WDFW To Hold Meeting On Rotenoning SJI Lake Illegally Stocked With Northern Pike

WDFW says it must take “additional measures” to make sure a lake on San Juan Island is rid of illegally introduced northern pike and will hold a public meeting next week to talk about rotenoning it.

A total of 23 pike have been netted out of Westside Lake near Limekiln Point after a young angler caught one there in early 2024, and state fishery managers say they want to make sure the system is clean so as to “eliminate the potential for pike to be spread to other western Washington waterbodies where they may impact native species such as salmon,” as dictated by the statewide northern pike response plan.

They say that a one-time treatment with rotenone, a commonly used piscicide derived from tropical plant roots, is the best option for getting the job done at the reservoir also known as Carefree Pond.

“Pike can live more than 20 years, grow larger than 45 pounds, produce a large number of young, and consume large quantities of amphibians, birds, small mammals, and fish, including impacting Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and trout,” said Justin Bush, WDFW’s Aquatic Invasive Species Division manager, in an agency press release. “If left unchecked, northern pike will overpopulate and cause significant impacts on Washington’s aquatic ecosystems.”

Northern pike represent a uniquely problematic threat for Northwest fishery managers, and one they can still get traction on, but they’re also increasingly moving to address other popular but nonnative game fish species introduced illegally or by managers themselves decades ago.

ODFW and tribal comanagers on the Coquille River on the Oregon Coast say they’ve removed almost 40,000 smallmouth bass from the system in recent years as they act aggressively to protect and restore a fall Chinook population. Meanwhile, new spearfishing opportunities for bass and walleye opened in July in North Idaho and ODFW is taking comment on opening all rivers and streams in the state to spearfishing for both species next year.

Back in the San Juans, WDFW says a State Environmental Policy Act determination for removing the northern pike will be available for comment starting August 13.

That’s also the date of the meeting the agency and the San Juan County Conservation Land Bank will cohost to talk about rotenoning Westside Lake. It will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. at the San Juan Island Grange, 152 First Street North, in Friday Harbor near the state ferry terminal.

WDFW asks anglers who catch northern pike in new waters to kill the fish immediately, take a pic of its carcass pre or post-desecration and report it via (888) WDFW-AIS,  ais@dfw.wa.gov or the Washington Invasive Species Council reporting form or mobile app at invasivespecies.wa.gov/report-a-sighting/.

Currently, pike are known to occur in Washington in the Pend Oreille River system’s Boundary and Box Canyon Reservoirs, Lake Roosevelt, Long Lake/Lake Spokane/Spokane River, and Lake Washington.