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State Wildlife Officials Use Explosives To Battle Pike
March 19, 2003
AP
SACRAMENTO -- State wildlife officials strung about four miles worth of detonation cord around a shallow cove in a Sierra Nevada lake Wednesday, then set off a thumping explosion intended to kill spawning northern pike with an underwater shock wave.
Only about a half-dozen fish were recovered afterward, however.
The explosives are the latest attempt to control the voracious pike, which have been poisoned, shocked, netted, trapped and hooked to no avail since they were discovered in Lake Davis in 1994.
Officials fear the fish would threaten the state's salmon population if they escape from the northern Sierra lake near Portola.
They experimented with a one-acre explosion last fall to make sure there would be no damage to air or water quality, or disruption to a nearby pair of nesting eagles.
On Wednesday, they set off the explosive cord in a 13-acre area to try to catch the pike before they spawn this spring. They may try two more explosions this spring, said California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano.
"It goes fast -- just a boom," Martarano said after Wednesday's event. "We pulled one nice six-pounder that still had its eggs ashore, so that's what we want. ... That's 70,000 eggs sitting there that were ready to go."
Department biologists were trying to get a count of the number of fish killed by the blast, but it was inexact because some float to the surface while others sink to the bottom, Martarano said.
"It doesn't look like we got any great number," he said. "We try not to set our expectations too high for these -- it's still experimental."
Despite devoting full-time crews to catching pike each of the last three years, the number of fish has surged.
The Plumas County lake spans about 4,000 acres, so even killing all the fish in certain areas wouldn't eradicate them, Martarano said. The department views the effort as one more tool as it tries to control the spread of the pike while it considers other methods.
The state poisoned the lake in 1997. The pike survived, while the effort wound up costing the state $2 million plus $9.2 million in reparations to residents who feared their water supply and tourism economy were damaged.
Now the department is working with the community, and stocking the lake regularly with trout to aid the local tourism industry.
Warning horns just before the 3:30 p.m. blast to drive off any waterfowl hovering around South Mosquito Slough. As soon as the water settled, however, seagulls began following the department employees they've learned spend their days pulling pike from the lake.
"The seagulls always come right away," Martarano said. "They know there's probably dead fish around."
March 19, 2003
AP
SACRAMENTO -- State wildlife officials strung about four miles worth of detonation cord around a shallow cove in a Sierra Nevada lake Wednesday, then set off a thumping explosion intended to kill spawning northern pike with an underwater shock wave.
Only about a half-dozen fish were recovered afterward, however.
The explosives are the latest attempt to control the voracious pike, which have been poisoned, shocked, netted, trapped and hooked to no avail since they were discovered in Lake Davis in 1994.
Officials fear the fish would threaten the state's salmon population if they escape from the northern Sierra lake near Portola.
They experimented with a one-acre explosion last fall to make sure there would be no damage to air or water quality, or disruption to a nearby pair of nesting eagles.
On Wednesday, they set off the explosive cord in a 13-acre area to try to catch the pike before they spawn this spring. They may try two more explosions this spring, said California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano.
"It goes fast -- just a boom," Martarano said after Wednesday's event. "We pulled one nice six-pounder that still had its eggs ashore, so that's what we want. ... That's 70,000 eggs sitting there that were ready to go."
Department biologists were trying to get a count of the number of fish killed by the blast, but it was inexact because some float to the surface while others sink to the bottom, Martarano said.
"It doesn't look like we got any great number," he said. "We try not to set our expectations too high for these -- it's still experimental."
Despite devoting full-time crews to catching pike each of the last three years, the number of fish has surged.
The Plumas County lake spans about 4,000 acres, so even killing all the fish in certain areas wouldn't eradicate them, Martarano said. The department views the effort as one more tool as it tries to control the spread of the pike while it considers other methods.
The state poisoned the lake in 1997. The pike survived, while the effort wound up costing the state $2 million plus $9.2 million in reparations to residents who feared their water supply and tourism economy were damaged.
Now the department is working with the community, and stocking the lake regularly with trout to aid the local tourism industry.
Warning horns just before the 3:30 p.m. blast to drive off any waterfowl hovering around South Mosquito Slough. As soon as the water settled, however, seagulls began following the department employees they've learned spend their days pulling pike from the lake.
"The seagulls always come right away," Martarano said. "They know there's probably dead fish around."
