RALEIGH, N.C. (Feb. 24, 2005) — Concluding that the Lake James walleye population is reproducing on its own, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission announced today that the popular game fish no longer needs supplemental stocking from fish hatcheries.

Fisheries biologists with the Wildlife Commission decided to stop stocking walleye after analyzing data from a three-year study conducted on Lake James, a 6,812-acre reservoir straddling the McDowell-Burke county line.

The results of the study confirmed the Wildlife Commission’s suspicions that Lake James has a large population of walleye that sustains itself without needing supplemental stockings.

“The study showed that less than five percent of the walleye population in Lake James came from fish hatcheries,” said David Yow, who is the Commission’s warmwater fisheries research coordinator. “The change in fish-stocking plans will enable our hatcheries to use their resources where they are more likely to be beneficial to anglers.”

In addition to walleye, Wildlife Commission hatcheries grow trout, channel catfish, muskellunge and sunfish to support sport fisheries in western North Carolina.

The Commission first introduced walleye into Lake James in 1949. The Commission stopped stocking walleye into Lake James in 1955 because the lake’s walleye population was established well enough to reproduce successfully on its own.

“But we started stocking walleye in Lake James again in 1977, in part because of public concerns about the walleye fishery,” Yow said.

The Commission launched the three-year study in 2000 to learn more about the walleye population in Lake James and to determine if stocking walleye in Lake James was successful. Yow said the Commission will continue to monitor the Lake James walleye population to ensure the fishery does not decline due to this management change.

“If future conditions indicate that stocking would benefit the Lake James’ walleye fishery, we will reconsider stocking walleye," Yow said.
 

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