I am not sure if they still plant fish at Crater lake. If you have spent much time fishing you will pretty quickly learn that almost every accessible lake in the US is regularly stocked with fish.
I would say the "native" freshwater fish population is so decimated at this point that if you want to catch something you either seek out inaccessible places that have seen little human contact, or you follow the fish plantings and catch planted fish. The idea of a lake that thousands of humans regularly access having a healthy ecology seems far fetched.
They do not stock the lake anymore, no. The fish currently in it are considered invasive by the park and there are no catch limits.
It's odd the article poses this as a "problem" in an article about Crater Lake, where uniquely among lakes this "problem" is most likely to just fix the other problem.
Kill all the fish in the lake and the lake is better off.
Does Crater Lake have any visiting ducks? If so, then there were probably fish in the lake at various points as some fish eggs are known to survive the trip through a duck's digestive system.[0]
ericmcer|3 months ago
I would say the "native" freshwater fish population is so decimated at this point that if you want to catch something you either seek out inaccessible places that have seen little human contact, or you follow the fish plantings and catch planted fish. The idea of a lake that thousands of humans regularly access having a healthy ecology seems far fetched.
margalabargala|3 months ago
It's odd the article poses this as a "problem" in an article about Crater Lake, where uniquely among lakes this "problem" is most likely to just fix the other problem.
Kill all the fish in the lake and the lake is better off.
maxbond|3 months ago
onlypassingthru|3 months ago
[0]https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/special-delivery-d...