Recovery efforts are underway for burbot, a species of freshwater cod that’s been struggling to survive in the Lower Kootenay.
It’s a joint effort between the Province, the Lower Kootenay Band and international organizations including the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, Idaho Fish and Game, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the University of Idaho to bring the Lower Kootenay burbot population back.
The species of freshwater cod almost went locally extinct, but according to rare-endangered fish biologist Valerie Evans, their numbers are rising.
“We’re still in the preliminary stages of recovery and the ministry’s goal is to recover the population in Kootenay Lake and Kootenay River. Once the recovery has occurred, we’d love to provide another fishery opportunity to the public as this fish is a great food source and it’s also really fun to catch.”
Evans, who works for the Ministry of Forest Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development says a key factor in burbot survival is the warmth of the water, during their larval stage in the spring which determines how much food they get. Damns and dikes in both Canada and the United States upset the balance, causing their numbers to drop.
Lower Kootenay burbot were at risk of local extinction by the mid 90’s. Since 2009 biologists have been fertilizing burbot eggs collected from Moyie Lake and reintroducing hatchery reared juveniles to the Creston Valley. Now the burbot are spawning on their own in the river, prompting more research and sampling of the species to see how they are faring.
“We are choosing to select the shoreline areas around the Creston delta which we believe they would prefer as well as in Balfour area and Queens bay. That’s been a historical area that burbot have loved to congregate around at this time of year.”
Orange buoys marked “Fish Research” are not to be disturbed as the ones closer to the shores are traps whereas the buoys further out in the lake are for monitoring tracked fish movement.
The current population target for Kootenay Lake is 20,000 adult burbot by 2028, which will involve releasing approximately 60,000 juveniles per year. As of right now, the Kootenay River population level has reached 17,500 which lead to Idaho Fish and Game to open the burbot fishery in the U.S. portion of Kootenay River.