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Ryan Mosley, Flaming Gorge Project Leader for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, sent in this report on burbot netting. Remember, burbot are nonnative and invasive fish that have been impacting the Gorge fishery in a negative fashion. It is a good thing the numbers appear to be down. And you can do more to help reduce the numbers by participting in the Burbot Bash being held Jan. 23-25 and being sponsored by the Flaming Gorge Chamber of Commerce. Prizes up to $100,000 will be awarded.
Here's Ryan's report - thanks Mr. Mosley.Working with Wyoming Game and Fish we just completed our annual burbot netting on Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The data still has to be entered and analyzed but numbers were down 34%, reservoir-wide. Most of this was a result of the uppermost region of the reservoir, where we observed a 53% decline in burbot abundance. We also tagged and released 50 burbot with internal tags for this winter's 2015 Burbot Bash. Releasing 50 burbot is tough, but it's a small investment for the thousands of them that will be caught, checked-in, and inevitably removed from the reservoir by angling participants.