Fisheries, Subsistence, and Habitat
Publications Searchable Database
Search Again| Division: | Sport Fish |
| Title: | Operational Plan: Kenai Peninsula invasive northern pike monitoring and native fish restoration. |
| Author: | Massengill, R., R. N. Begich, and K. Dunker. |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Report ID: | Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Regional Operational Plan ROP.SF.2A.2020.02, Anchorage. |
| Abstract: | This project will conduct surveys to detect invasive northern pike and evaluate the success of efforts to eradicate them. Where northern pike have been successfully eradicated, this project will aid in restoring and monitoring native fisheries. Northern pike detection will be accomplished primarily by gillnet surveys using a standardized protocol that adjusts netting effort to lake surface area. Prioritizing which waters to survey for northern pike will be founded on a risk assessment. In waters where gillnetting is undesirable, environmental DNA (eDNA) detection methods may be used alone or in tandem with gillnetting efforts. When northern pike are detected in a waterbody, this project will collect the baseline environmental and biological data necessary to inform decisionmakers who will plan a control action. Native fish restoration will often be accomplished by collecting wild fish from a source area and releasing them to affected waters whenever natural recolonization is difficult or unlikely. Waters that had been previously stocked with hatchery fish prior to invasion by northern pike will resume hatchery stocking once the northern pike population is removed. Assessments of restored native fish populations will utilize gillnet and minnow trap surveys to produce catch per unit effort (CPUE) estimates and length frequency distributions for each species present. |
| Keywords: | Northern pike, Esox lucius, restoration, CPUE, invasive, rotenone, eDNA. |