Proposal seeks killing of brown trout to protect other trout populations

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission on Thursday will review a proposal requiring anglers to kill and keep all brown trout caught on the Kootenai River between Libby Dam and Kootenai Falls and to report the incident to Fish, Wildlife and Parks within 24 hours.

The measure would prevent brown trout from establishing in the river and damaging rainbow and bull trout populations, according to a news release.

“If brown trout become established and persist, it is quite likely this long-lived voracious predator will negatively impact both rainbow and bull trout populations especially at fry and fingerling stages,” states FWP Fisheries Biologist Mike Hensler in the news release. “The proposed regulation, in addition to active removal during FWP fisheries survey work, will be used to hopefully remove brown trout before they become established.”

FWP recently confirmed the presence of brown trout in the Kootenai River upstream of Kootenai Falls in a section containing “a naturally reproducing population of world-class rainbow trout” and in which the threatened bull trout is known to exist.

The Commission’s public meeting begins 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 19 at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Headquarters in Helena. The meeting will be streamed live via video to all FWP regional offices and via audio at fwp.mt.gov.

Pubic comment will be taken via video at FWP’s Kalispell office during the meeting.

The meeting’s full agenda is available at fwp.mt.gov.