The Coquille Tribe has been combating invasive bass along the Coquille River and with the help of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have been using a boat built to put an electric charge in the water that stuns the fish.
This year, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are providing a $100,000 grant through their Spirit Mountain Fund to supply the Coquille with their own craft. As reported by OPB, the electrical current stuns all the fish near the boat, once the fish float to the surface, netters scoop them up and deposit them into a tank where they’re measured and recorded. The invasive bass are then kept and given to the birds at the Cascades Raptor Center. If a salmon or other noninvasive fish is stunned, they are returned to the water and swim away.
Helena Linnell, biological planning and operations manager for the Coquille Tribe explains that the bass have been here for over a decade and they are having decimating effects on salmonids and other native Aquatic species in the area.
The tribe expects to have the boat delivered next year.
