Development of an International Conservation Strategy For Burbot in Idaho and British Columbia

Abstract

Burbot (Lota lota) once provided popular sport, commercial, and subsistence fisheries in the lower Kootenai drainage of ldaho and British Columbia. However, the respective burbot fisheries collapsed in the late 1970s and closure of the fisheries provided no improvement to the burbot populations. Research indicated one of the primary problems affecting burbot is high peaking flows released from Libby Dam during winter spawning migration. Other physical and biotic changes to the ecosystem also may have played a role in the decline of burbot. The burbot in Idaho and Kootenay Lake are currently near demographic extinction. Agencies responsible for burbot management believe efforts should be made to recover this stock, and fisheries and river managers feel development of a conservation strategy could be useful to identify and prioritize actions necessary to recover burbot. The most important aspect of the conservation strategy, designed to be refined or amended as new information becomes available, may be identification of factors limiting the population. This paper provides the logic behind most categories within the burbot conservation strategy and can be used as an example in preparation of strategic documents for other species at risk. If management agencies and water use managers agree in writing to follow the prescribed measures of a conservation strategy then the strategy becomes a conservation agreement.