With native fish declining in Swan Lake, state wildlife officials target invasive trout
A man paddles a canoe on Swan Lake in this Oct. 30, 2018, file photo. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
A netting crew of contractors as well as participants from several government agencies pulls in morning catch from Swan Lake on Friday. The fish are being caught as part of a Lake Trout suppression project.
<p>A bucket of lake trout caught by gill netting on Thursday, May 7, at Blue Bay off of Flathead Lake. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
A juvenile Lake Trout is pulled from Swan Lake on Friday morning. The early morning netting is part of a Lake Trout suppression project.
A netting crew of contractors as well as participants from several government agencies pulls in morning catch from Swan Lake on Friday. The fish are being caught as part of a Lake Trout suppression project.
Hoping to preserve dwindling native bull trout populations, state wildlife officials are looking to remove lake trout from Swan Lake.
“There’s a sense of urgency to do something before it's too late,” said Leo Rosenthal, a fisheries management biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Region 1.
Bull trout, which are native to the valley, have struggled since the introduction of invasive species like lake trout, rainbow trout and mysis shrimp in the region. The decision to develop a plan to remove lake trout came after state biologists observed a historically low number of bull trout redds, or spawning nests, in the Swan’s watershed system in 2023.
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