Fisheries biologist have compiled fish study numbers for the Missouri River this past summer and the news was much better than expected. After discovering Whirling Disease in the Dearborne River, the largest spawning tributary of the Missouri, fisheries experts expected to see a dramatic decrease in first year age class rainbows. There data did show a slight decrease in rainbows but populations were still about 80 percent of the average. This slight drop in numbers could also be attributed to the drought conditions we have had in Montana as well as the factors of Whirling Disease. This is much better than expected news for the river and I feel that it shows how "wild fish" can make adaptations to ensure survival of their species. Montana is a gleaming example of how wild fishery management is a much better system than put and take fisheries of the past and present.
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