*Urgent* Sign a Petition for the Battenkill

[JoeOverlock]

www.tuswvt.org/tinc?key=SvAx7Jq9&formname=BK_Rainbow_Stocking_Petition

This is an online petition that the South Western Vermont chapter of TU will present to the state of Vermont to keep the Battenkill wild. Please help us by adding your name to this list.

The state of Vermont wants to stock the Battenkill rather then fix the habitat problems with the stream. Thier website can explain it better then me. http://www. swvttu.org


This is a big problem. Can you guys help me by coping this post to other boards that you post on to help get a lot of name on the petition. The more people that know, the better. We don't have many wild streams left around here and I don't want to watch us loose one in our back yard.

[AgMD]

We don't always have the chance to really have our voice heard. Too often the government just does what it wants to, and the sportsman be d@&%$. This is one time and place where we can all really make a difference.
The F&G in VT is very sensitive to public input ( this proposal is at the "Public input stage" ) and even more so , input from out of state sportsmen who represent tourist $$$.
The Battenkill one of the few streams left in the North East where we can catch stream bred trout and some of the biggest brookies outside of Maine or Canada. The proposal to stock "sterile" rainbows puts all of this at risk. It stands to undo 30+ years of natural stream management, it runs contrary to the best science available, and it runs contrary to the VT F&G's own science.
We owe it to ourselves and future generations of fisher-folk to stand up and be heard.
Please follow the link in Joe's post, read about this proposal on the SWVTTU web page and sign the petition. Please speak up and be heard.
AgMD

[ctroy36]

Done

[jlibs]

Guys, please don't ridiclue me too badly, but please educate me on why we want to keep the river wild. Please make sure you understand that I am not debating this with you. I really don't know the answers. Everyone in the club that knows me knows I try to do the right thing (whatever that is), but I need to be educated. Is stocking the Battenkill with sterile bows different from stocking rhe Housy C&R areas with browns, or whatever they are putting in these days? I really don't know and I'd like to learn why or why not.

Thanks,
JLIBS

[AgMD]

I will try -- but please understand the SWVTTU web site does a better job than I could ever hope to.
For 30 + years the state has maintained the Battenkill as a wild stream. In that time it has developed a population of trout , brooks and browns, that has geneticly evolved into a population which is suited to surviving and breeding in that particular stream.
The population of brook trout is a wonderful example of this . There are some of the biggest healthiest brook trout that you will ever see outside of Maine or Canada.
Currently the Battenkill is suffering from a lack of cover needed by larger trout. There are lots of <10" trout, and wherever there is cover there are large trout . But there are very few fish of inbetween size. The best science believes that as smaller fish become of a size that they need cover for survival they become subject to predation because there is no cover available. The state and other agencies are working to increase cover but this is a major project and will take time. Stocking w/ streile rainbows will certainly increase demand on the limited cover available.
There is a considerable body of research which shows that stocking in a formerly unstocked river results in a net loss of trout population. This is because the stocked trout may be able to out compete with the wild trout for limited resources, cover food etc. but they do not have the genetic factors which are needed to produce a self sustaining breeding population. Coloration, feeding habbits, tendency to seek cover , spawning habbits, are just a few of the propereties a self sustaining population need. Then there are the problems of introducing disease and parsites through stocked fish.
There are many streams in this area where stocked fish can be caught, so there is no need to do it in the Battenkill.
The Battenkill as a wild stream has developed a population of fish which have been naturally selected for those traits wich suit them for survival in this river. The proof of this is the size and age which the population can achieve where cover is available.
- We have a healthy self sustaining broodstock which is custom built for this river.
-The river has reached a level of saturation, given the existing resources, particularly cover.
- stocked fish will compete for those limited resources, and research tell us they will compete successfully to the detriment of the wild population.
-The stocked fish will offer nothing to the long term health of the fishery.
This is but a poor explanation of the issues , and does nothing to document or explain the science involved. If there is something I have not addressed properly please ask and I will do my best. What I don't know I may be able to find out.
AgMD

THE BATTENKILL
KEEP IT WILD

[JoeOverlock]

You get an A+ Kim

[jlibs]

Thanks, AgMD.

