Salish Kootenai College

Latest Salish Kootenai College News

Mohn markets the fillets as "wild Montana fish, caught by rod and reel, especially for you" and sells them largely to restaurants, with Glacier National Park's main concessionaire his biggest client. He touts his Golden Whitefish Caviar as "nonfishy," slightly crunchy and apricot in color, a hue "reminiscent of a Rocky Mountain sunrise." Most of the caviar clients are wholesalers and restaurants.The lake whitefish that Mohn harvests was transplanted around 1900 to Flathead Lake, a shimmering body of water 27 miles long and 15.5 miles wide, the largest natural, freshwater lake in the western United States."At the time, it was thought to improve the fisheries," said Mark Delaray, a fisheries biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "Conservation of native fish was not the issue then that it is now."Today, introduced fish species account for more than half of the 25 species most commonly found in the Flathead River-Flathead Lake ecosystem. Native species that have declined include the bull trout, which is on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's list of threatened species. Kokanee salmon have disappeared from the lake.Netting conducted as part of a lake assessment found an average of three lake whitefish per net in - more available