline and average sizes of game fish decline because of competition for food. In such cases, some very large fish are found because they are able to get through a bottleneck that is created and become entirely dependent on prey species for food, but most fish remain small. Joes Valley Reservoir is a prime example of this...some very large splake exist, but most trout are small and relatively skinny and unhealthy. The reservoir actually gets very little fishing pressure compared to when it did not have high numbers of chubs.
5) Disease certification. Because of the rampant spreading of diseases like VHS and whirling disease, all fish stocked must first be certified as disease free. This becomes very problematic for many species of fish...especially those fish that are not native to Utah.
The link below has some good information on the reasons shad are not stocked in more reservoirs/lakes to supplement prey species. The same concepts would apply to other minnows/chubs/shiners...
http://fishing.about.com/...shfacts/a/shad_2.htm
http://www.ncwildlife.org/...04/pg00_mar04_16.htm
And, again, remember the biggest fish ever caught out of Strawberry came BEFORE nongame fish ever lived there...
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