I read every word of your response. This is very informative and helpful. I will sign the petition.

Can you, or someone else, please help to explain the difference with the BattenKill preservation of a natural fishery and the stocking of the Housy C&R sections?

What you wrote makes sense to me, but I'm not sure about the Housy now....I look forward to reading and learning from everyones responses.

JLIBS

[AgMD]

OK I confess , I know NOTHING about the issues that are at work in Housey.
In general there are many reasons for a C&R policy. A common one is to get more bang for the hatchery buck. Hatchery fish are expensive, no two ways about it. If the afternoon that the hatchery truck is seen, there are scores of fishermen pounding the river ( Green river in Billsvill) and in the course of a few weeks a large percentage of the trout are in the freezer, then there may be only a few fish to provide sport for the rest of the season. If a given fish can be caught 5 times the $3 or $4 investment only costs $0.50 0r $0.60 per catching experience. There may also be the hope that some fish will "carry over" and provide opportunities for bigger fish next year and some may even survive to breed.
The concept of "put and take" is a relatively modern one. In the late 1800's when stocking really got started , the intent was usually to introduce a new species which it was hoped would become naturalized and breed, providing a self sustaining population. It seldom worked the way it was hoped. Urban rivers were usually not stocked. They were usually biologically dead, industrial and domestic sewers. ( as late as the 60's a major river in Ohio caught fire (I disremember which one ) Fishing and stocking usually was conducted only on remote, relatively pristine rivers and ponds, which were hard to get to and largely inaccessible to the vast majority of the population. This was usually done by fishing cranks and for wealthy fishing cranks. After the Second World War we saw the expansion of decent roads and cars and leisure time and money for the masses. Suddenly it was possible to travel an hour or so and fish. The fishing pressure on these accessible rivers became teriffic,as did the pressure on the state governments to provide hatchery fish. In the 50's and 60's it seemed reasonable to provide enough hatchery fish to meet the ever increasing demand. The growing tourism and fishing supply industry also pressured the states to meet this demand.
C&R is for the most part a new idea, brought about in part by F&G departments which began to realise they could not possibly meet the ever growing demand, by the biologists who began to see problems like disease and parasites, and by those elitist snobs ( and you know who we are) who were more interested in catching one or two difficult, healthy , big trout than in in catching 12 / day every day on stream.
As it turns out the specific biological/genetic traits which are needed by a fish to survive and breed in any given body of water preclude the survival of most hatchery fish.
Consider the brook trout. In the 1700's and 1800's biologists who studied the North East were confronted by an amazing diversity of this fish. In hemlock brooks thin black fish matured at 7 inches, yet in the big lakes of Maine heavy bodied colorful fish regularly ran 3 or 4 pounds. Sea run brookies were another totally different kettle of fish. Often in adjacent watersheds the fish were entirely different. For the best part of two centuries there was considerable debate as to whether all these fish were of the same species or whether they were truly different species. Now we know that this was the work of a million years of natural selection.
Only in the late 60's and early 70's did it become generally known that biological systems are highly complex, difficult to understand, and generally subject to the law of unintended consequences whenever man sticks his big fat fingers in it.
Heck in the 60's the word "ecology" was unknown by the general population.
I hope you all have been taking notes -- you will be responsible for this information and questions will be asked on the blue book exam at the end of the semester. ;-)
THE BATTENKILL
KEEP IT WILD
AgMD

[douglyons]

First of all - thanks to Joe and Kim for coming to the Southwest Vermont TU Chapter meeting and adding valuable input the other night - much appreciated!!!!

Regarding the Housatonic, I believe that water temps and lack of suitable spawnng areas are probably the primary culprits though I am no expert.

The Battenkill has a lot of excellent spawning gravel and also very stable water termperatures, something the Housatonic I believe lacks to a degree.

That's not to say that there are no wild fish in the Hous or that it is not a valuable and interesting fishery. Just different.

Thanks again!

Doug