Here's an interesting story from the New York Times about the first commercial fishing permitted in Lake Tahoe.
<snip>Introduced to Lake Tahoe more than a century ago, the crayfish population has swelled to 280 million, up from 200 million just six years ago. The crustacean lives, eats and excretes in the lake’s shallow waters, contributing to algae growth, which clouds the water. Reducing their numbers would help keep the lake blue.<snip>
<snip>At 250 square miles, Lake Tahoe is North America’s largest alpine lake, straddling the Nevada-California line. Commenting on the reflection of the surrounding snow-capped mountains on the lake’s “still surface,” Mark Twain wrote that “it must surely be the fairest picture the whole world affords.” But overuse and overdevelopment led to the rapid degradation of its crystal blue water in the 1970s and ’80s, a problem highlighted by President Bill Clinton during a summit meeting on environmental issues held here in 1997.
Since 2000, perhaps because of efforts to control runoff from surrounding areas into the lake, the lake’s deep water quality has stopped declining, experts say. According to the Tahoe Research Environmental Center at the University of California, Davis, which has been measuring Lake Tahoe’s water clarity since 1968, it is now clear down to nearly 69 feet, compared with 67 feet in 2000. In 1968, it was clear down to 102 feet.
But in the most recent years, the clarity of the water near the shoreline has “gotten considerably worse,” said John Reuter, the center’s associate director. Besides crayfish, other newer invasive species found in shallower waters, including Asian clams and Eurasian watermilfoil, an aquatic weed, are causing the clarity to deteriorate. <snip>
At Lake Tahoe, Commercial Fishing is Approved.
Commercial Crayfish Harvesting in Lake Tahoe (NY Times article)
Started by
Guest_WestCoastKenny_*
, Jul 13 2012 01:36 PM
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#2
Guest_wargreen_*
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Posted 15 July 2012 - 05:07 PM
Interesting....it will be very interesting to see whether the commercial fishing of the crawdads helps or hurts the lake in the future.
#3
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 13 August 2012 - 02:30 PM
How would clams and water milfoil contribute to turbidity of the water. I can see mechanism behind crayfish making water more turbid. Putting pressure on crayfish may actually promote increases in abundance of milfoil and possibly clams.
Fish pressure on crayfish will also need to be sustained. Markets as they exist prefer larger sizes. Regulations may need to be used that promote larger sizes yet keeping abunandance high enough to justify fishing effort.
Fish pressure on crayfish will also need to be sustained. Markets as they exist prefer larger sizes. Regulations may need to be used that promote larger sizes yet keeping abunandance high enough to justify fishing effort.
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