Print Version
Email this story
Comment
Diamond Lake chub netted
 |
| AP photos/The News-Review, Andy Bronson Aboard the gill netter Miss Melodie, Tracy Cole, left, watches as a tui chub is sprung into the air by a beater bar while the fish are removed from the net Thursday at Diamond Lake. With Cole is Don Schmidt. The Miss Melodie, owned by Bob Schones of Newport, Ore., was hauling in about 5,000 chub per load. |
July 24, 2006
ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) - Even the least experienced of fishermen can reel in a big catch at Diamond Lake - as long as they don't mind that their haul will likely be dozens of pounds of tui chub. The invasive scourge of tui chub have literally overtaken once-pristine Diamond Lake, choking off its water quality.
Now, in the first major step toward reclaiming the lake for trout that were once numerous there, a commercial fisherman using a series of nets will mine Diamond Lake for its unwanted tui chubs.
Fisherman Bob Schones has a contract with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to spend the next four weeks capturing and hauling away as much as possible of the estimated 100 tons of chubs in preparation for a chemical treatment of the lake this fall.
‘‘The overall goal is to get 50 percent of the biomass, or more,'' said Dave Loomis, the Roseburg-based fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who is overseeing the project.
Chubs that escape the nets will meet their fate sometime in mid-September, when crews from the wildlife agency will chemically poison the lake to kill all the remaining fish, including what trout remain there.
Restocking next year
Plans are to use a combination of liquid and powdered rotenone, which kills the fish by attacking their gills then quickly dissipates. Plans are to restock the lake as early as next year, provided monitoring shows the lake's insect population and water quality have rebounded.
A similar treatment was completed in 1954 after the first chub infestation.
The agency's goal is to return Diamond Lake to a trout-fishing mecca, providing 100,000 visitor-days during its fishing season from late April through October, as it did in the glory days before the chubs were illegally introduced.
Netted tui chub carcasses will be hauled away by truck, taken either to nearby farms for use as fertilizer, to wildlife rehab centers for food or to a Douglas County landfill.
$205,000 contract
Schones' contract pays him up to $205,000 for the netting, and it includes an hourly rate if the work is extended.
The chubs were discovered in 1992, likely illegally introduced by an angler using live chub as bait. These days, there are estimated to be around 90 million fish in Diamond Lake.
The fish out-compete trout for food and space to the point that stocked trout rarely survive the summer. Chubs also have altered the lake's ecology, causing blooms of toxic algae three of the past five summers.
ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) - Even the least experienced of fishermen can reel in a big catch at Diamond Lake - as long as they don't mind that their haul will likely be dozens of pounds of tui chub. The invasive scourge of tui chub have literally overtaken once-pristine Diamond Lake, choking off its water quality.
Now, in the first major step toward reclaiming the lake for trout that were once numerous there, a commercial fisherman using a series of nets will mine Diamond Lake for its unwanted tui chubs.
Fisherman Bob Schones has a contract with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to spend the next four weeks capturing and hauling away as much as possible of the estimated 100 tons of chubs in preparation for a chemical treatment of the lake this fall.
‘‘The overall goal is to get 50 percent of the biomass, or more,'' said Dave Loomis, the Roseburg-based fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who is overseeing the project.
Chubs that escape the nets will meet their fate sometime in mid-September, when crews from the wildlife agency will chemically poison the lake to kill all the remaining fish, including what trout remain there.
Restocking next year
Plans are to use a combination of liquid and powdered rotenone, which kills the fish by attacking their gills then quickly dissipates. Plans are to restock the lake as early as next year, provided monitoring shows the lake's insect population and water quality have rebounded.
A similar treatment was completed in 1954 after the first chub infestation.
The agency's goal is to return Diamond Lake to a trout-fishing mecca, providing 100,000 visitor-days during its fishing season from late April through October, as it did in the glory days before the chubs were illegally introduced.
Netted tui chub carcasses will be hauled away by truck, taken either to nearby farms for use as fertilizer, to wildlife rehab centers for food or to a Douglas County landfill.
$205,000 contract
Schones' contract pays him up to $205,000 for the netting, and it includes an hourly rate if the work is extended.
The chubs were discovered in 1992, likely illegally introduced by an angler using live chub as bait. These days, there are estimated to be around 90 million fish in Diamond Lake.
The fish out-compete trout for food and space to the point that stocked trout rarely survive the summer. Chubs also have altered the lake's ecology, causing blooms of toxic algae three of the past five summers.
 |
 |
|
| Dixieland Haute Schatz, Swans to perform at Wednesday concert | Mudslides block Highway 140 |
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of HeraldAndNews.com. Comment Disclaimer: The editors of heraldandnews.com reserve the right to refuse publication of any comment posted for consideration. We may refuse for any reason, including use of profanity, disparaging comments, libelous comments, etc. Any reader who notices a comment they believe is particularly offensive, should notify us at webmaster@heraldandnews.com.
RSS
Tina N. O. wrote on Mar 16, 2009 2:54 AM: