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Show Drought claims latest victim, Electric Lake DWR takes steps to enhance trout population PRICE The Division of Wildlife Resources announced this week the emergency fishing closure of Electric Lake in Emery County. The closure, banning all fishing activity, takes effect on Saturday, April 27, and includes both Electric Lake and its tributaries. "Electric Lake is Utah's only source of Strawberry cutthroat trout eggs, making this population of fish extremely important to the state's sport fisheries program," DWR regional fisheries manager Kevin Christopherson said. ' Five years of drought and reduced stream inflow at Electric Lake have greatly impacted natural reproduction of cutthroat trout. "The DWR's sampling results show a drastic reduction in numbers of spawning adults over the past two years. "The few remaining spawners are extremely vulnerable to angler harvest as they move into shallow "staging" areas in preparation for their spring run. This situation has been aggravated by the decline in Scofield's fishery, resulting in a shift of fishing pressure to Electric Lake." In late May or early June, DWR will set up a trap to collect spawning spawn-ing cutthroats. Biologists plan to strip up to 800,000 eggs from brood fish for shipment to the Kamas hatchery, where they will be hatched, raised to fingerling size and stocked in lakes and streams around the state. As many as 45,000 of the young fish will be returned to Electric Lake. Christopherson reports this is the first year that eggs have been col lected at Electric Lake, possible only after an extensive three-year disease inspection program. "The lake has now been certified disease-free, allowing eggs from Electric Lake to be transplanted to other waters," Christopherson said. "A portion of the spawning fish will be allowed to pass the trap and spawn naturally in the stream to preserve the wild nature of the population." After the spawning run is over, the fish population will be reevaluated and a decision made on reopening the reservoir at that time. "To supplement the declining trout numbers, 30,000 seven-inch cuttliroat twit will be stocked this year in addi tion to the normal 45,000 two-inch cutthroats that are stocked annually," Christ opherson added. I i A special basketball clinic was held April 23 at the Boulton School. Pro Star Management Manage-ment arranged for Utah Jazz stars Jeff Malone (below) and Mike Brown (right) to spend and evening with students. The Jazz players coached students in basketball skills, other pro techniques and I even took time for a little one-on-one. .. . b. ' - 5 i . t- ; 1 . I 7 -- ' |