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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah officials are so keen on ridding Flaming Gorge Reservoir of a slimy eel-like fish that spear-wielding divers will soon be allowed to take aim at them.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources already requires anyone who catches a burbot in the reservoir to keep it.
And now underwater spearfishing? Yes, if it works.
"This is just something that if they're willing to do it, they might go in and take out a big number of fish in a short amount of time," said Lowell Marthe, the state's Flaming Gorge project leader.
The division also is allowing people to use more fishing poles when ice fishing for burbot.
Fisheries managers in Utah and Wyoming worry that the growing numbers of burbot, also known as ling, are cutting into popular sport fish populations in the reservoir.
"They're such a voracious predator, they'll eat just about anything," Marthe said.
They're fond of eating crayfish and the eggs of lake trout and kokanee -- which is a landlocked salmon. Recently, kokanee and smallmouth bass 8 inches long have been found inside burbots' stomachs. The nocturnal fish even occasionally turn cannibalistic.
A member of the cod family, burbot have a slender body, several rows of small slanted teeth and a distinctive barbel that hangs from the chin.
They don't win many beauty contests, but they have a reputation for making a tasty meal.
Wildlife officials think burbot were illegally introduced in Wyoming's Green River drainage several years ago. The fish eventually moved south into Flaming Gorge, a popular fishery that straddles the Utah-Wyoming line.
The burbot appears to be hurting the kokanee population and it's likely it will do the same to smallmouth bass in the gorge, said Robb Keith, regional fisheries supervisor for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in Green River.
"It definitely has us concerned," he said.
Wyoming has taken several steps to reduce burbot, including placing no limits on the number that can be caught. Wyoming also catches burbot in nets each fall. The number of fish caught has doubled in recent years, Keith said.
Utah wildlife officials recently approved two rule changes, effective Jan. 1, to put a bigger dent in the burbot population.
The first allows anglers to use up to six poles, rather than the previous limit of two, when going after burbot.
The other, more unusual step, gives spearfishermen a chance to get their fill.
Spearfishing is already allowed in a handful of other reservoirs in Utah.
But unlike in other places, scuba-diving spearfishermen chasing burbot in Flaming Gorge will be allowed to fish 24 hours a day and use artificial lights. Marthe said some divers in the reservoir late last year saw scores of burbot to approach.
Wyoming hasn't approved spearfishing because the use of artificial light in pursuit of fish or game in the state is illegal.
Keith said Wyoming might consider the switch except that it would take legislative approval and, perhaps, require more effort that it might be worth. Still, he said he supports Utah's approach.
"It definitely can't hurt," he said.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
