Fifty elementary students will help release 14,000 lake trout into Moberly Lake as part of an ongoing effort to restore the species in its historic habitat.

The public is invited to join Moberly Lake Elementary students and provincial biologists in Spence Tuck Regional Park at 2 p.m. today for the release. This is the third lake trout release – for a total of 46,000 fish -- with the goal of creating a stable lake trout population.

Six years ago, when the Province started the conservation program in partnership with Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C, there were fewer than 400 trout in the lake. Overfishing and predation from other species, like the lake whitefish, have likely contributed to the lake trout decline.

Moberly Lake is located between Chetwynd and Hudson’s Hope. The Province closed Moberly Lake to all lake trout fishing in 2002 and continues to close all fishing from Sept. 15 to Oct. 31 each year, to protect lake trout during the spawning season.

Quick Facts:

• Adult lake trout typically range in length from 45 to 65 centimetres and weigh about one to two kilograms.
• Moberly Lake trout are unusually big, regularly reaching nine kilograms or more. The largest lake trout ever caught on the lake weighed more than 27 kilograms.
• The Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. stocks more than 800 lakes and streams each year.

Learn More:

To find out more about lake trout visit: http://www.gofishbc.com/documents/pdf/fish-facts/Lake_Trout.pdf

To learn about what the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. is doing to protect fish and fish habitats, visit: http://www.gofishbc.com/home.aspx