Calif. Aims to Rid Lake of Northern Pike
PORTOLA, Calif. (AP) -- State workers on Tuesday began pouring a toxic
chemical into a lake nestled in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada as
part of California's decade-long effort to exterminate a predatory
northern pike.
A fleet of 25 boats set out on Lake Davis near Portola shortly after 7
a.m. PDT in what now amounts to the state's most expensive battle to
date against an invasive species.
More than 500 officials with the state Department of Fish and Game are
pouring 16,000 gallons of the fish poison Rotenone into the
7-mile-long lake and its tributaries. Several hours after they began
Tuesday, dead fish were already washing up on the shore.
"We felt we really want to make sure we got those guys," said
Department of Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano.
If left alone, biologists say, the toothy northern pike could take
over Lake Davis and possibly escape to the Sacramento River system,
devouring trout and salmon all the way to San Francisco Bay.
It is the second time the department has poisoned the lake, a
nationally known reservoir for trout fly fishing in the Sierra Nevada
back country about 150 miles northeast of Sacramento.
California first poisoned Lake Davis in 1997 but pike reappeared 18
months later, either reintroduced illegally by a rogue angler or
having survived the first poising attempt.
This time, wildlife officials are using a new formulation of liquid
Rotenone, an aquatic insecticide that has successfully killed northern
pike in other reservoirs. They also have mapped out the area with
global positioning technology, Martarano said.
Department of Fish and Game officials treated 137 miles of streams and
tributaries in the area the week of September 10.
Wildlife officials have tried overfishing, nets, electric shocks,
traps, even explosions to try to kill off the pike population in the
last seven years, which nonetheless has exploded and threatens the
lake's trout.
The pike - which are native to the Midwest and Canada - typically grow
to weigh about 55 pounds. For every pound, the pike spawns 10,000
eggs, according to state wildlife officials.
"We've taken 65,000 pike out and it hasn't made an impact," Martarano
said. "Now we just have to hope we get all the pike, which we're
pretty confident we will."
The state has spent about $20 million on pike eradication efforts in
Plumas County since 1989, when the fish were first discovered and
successfully removed from Frenchman Reservoir, east of Lake Davis.
This latest effort is expected to cost up to $16 million.
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On the Net
Department of Fish and Game: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/lakedavis