Native trout compete for space, money and love

Can you name Pennsylvania’s native trout? Odds are that if you’ve spent any time fishing for trout, you have probably caught more nonnatives than natives. Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout are the most common and popular Salmonid sport fish in the state, with the native Brook Trout largely taking a back seat (Lake Trout are also native to Lake Erie but we won’t get in to that here). Rainbow Trout are only native to the Pacific Rim region of North America while Brown Trout are of European origin. For this post, we’ll focus on the far reaching influence of Rainbow Trout over the native Brook Trout in Pennsylvania.

So why are Brook Trout robbed of the spotlight? They are a gorgeous fish, they fight well, and they are challenging to catch. Surely this fish should be prized by anglers and managers alike? But that’s not necessarily the case.

According to the PA Fish and Boat Commission’s stocking summary for 2017, over 2 million Rainbow Trout will be stocked in Pennsylvania’s streams and lakes this year, while only 491,240 Brook Trout will be stocked. This huge discrepancy is due to the ease of raising Rainbow Trout in a hatchery setting and their survival success after being stocked into a natural setting.

Rainbows are a “gateway fish,” able to survive in more habitats around the state because of their higher temperature tolerance and thereby are providing more angling opportunity for more people throughout the state. And that’s a good thing, more people caring about fishing and water issues leads to a more involved public that is invested in the resource. The problem comes when those that care only see value in the Rainbows and begin to see less value in the native species that belong in the region.

To ensure the persistence of the native Brook Trout, several things should be put in motion. I feel that the PA Fish and Boat Commission should do a better job of promoting the native fishes throughout the state. If the public better understands the role that Brook Trout play in the natural systems that they love to fish, they may be more supportive of their restoration.

Now I’m not saying that we need to get rid of or stop raising Rainbow Trout. I like catching them as much as the next person. But I’d rather go the extra mile to catch a native and wild Brook Trout. Rainbows are fine in those slower warmer streams closer to people’s homes and provide a very valuable fishing resource and get people excited about fishing. But I do believe that Brook Trout need some help. They belong in the cold, fast, headwater streams and many of these are in need of some degree of habitat restoration to combat rising water temperatures (they belong in the larger invaded streams too but those would be incredibly costly to restore as Brook Trout habitat).

More time and effort should be spent on habitat restoration. Brook Trout in the headwater areas are struggling to survive. Many of these streams are flowing along newly expanded state forest roads that are now being utilized by the Marcellus Shale industry. As a result, these roads are contributing more sediment to the streams as well as salts used to treat the roads in the winter time; both of these spell disaster for Brook Trout. These pollutants can be mitigated by planting more native vegetation along the roads. Denser vegetation will serve to trap those particles and let them leach into the stream more slowly and pulses of sediment or salt can be avoided.

Have you noticed that PA hasn’t been receiving as much snow as it should? This has a huge impact on the temperature that streams achieve as the summer progresses. Without the snowpack in the spring to reduce stream temperatures prior to the summer heat, small streams are likely reaching higher temperatures than normal and may become inhospitable for the Brook Trout. But there are things that can be done to aid the Brookie’s survival in spite of the lack of snowpack. Forest cover is a huge factor. Many of these headwater streams are reliant on the Eastern Hemlock for shade. However, these trees are under attack from the invasive Wooly Adelgid. As the Hemlock lose their needles and die, more sunlight reaches the stream. Restoration efforts could be as simple as planting more Hemlock trees or another water tolerant tree along the stream bed to provide shade. Another restoration measure is to deepen the stream by adding logs across the water channel to create plunge pools which create refugia for Brook Trout to survive the summer heat.

Native fish are few and far between; maybe some money should be used for habitat restoration instead of growing more fish? So many of the stocked trout in Pennsylvania die over the course of the summer due to rising water temperatures, even the Rainbows and Browns’ temperature limits are exceeded. Is it sustainable to keep dumping these fish into the streams and lakes only to have them die off if they aren’t caught and taken home for dinner? I would love to see the Fish and Boat turn some of the funding for hatcheries into money for habitat restoration. Habitat helps everyone. An improvement in habitat may be costly, but the benefits in years to come would be enormous as these aquatic ecosystems could function as they should.

Cindy Nau is a Penn State alumnus who has spent several field seasons working in the Rocky Mountain west on fisheries technician jobs. She is currently a graduate student at University of Wisconsin- Green Bay, pursuing a master’s degree on stream ecology (fingers crossed that the Burbot cooperate). She is passionate about the preservation and restoration of whole native ecosystems.