Does anyone know how to get a license to electrofish?

[Matt724]

I was wondering if anyone knew what the process was of getting a license to electrofish a lake. In my case, I've always wanted to know what was in Lake Balboa in Southern California. It's a relatively shallow lake, but people have claimed to catch all sorts of weird fish such as Pacus, oscars, and other fish that would have been dumped by local aquarists.

 

[SumoNinja]

I didn't know you can do that. Thought only fish and game can do that. But I don't know

 

[krichardson]

Yep you can probably only do it on your own property.

 

[Modest_Man]

You have to apply for a research permit. This can be through the state or federally, depending on the potential species you'll be sampling. We work with Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed Salmonids so we have to get both a state AND a federal permit. Even then we can't shock adults and have a take limit for juveniles. Lots of hoops to jump through and paperwork to fill out, and you won't get approved unless you're actually doing research (and even then you can easily get denied).

To sum it up you're SOL.

Also, have you priced out electrofishing equipment? Our backpack shocker cost upwards of $5,000, plus $450 each for our batteries. And that just shocks little crappy fish. Our boat all things considered is in the $30k range ($4k generator, $5k control module, $1k per anode, plus boat and motor).

EDIT: If you're realllllly interested here's what you have to do in California. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/research_permit/

 

[Zoodiver]

Cheaper way (and easier) to find out what is in the bottom of a lake is grab some SCUBA gear and go look.