An annual burbot recovery mission will take place on Moyie Lake during the final two weeks of February.
Teams from the Ktunaxa Nation Council, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the B.C. government will work together to catch, tag, and release burbot, while collecting some of their eggs. The collection helps rebuild the burbot population in the lower Kootenay while natural spawning recovers.
Burbot egg collection happens during the burbot spawning season in February. The eggs are taken to hatcheries where they are raised to different life stages, then released back into certain areas of the Kootenay River system, Idaho and B.C.
In 2009, several governments and organizations partnered to start a formal recovery program after the burbot fish species were close to disappearing in the 1990s. Before the decline the lower Kootenay burbot population supported First Nations fisheries, and recreational fisheries in Montana, Idaho and B.C.
Moyie Lake egg collections are vital because problems like the Libby Dam and changes to the river habitat have made natural burbot spawning inconsistent. Although the hatchery woodwork is still needed, most burbot are left to spawn naturally as only a tiny fraction of eggs are collected each year.
All burbot handled in the program which is supported and led in partnership with the Ktunaxa Nation Council are tagged and released alive. The Moyie Lake project is helping guide other burbot recovery and benefit projects in the Upper Kootenay region.
Since the program began, staff have recaptured fish from these releases, which indicates the program is successful. Data collected from the program tells that Moyie Lake now has a healthy burbot population of about 10,000 fish.
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