Tribes should keep Mack Days
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Editor,
I am writing to persuade the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes that we should keep Mack Days. Mack Days is a management tool developed to implement the Flathead Lake and River co-management plan since 2002. Mack Days is in use today but may be shut down. It is an important thing for our lake because it helps regulate the native and non-native fish in Flathead Lake. It helps bring up the numbers in the bull trout and westslope cutthroat populations. It also is helping to bring down the numbers of non-native lake trout.
It comes around twice a year, in the fall and in the spring, with many contenders each time. Hundreds of people swarm the lake to try and win the top prizes in money. You can win thousands of dollars in this event. I think if Mack Days were not around, there would still be plenty of fishermen, but not nearly as many as during Mack Days. There are a few thousand fish caught each go. This is a major part of removing non-native lake trout. Without such a major event, the increase of non-native trout and decrease of native trout would be unbelievable. It could also affect the fishermen that compete each time. Ending Mack Days could also take enjoyment away from hundreds of people who love it.
Mack Days has not been hurting anybody or anything. The population of the trout has been doing just fine. You only must put the native fish back or mainly the bull trout. The numbers of the lake trout are so high that you catch as many as possible, which is the whole point of Mack Days.
Jared Young
Polson
