In some regions where burbot have historically done well their populations and future are in doubt. In England burbot are believed to be extirpated or very close to it. Only in recent years have biologists elsewhere begun to express concerns about the future of the the “love ’em or hate ’em” fish.

“Worldwide the burbot population has tanked over the years,” said Rob Holm, Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery. “But there’s not a lot of research that goes on with burbot.”

Burbot are believed to be doing well in many areas of the United States, but there’s ample cause for concern too. In the early 2000’s the Garrison Hatchery received a request to supply burbot to re-establish the odd looking fish in the Wind River in Wyoming where burbot that had been fished for centuries for food and sport were in serious decline.

There was a problem with the request though, as very little was known about burbot or how to raise them in a hatchery. There was no procedure established, no blueprint for biologist to follow. It would take a few years of trial and error at the Garrison hatchery to develop a successful method of artificially rearing burbot.

Kim Fundingsland/MDN Fisheries biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service attempt to catch burbot from the Missouri River immediately below the Garrison Dam powerhouse. The burbot will be taken to the nearby Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery where they will be artificially spawned.

“Other than a couple of papers from the early 50’s there wasn’t much out there,” said Holm. “The first year we had them on an incubator and a few weeks later they died. The next year we tried several different spawning temperatures and learned if the water was even 40 degrees it was too warm and they would die. Then we tried colder water and they would hatch and start to grow but we couldn’t find a feed they would take off on.”

Eventually the hatchery discovered a successful method of propagating burbot. A food was found that tiny burbot would eat rather than become cannibalistic, which was just one of several challenges to overcome. After hatching and an initial growth period inside the hatchery building, the survival rate became high enough that the young burbot were moved to outdoor ponds.

“We stocked two ponds with fry. Our first pond harvest was over 120,000 three-inch fish,” remarked Holm. “We had a request for 20,000 burbot for Duck Lake in northwest Montana.”

Because of the new-found success in raising burbot the hatchery put out the word that they had excess fish available. South Dakota responded and stocked young burbot into Lake Oahe.

This year the hatchery received another request from Duck Lake where two goals are hoped to be achieved.

“They are trying to establish another sport fishery up there and there’s a huge issue with suckers in that lake,” explained Holm. “Burbot should help keep the sucker population in check.”

There-in lies one of the reasons burbot have a reputation as a “love ’em or hate ’em” fish. They are considered an apex predator, sometimes described as “voracious.” Burbot are opportunistic feeders that can go on the hunt as well as camouflage themselves on the bottom of a lake or river and strike from ambush.

Adult burbot will feed on virtually any species of fish available. In turn they are preyed upon by other fish too, including northern pike, in a fish-eat-fish world. While there are places where burbot are desired, there’s also the fear that too many burbot in a particular location can have a detrimental effect on other fish species.

There are locales where the catching and killing of burbot is encouraged just to remove them from the system. There’s also bodies of water where they’ve been over-harvested or where their habitat has been dramatically altered, such as by the dams, and populations have disappeared or become so few that re-introduction is considered.

Very little is known about the burbot population in North Dakota. They are primarily found in the Missouri River system. To date the state has not engaged in any monitoring system on burbot. There is no professional research or data that defines their numbers.

“We don’t know if they are declining or where they are at,” said Holm. “What we do know is that they migrate and concentrate at this time of the year, pre-spawn. We expected them to be found below dams because that is a natural stopping point.”

The hatchery has a few adult burbot in indoor raceways, holdovers from earlier spawning operations, that can be used for future egg production. However, in an effort to provide more diversity and to secure additional brood stock, FWS crews have been attempting to catch adult burbot from the tailrace below Garrison Dam. It is “hit or miss” fishing with success depending on whether or not burbot have moved into the area to spawn.

Prior to 2005 anglers fortunate enough to hook a burbot in the Missouri River were asked to transport them to the nearby hatchery. Since that year the North Dakota Game and Fish Department has implemented regulations aimed at thwarting the spread of aquatic nuisance species. Those regulations include a ban on transporting water, such as in a boat’s livewell containing fish, away from the immediate area where a boat was launched.

Burbot eggs are very tiny, about the size of a grain of salt. Biologists at the hatchery need a microscope to count them. A single female burbot can produce several hundred thousand eggs. How many eggs can be expected to hatch and survive in the wild is unknown, but it certainly is a fascinating journey. While species like northern pike and perch lay eggs that stick to vegetation and walleye lay eggs that adhere to rock and cobble, burbot are much different.

“They are semi-buoyant eggs that drift in the water column and the water temperature is dang cold,” said Holm. “The incubation process takes a couple of months. The eggs from burbot that spawn in the tailrace drift several hundred miles and wind up in Lake Oahe.”

What isn’t known, said Holm, is if tiny burbot in the Missouri will encounter the type of environment necessary to have a chance for survival.

“They definitely need to have a food source when they start feeding. They need to find a good invertebrate population, some zoa plankton around at the time to sustain themselves,” said Holm.

Although the frequency of reports appears to have diminished in recent years, fishermen still catch a few burbot in the Missouri River. Some anglers consider the snake-like fish a disgusting catch, sometimes cutting their line rather than handle a burbot. Others have found that the only freshwater member of the cod family is quite tasty.

“I’ve eaten them and they are delicious,” remarked Holm. “If I had to choose one fish to eat, it would be a burbot.”