Study: Native fish declining in Lake Tahoe

RENO, Nev., March 22 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say native fish populations are declining in Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada border while invasive species are on the rise.

Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, say the lake's ecosystem is being affected by nutrient loading, algae growth, invasive species and habitat alterations

The near-shore area is of critical concern, researchers say, since it is heavily influenced by human disturbances and is the primary interface with the general public.

It's also the area where fish spawn and develop into adulthood, a university release reported Tuesday.

"The numbers are alarming, and likely caused by multiple stressors in the near-shore zone," researcher Sudeep Chandra said of the decline in the lake's native fish species

The study found 58 percent of the 26 historically sampled locations surveyed around the lake showed a decline of species or no native species at all, Chandra said.

By the end of the 1990s non-native largemouth bass and bluegill, both illegally introduced into the lake, were common, Chandra said, while native redside shiner and speckled dace populations declined or were virtually eliminated at the south end of the lake, an important rearing ground for native fish.