Lake Structures – Aquatic Vegetation Control Laws

Lake Structures – Report Data Collected by the Fisheries Biologists

Lake Structures – Royer-Fish Acoustic Images-Maps

LAKE STRUCTURES & WEED / PLANT COMMUNITY:

Please don’t kill our lake weeds. Our lakes need our plant community to sustain fish population. The Indiana DNR and the Fawn River Hatchery have notified us they are suspending all weed control permits until further notice.

After speaking with a fisheries biologist at the Fawn River Hatchery about our lakes ecology we have learned a lot about our lakes. Unfortunately, we do not have much structure left in our lakes. Why are lake structures so important? They increase not only Oxygen Levels but Fish Cover as well. Predator fish depend on the structures to ambush their prey. Forms of natural fish structures we should have in our lakes are fallen trees, rocks, beaver lodges and weeds. It was noted during the last survey that both Fish and Royer Lakes do not have sufficient weed growth to sustain a healthy fish environment. Weeds are our most important form of structure; they provide the oxygen and cover needed for our fish to survive.

We will be meeting with a biologist this spring. He will be informing us about how to improve our lakes ecology by protecting our lakes weeds and natural habitat, and will help us map locations for new lake structure placements. The forms of new structures will consist of brush piles, logs and possible rock piles. Once we have mapped out where to add the new structures, we will obtain a permit from the state for the placement.

To view the Report of Data Collected by the Fisheries Biologists, the Aquatic Vegetation Control Laws, and the Acoustic Imaging Maps from 2013 and 2019 visually showing the declined plant community, please visit our website fishandroyerlakes.com. Lake structures and weed/plant control will be a topic of discussion at our Annual General Meeting in June. – Erik Pearson, President