10-23-2008, 02:13 PM
I attended the Utah Lake Fish Forum -- Panel Discussion last evening. There was at least one other member of BFT in attendance. I will leave it to him (them) if they want to speak up. After everyone introduced themselves, Jackie Watson (I believe with UDWR, but I could be wrong) made a presentation about the history of Utah Lake stocking and significant regulation changes over the years. It was fascinating to find out all of the various fish that have been planted in Utah Lake over the years (lake trout, grayling & salmon to name a few). Then the meeting was opened to discussion. Everyone in attendance was given an opportunity to openly speak about anything related to Utah Lake. Much of the discussion centered on the continuing loss of shoreline access and the misconceptions held by the news-reporting agencies and the general public. Everyone in attendance seemed to be supportive of the plans (the detailed plans were not presented in this meeting) to restore habitat, get the carp population to a manageable number, improve the general fishery for all species (except for carp) and of course increase the population of June Suckers so that they are no longer endangered. I was the one person who spoke up and disagreed. I stated that if in order for the recovery plan to work required the substantial decrease in the population of the carp, and more critically to maintain the carp population at a greatly reduced quantity, I did not think it was realistically possible. I stated the cost to maintain the carp population year after year at a greatly-reduced level would be staggering. I said that I felt the only way this would ever be possible was if an effective biological method of controlling carp was developed. I stated that I was not against saving June suckers from extinction but would encourage them being planted in other waters and not attempt to restore them to Utah Lake. I was pleased that my remarks were treated with respect. One member advanced his theory that when the June suckers reached a certain population level that they would basically out compete the carp for the available food source and the June suckers would flourish and the carp would stay at low levels. Although he did admit that the ongoing removal of the carp may still be necessary.
Some interesting items that I learned:
1) The carp are so thick in Utah Lake right now that they are stunting. I got the impression that the average size of adult carp used to be around 10 pounds and now the average size is 4 to 4 1/2 pounds.
2) The company that offered to remove a large quantity of carp for free has failed to even begin removal of any carp.
3) They have $500,000 to run an experiment to see how many pounds of carp can be removed (and the impact of the removal), and they accepted bids and suggestions for carp removal. They heard from less that 10 entities with ideas on carp removal and they were hopeful that the company that offered to do it for free would be successful (but as I wrote above that has not happened). They are going to allow the Loys (the last commercial company to net carp from Utah Lake) to give it a try. We were told that it would cost $.20 a pound to remove carp this year.
I still have the same concerns that I voiced at the meeting; however, I truly hope that they are successful and I believe the restoration work that will be done will benefit many if not all of the fish species.
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Some interesting items that I learned:
1) The carp are so thick in Utah Lake right now that they are stunting. I got the impression that the average size of adult carp used to be around 10 pounds and now the average size is 4 to 4 1/2 pounds.
2) The company that offered to remove a large quantity of carp for free has failed to even begin removal of any carp.
3) They have $500,000 to run an experiment to see how many pounds of carp can be removed (and the impact of the removal), and they accepted bids and suggestions for carp removal. They heard from less that 10 entities with ideas on carp removal and they were hopeful that the company that offered to do it for free would be successful (but as I wrote above that has not happened). They are going to allow the Loys (the last commercial company to net carp from Utah Lake) to give it a try. We were told that it would cost $.20 a pound to remove carp this year.
I still have the same concerns that I voiced at the meeting; however, I truly hope that they are successful and I believe the restoration work that will be done will benefit many if not all of the fish species.
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