There has been much talk of late of the pollution in Shuswap Lake affecting the fish population.
One of the most prolific coarse fish we have is the Squawfish or pikeminnow.
These are a very prolific fish that are about only good for fertilizer. In the U.S., in the salmon rivers, there is a very hefty bounty on them as the folks there know the danger to the salmon runs.
As we all know, the Rainbow population in the Shuswap is struggling, and the fisheries do not plant the lakes. The government plants Salmon into the system every year. They grow up here and feed on the young Rainbows. For some reason, I guess they don’t like the Squawfish as the Squawfish certainly don’t seem to be on the decline.
If we want to increase the edible fish in the Shuswap, then something should be done to reduce the Squawfish population. This can easily be done with fish traps, fishing derbys, etc. But what to do with the caught Squawfish? We would be talking about thousands and thousands of pounds. Could a processing plant handle them and reduce them to a slurry for fertilizer? If so, where is one? If there is one in the area, where could we have a collection point?
I’ll bet that the corn folks would just love to put it into the ground.
If we could get a small bounty going and a place to put the fish, then I am sure we could get the kids even more interested in fishing.
The bounties could be paid out of the surcharge for the Rainbow and lake trout tags as we sure don’t see any gains from those in the Shuswap.
Gary Kanngiesser
