The Bonneville Power Administration is lauding the efforts of anglers who targeted pikeminnow on the Columbia and Snake rivers this year.
The BPA says 1,110 anglers who registered in the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program pulled 191,483 of the salmon-eating predators from the two rivers in 2017. The program, which runs from May 1 through Sept. 30, is part of a BPA plan to protect young salmon and steelhead from predation, and this year’s catch hauled in nearly $1,542,000 in reward payment for the successful anglers.
"The program's goal is to reduce the number of pikeminnow that prey heavily on juvenile salmon," said Makary Hutson, BPA project manager, in a press release. "Annual harvest rate estimates, which are calculated using data from tagged fish caught by anglers, indicate the 2017 season met our program targets, which directly benefits juvenile salmon making their way to the ocean."
The BPA reward program pays registered anglers between $5 and $8 per fish measuring at least 9 inches. The more fish caught each season, the more each pikeminnow is worth. State fish and wildlife biologists also release more than 1,000 tagged northern pikeminnow each year that are worth $500 each.
The top 20 reward earning anglers this year reeled in nearly $30,000 each, with the top angler bringing in nearly $84,000 thanks to a catch of more than 10,000 fish.
The BPA describes Northern pikeminnow as “voracious eaters, consuming millions of young salmon and steelhead every year.” Since 1990, the pikeminnow program has removed 4.8 million fish from the Columbia and Snake rivers, and the BPA says predation has been reduced by up to 40 percent.
Additional information on the program is available online at pikeminnow.org, or by calling 1-800-858-9015.
