Many practices in fish management that took place in the early 20th century serve as lessons and reminders that careful attention must be paid to fragile lake ecosystems.Downen, M. R. (2004). Historic, Current, And Proposed Future Management of Sport Fish In High-Elevation Park Lakes. North Cascades National Park High Lakes Fishery Management. As debate continues over biodiversity in mountain lakes there will likely be a compromise required for success. One approach is low-density fish stocking. This requires baseline surveys that assess a lake's abiotic and biotic factors before stocking any trout species.Downen, M. R. (2004). Historic, Current, And Proposed Future Management of Sport Fish In High-Elevation Park Lakes. North Cascades National Park High Lakes Fishery Management. Likewise, with reduced numbers of trout going into lakes there is less environmental impact and greater opportunity for recreational fishing. Fish grow to greater sizes due to lack of competition for food and there are not enough fish present to negatively impact biota. Additional efforts are being made to avoid easily reproducing species of trout, as well as stocking sterile triploid fish. By introducing species that do not reproduce the fish are of the same age class and will eventually die, therefore allowing biota to recover. Reproducing fish put continual pressure on the biota of the lake.Pfeifer, B. (2007). Piscivore Control of Reproducing Fish in Washington High Lakes – Mixed Results. Inland and Alpine Fisheries. 2-45. Overall the debate continues as lake management plans vary on a case to case basis and require reevaluation as species populations fluctuate.
