The Division of Wildlife Resources will soon stock 500,000 fingerling sterile rainbow trout in Strawberry Reservoir. The decision to reinstate a rainbow trout program at Strawberry was strongly influenced by the outpouring of public support for a rainbow fishery there, regardless of cost. I believe this policy change demonstrates, in part, the effectiveness of the wildlife Regional Advisory Council (RAC) Wildlife Board process.

The suspension of sterile rainbow stocking at Strawberry was a real setback. Our biologists had hoped that rainbows would be an important component of the fishery until chub populations recovered and forced them out. In 1996, we began a research program to develop alternative methods of sterilization, but that has progressed slowly. Meanwhile, considerable dissatisfaction was heard from the public. The issue was brought before the RACs and the Wildlife Board by concerned anglers. We then renewed our search for an alternative viable solution to the problem.

The discovery of a reliable source of sterile rainbow trout was a very pleasant surprise. When we presented a proposal to the RACs and the Board to resume stocking of rainbows, it met with unanimous support.

The bottom line is the process works! And that is good for all of us! I've asked Don Archer, our sport fisheries Special Projects Coordinator, to review the history and status of the rainbow trout management program at Strawberry.

By Don Archer:

Two years ago a very successful rainbow trout sterilization and stocking program for Strawberry Reservoir was suspended due to the withdrawal of our Federal Food and Drug Administration permit to use a metabolic steroid drug to produce them. At that time there was no other source of sterile rainbow to meet the needs at Strawberry. Sterile rainbows were necessary to avoid crossbreeding with the pure strain of Bear Lake cutthroat. These predacious cutthroats were the cornerstone of the plan to prevent the reoccurrence of rough fish after a $3.8 million eradication project.

The Division has initiated research into alternative, non-chemical methods of sterilizing rainbows. Unfortunately, this pioneering research has not yet yielded satisfactory results.

Last year, as the initial rainbow stocks declined, a substantial number of anglers began to express, to us and to their RACs, concern that the rainbow stocking program had been suspended. This placed the Division in the difficult position of choosing between abandonment of the seven-year-old fisheries management plan, or ignoring a large component of anglers dissatisfied with the disappearance of rainbows from Strawberry.

Faced with that dilemma, the Division reinitiated a search for sources of sterile rainbow trout that were reliably at least 90 percent sterile. Until recently, all reports from various research stations and state wildlife agencies had indicated that experiments in sterilization were inconsistent, ranging in success from 65 to 95 percent.

However, the renewed search discovered a commercial producer of rainbow eggs who was consistently achieving in excess of a 90 percent level of sterility through methods they had developed. That producer, Mount Larson Trout Farms in California, was found to be a reliable source of eggs and fry that met all disease and quality criteria.

As a result, the Division purchased 615,000 eggs, which are expected to produce 500,000 fingerlings for stocking in June, 1998. As they've hatched and grown, these fish have subsequently been found to be in excess of 90 percent sterile. We are happy to report that they are scheduled to be stocked into Strawberry Reservoir in early June as five-inch fingerlings. We hope to re-establish a rainbow trout fishery over the next few years, at least until chub numbers become prohibitive.