Can kokanee be held in the hatcheries as “captive broodstock” to supply the States egg needs?
No, Colorado does not have the facilities to maintain a sufficient kokanee broodstock to supply the State’s egg needs, nor would such a plan work. In a last ditch effort to restore kokanee at Flathead Lake, MT, the Creston National Fish Hatchery obtained eggs from Colorado, initially from Granby until those eggs became too few to share, and then from Blue Mesa. Creston was successful in producing several million eggs annually from their effort. But the restoration project failed due to intense lake trout predation on stocked fry and subcatchable kokanee. This outcome occurred despite efforts to stock the kokanee in a manner to optimize their survival. This captive broodstock effort for Flathead was abandoned a couple of years ago.
