|
Anglers who went after northern pikeminnow last summer took home $839,461 in reward payments, says the Bonneville Power Administration.
One person, the top earner in the program, was paid $48,501 for the 5,579 fish he caught in the Columbia or Snake rivers in 2020.
Northern pikeminnow are voracious eaters, consuming millions of young salmon and steelhead every year.
|
|
|
To reduce the pikeminnow population, the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program pays people who register and then turn in the pikeminnow they catch on the Columbia and Snake rivers.
“When we remove the larger northern pikeminnow, more young salmon and steelhead have a better chance of making it to the ocean and eventually returning to the basin as adults,” said Eric McOmie, BPA program manager.
This year 103,114 pikeminnow were caught and turned in by 2,450 people who registered for the program. They turned in an average of 6.5 fish a day.
That was enough to meet the program’s annual goal to remove 10% to 20% of pikeminnow that are 9 inches or longer in the two rivers in Washington and Oregon.
The top earner didn’t do quite as well as the those in previous years. In 2019 the top earner made $53,000, in 2018 they made $71,000 and in 2017 they made $84,000.
Fewer people than usual participated in the program during the COVID pandemic. To interest more anglers late in the season, the reward was upped to $10 per pikeminnow.
Usually anglers make $5 to $8 per fish, with some specially tagged fish worth $500.
|
|