The funding of the Moses Lake Project can be justified by two statements within NWPPC's Fish and Wildlife Program document.  Section 10.1 states, "The program goal for resident fish is to recover and preserve the health of native resident fish injured by the hydropower system, where feasible, and, where appropriate, to use resident fish to mitigate for anadromous fish losses in the system."  Section 10.2A.1 of the Program provides priorities for the Columbia River Basin resident fish, including a high priority to populations that support important fisheries.  Important fisheries can be native or introduced species in systems where such supplementations may be feasible.  Consequently, the funding of the Moses Lake Project  

The goal of this project is to identify factors affecting the Moses Lake sport fishery and implement a management plan with the aim of enhancing the sport fishing recreational opportunities and the economic return to the Moses Lake community and Washington State.  As stated within the FY 2002 Provincial Project Review approved project there are seven uncertainties that exist associated with the Moses Lake fish community and our current proposed tasks.

1.  Changes in water quality have adversely affected the productivity of the Moses Lake fish community.
2.  Recruitment of panfish is limited by spawning and/or rearing habitat in Moses Lake.
3.  Predation by walleye is affecting recruitment of panfishes in Moses Lake.
4.  Interspecific interactions are affecting the survival of Moses Lake fishes.
5.  Carp are adversely affecting water quality and the desired fish community structure in Moses Lake.
6.  Mortality of fishes is a result of sport fishing in Moses Lake.
7.  The entrainment of panfish is negatively impacting abundance.

We have been able to eliminate many of the uncertainties in Moses Lake as a result of the data collected from our previous tasks.  However, data gaps exist and our goal is to focus our efforts on these areas wtih the idea of eliminating such gaps.

Below is a brief outline of this years's proposed work and is further described within the scope of work.

-Objective 1:  Monitor fish community:  Emphasis on walleye.
Justification:  Our previous data indicates there is a large walleye population present in Moses Lake that may also be impacting other desirable game fishes.  Our results have enabled us to implement a regulation change with the intention of reducing the number of walleye and increasing the abundance of other fishes.  

Task 1.1:  Seasonal fish community sample / fall walleye index netting.
Task 1.2.  Quantify walleye larval production.

-Objective 2:  Quantify winter losses
Justification:  Juvenile gamefishes have poor survival rates throughout the winter on Moses Lake.  Variability in environmental conditions and water operations dictate additional monitoring.

Task 2.1:  Quantify entrainment losses.
Task 2.2:  Quantify rates of fish predation.


-Objective 3:  Reporting and proposal writing
Justification:  Moses Lake was originally funded as an off-site mitigation for lost anadromous fisheries on the Columbia River.  Moses Lake has turnied out to be an important inland fishery generates a substantial amount of revenue.  

Task 3.1.  Reporting to BPA and WDFW.
Task 3.2.  Prepare for new proposal submission