State encourages new triploid take on the Columbia

Published 10:44 am Monday, August 1, 2011

Save a steelhead, eat a triploid. Better yet, keep four of them to eat every day this month.

That’s essentially the intent of new regulations by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, which open a 17-mile stretch of the Columbia River below Chief Joseph Dam to the catching of triploid tro

ut.

Anglers will be allowed to catch and keep four of them each day in the area between Bridgeport and Brewster after 117,500 of the big trips escaped from a net pen on Rufus Woods reservoir in June. Officials said the have now gone downstream into the Wells pool area below Chief Joseph.

The concern is that they’ll eat steelhead smolts heading for the ocean.

“Anglers have been catching those fish in Rufus Woods Reservoir for the past couple of months, which is great,” said Jeff Korth, a state fisheries biologist.. “But we do have some concerns about the growing number of triploids turning up below Chief Joseph Dam, because they could interfere with juvenile steelhead downstream.”

Korth said the triploids are “voracious” eaters and could pose a threat to juvenile steelhead, some of which are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Under the new rule, the daily limit will be four triploid rainbow trout, with a minimum size 12 inches. All steelhead must be released, and must not be completely removed from the water.

Korth said it’s easy to tell the difference between the tips and the smolts.

“The differences are pretty obvious,” he said. “Triploids are big and fat, while steelhead are long and skinny. But if there’s any doubt, anglers should release the fish back into the water.”

Triploids are sterile trout that put all their energy into growing, not reproducing. They have tiny heads and fat bodies. Many of the trips released from the net pen are four or five pounds. The steelhead smolts are much smaller and better proportioned.