Thought I would pass this on to you all concerning lake rehabilitation. I don't fish eastside lakes - yet. But, this looks bad. However, I would imagine netting or dupont spinners could be used instead of rotenone. I am also a bit skeptical about the statement by Gibbons talking about "waning support" for the program. Support from whom? Sounds like property owner politics are affecting the directors decisions. I can see not using rotenone. But, not rehabilitating lakes for high quality waters? That doesn't bode well. If you have a comment or strong feeling regarding this issue don't just make it on the board. Tell them to the F&W commission. I have my own thoughts concerning Koenings and Gibbons. But, I will keep them to myself for now. ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2001 11:19 PM Subject: Washington Lake Rehabilition Program may Be Killed > > The Washington State Council of the FFF (WSCFFF) provides this e-mail > distribution to serve FFF clubs and other interested parties. If you find > these articles of interest, please forward them to your club members. In > most cases the WSCFFF Board has not reviewed them and takes no stand on > them. Blind c.c. forwarding is used to eliminate long lists of names. If > you have a problem with attachments, adding or deleting names on this Club > Contacts list, etc. please contact me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > The following article by Fenton Roskelley, Outdoor Writer, is scheduled to > appear in The Spokesman - Review on Wednesday January 24, 2001. Also a WDFW > Commission meeting will receive a briefing on rotenone at their March 16-17, > 2001 workshop in the Natural Resources Building in Olympia. > > There is a concern by many trout and bass fishers that if this ban goes > through the fishing in Washington will suffer. (Bob Bates) > > Article by Fenton Roskelley > > The rehabilitation program that was started more than 50 years ago and > created sensational trout and spiny ray fishing in scores of Washington > lakes and streams may be killed. > Jeffrey P. Koenings, director of the Washington Department of Fish and > Wildlife, has suspended the popular program. His action will be discussed at > a Fish and Wildlife Commission workshop in March. > The program, undoubtedly the most popular program the department ever > conducted, involves treating waters with rotenone to kill fish populations > and then restocking them with preferred species, mainly trout or spiny rayed > fish. > The suspension doesn't stop the rehabilitation of a few small lakes in > the Columbia Basin. The reason is that the department has complied with all > the regulations that are necessary before the treatment of those lakes could > be undertaken. > Meanwhile, planning for the rehabilitation of other lakes and streams > the rest of this year and possibly in 2002 has stopped. > Bob Gibbons of Olympia, state manager for inland/anadromous fish, said > that he will brief the commissioners at the workshop meeting on a possible > health problem and the waning support for the rehabilitation program. > "What happens with regard to the rehabilitation program will depend on the > commissioners' reactions," he said. > Although department officials haven't said so publicly, the director > made the decision on his own to suspend the rehabilitation program. He has > been concerned that department employees who handle and distribute rotenone > could develop Parkinson's disease. > Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, studying effects of > rotenone on rats, injected rats with a liquid form of rotenone. Some of the > rats developed a Parkinson's-like disease. Gibbons said the study was > reported in Nature Neural Science last month. The Associated Press > distributed a story on the study. As a result, fisheries officials in states > that use rotenone moved quickly to get study details. > Gibbons said that Koenings doesn't want to expose department employees > to rotenone during rehabilitations because of the possibility, however > remote, of one of them getting Parkinson's disease. The department might > then become liable. > Fred Shiosaki of Spokane, one of nine members of the commission, noted > that the scientists injected the rotenone directly into the rats' > bloodstream and added: "Injecting rotenone is a lot different than handling > the substance. There's no concrete evidence that handling it will cause > Parkinson's disease." > Hundreds of department employees have handled both the liquid and > powder forms of rotenone for more than 50 years and none, as far as is > known, has developed the disease. > Rotenone is derived from tropical plants. The substance makes it > impossible for a fish to use oxygen absorbed in its blood and the fish dies. > The department began using rotenone soon after World War II and has > treated lakes and streams with the substance every year since. By killing > all the fish in a lake and then restocking the lake with trout fry (newly > hatched fish 1 to 3 inches long), the department created fishing so good > that anglers came from throughout the Northwest and even from other states > to fish Washington's waters. > Because trout populations were so large, anglers turned out in almost > unbelievable numbers on opening days. For example, Silver, West Medical and > Fishtrap in the Spokane region and Blue, Park the seep lakes in the Columbia > Basin and more than a dozen lakes in Okanogan County often were jammed with > 2,000 to 5,000 fishers. > After Sprague Lake was treated with rotenone and restocked with trout > fry, bass, walleyes and bluegills, fishers turned out by the hundreds. > However, when the predator fish populations exploded, the department had to > turn to releasing only a few thousand fingerling and larger fish. As a > result, most trout fishers turned to trout-only lakes. > Gibbons will outline the department's increasing problems persuading > some anglers and others to support rehabilitation projects. For example, > many owners of property and homes bordering lakes have fought against > rehabilitation plans, often because they want to keep hordes of anglers off > "their" lakes. > Because of opposition to proposed rehabilitation projects by property > owners, the department hasn't treated lakes west of the Cascades for many > years. In Sept., 1999, the Silver Lake Homeowners' Association vehemently > opposed the department's proposal to treat the lake with rotenone to > drastically reduce the big tench populations and restock the lake with trout > and spiny rayed species. > If the rehabilitation program is killed, most Eastern Washington lakes > now managed as trout-only waters eventually will fill up with spiny rayed > species as well as such unwanted fish as carp, shiners, pumpkinseed sunfish > and tench. Big populations of predator fish will make impossible the > stocking of lakes with the tiny fry, millions of which are produced at > hatcheries at pennies per fish. > Because of the high cost of producing trout large enough to escape the > predator fish, the department will have to cut plants drastically at such > lakes as Badger, Williams, West Medical and other lakes. Fishing almost > certainly will deteriorate at most selective fisheries waters, including > Blue, Ell, Aeneas, Chopaka, Lenice and Nunnally. > Liberty and Silver lakes are good examples of what happens when a lake > fills up with unwanted species. They once were considered as among the top > trout producers in the state and they attracted thousands of anglers. Now > only relatively few anglers fish them. > Shiosaki said he and several members of the commission are concerned > that the rehabilitation program might be killed. Before the program is > ended, he added, department officials should provide convincing data that > the handling and distribution of rotenone can cause Parkinson's disease. > > > >
