For those of you who have not been able to keep up with recent developments as much as you would like, or if everything is coming at you in fragments, let me summarize.
On December 10th, several documents were issued from the CSKT, or the tribes, as they are often referred to.
One stated that the 10 year plan for Flathead has failed to meet the goals that it set. The CSKT has proposed a Pilot Project to more aggressively manage lake trout populations, and gillnetting plays a large part in this plan.
There was also an MOU issued that names about 10 agencies, groups, etc as “stakeholders” and asks them to be a participants in the process to implement this plan.
Another document suggests an authorization to do all this through authority granted by the CSKT chairman, our Governor and Attorny General. This document deals with hunting and fishing licensing, enforcement and revenues but SAYS NOTHING about gillnetting the lake as a management tool. Did these parties intend this document, which expires in October 2010 (but which COULD be canceled by either party at any time), to allow this?
That is it in a nutshell. The current management plan is almost expired, it has failed in the eyes of the tribes, and the end goal of the new plan is to kill 25 percent of the estimated 400,000 lake trout in the lake to see what impact this has on native fish. This could include 1000 gill nets in the lake by 2012…three years from right now.
I am attaching the documents mentioned above for your own review.
Mike
Mike Howe is the manager of the web site www.flatheadanglers.com