First the squawfish [aka Northern Pikeminnow] was the big threat - but at least they are native - then various other warm water species thrived in the impounded river - bass, walleye; throw in some cormorants and sea lions and it looks like more than man is cashing in looking for a meal and good home:
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| From 2012 to 2014, more than 16,000 fish, or 38,000 pounds of northern pike, were netted out of Box Canyon Reservoir. Photo: Kalispel Tribe Natural Resources Department |
Washington is in a running battle with a sharp-toothed, voracious, predatory alien invader, the northern pike.
The biggest fear is that the prolific breeders might make it downriver from Box Canyon Reservoir and into the Columbia River.
“They would devastate a lot of our salmon and steelhead smolt production in the Columbia system,” said Rick Boatner, the invasive species coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “And they would probably grow to pretty good size.
“I mean we grow great-sized walleye out here, so I imagine they would follow suit, and we’d have monster pike before too long.”
Don't be fooled these are not the triploid style that WDFW and ODFW [technically a pike/musky cross] have used to control some lakes population of rough fish - these are the real things!
