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Fisheries, Subsistence, and Habitat
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Division:	Sport Fish
Title:	Stormy Lake restoration: invasive northern pike eradication, 2012.
Author:	Massengill, R.
Year:	2017
Report ID:	Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Special Publication No. 17-18, Anchorage.
Abstract:	In 2001, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) verified a population of invasive northern pike in Stormy Lake, a tributary of the Swanson River drainage near Nikiski. ADF&G treated Stormy Lake and its outlet creek with rotenone in September 2012 to eradicate the northern pike population. Prior to treatment, representative native fish were collected from Stormy Lake and held in net pens at Wik Lake for restocking purposes. Arctic char brood stock from Stormy Lake and Dolly Varden Lake provided gametes to produce Arctic char fingerlings used for restocking Stormy Lake. To assess the treatment?s effectiveness, ADF&G monitored the fates of 13 free-roaming radiotagged northern pike in Stormy Lake, observed the fates of caged sentinel fish during the treatment, conducted gillnet surveys, and monitored the concentration and persistence of rotenone in Stormy Lake. Collectively, the results of the assessments suggest the treatment was successful at removing the northern pike population. The rotenone in Stormy Lake fully degraded by 21 January 2013, about 4 months after being applied. Native fish held in offsite net pens were reintroduced to Stormy Lake on 1 March 2013, and 6,836 hatchery-reared Arctic char fingerlings were stocked in Stormy Lake on 17 June 2013. Water quality sampling in Stormy Lake indicated similar water quality characteristics before and after treatment. Invertebrate diversity in Stormy Lake remained similar between pre- and posttreatment surveys. A netting survey in May of 2014 revealed native salmonid populations were recovering.
Keywords:	Kenai Peninsula, Stormy Lake, rotenone, northern pike, Arctic char, chemical treatment, restoration, invasive species, eradication, Swanson River.