WASHINGTON, D.C. — The future of the East’s premier native trout is looking up, thanks to a coalition of state and federal agencies, academic institutions and conservation organizations.

The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture today released a first-of-its-kind conservation strategy to restore healthy, fishable populations of eastern brook trout throughout their eastern native range. The Conservation Strategy is based on the status and threats information contained in the Joint Venture’s initial report, which was issued in May 2006.

The 2006 report found that only 5% of historical brook trout habitat remains intact. Populations have been eliminated or greatly reduced in almost half of the areas that historically supported brook trout. Poor land management practices are responsible for the majority of this decline.

“Once the partnership recognized the threats facing brook trout within its historic eastern range, we developed regional and range-wide strategies to take swift and deliberate steps to conserve strong populations and restore weaker ones,” said Steve Perry, Inland Fisheries Division Chief for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and Chair of the Joint Venture. “We created a model for fish conservation – a large-scale, habitat-focused conservation strategy for a species at risk. This strategy provides us with a roadmap to significantly improve brook trout populations by 2025.”

The report contains a set of aggressive range-wide and regional targets, including protection of highest quality habitat, improvement of 30% of damaged brook trout watersheds, and reintroduction of brook trout to 10% of those watersheds where they have disappeared. Using the 2006 status and threats data as a baseline, the Joint Venture will evaluate progress toward these targets at five year intervals.

In conjunction with the range-wide strategy released today, each of the Joint Venture states is developing a specialized plan based on that state’s existing brook trout populations and dominant threats. Through these plans, the states will prioritize protection and restoration efforts to meet the collective targets outlined above. Projects will address priority needs in each state, ranging from restoring streamside habitat in Georgia to cleaning up pollution from abandoned coal mines in Pennsylvania, to fixing road culverts to improve brook trout passage in Maine.

“The significance of these state efforts really can’t be overstated,” said Gary Berti, Eastern Brook Trout Campaign Coordinator for Trout Unlimited and the Joint Venture’s Communications Chair. “They are the ones who will do the hard work to make this range-wide plan a reality. And they will need support from conservation groups, watershed associations, landowners, businesses, educators, citizens and policy-makers at all levels to accomplish the ambitious goals laid out in this strategy.”

The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture partnership began in 2004 as a pilot project under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. Active partners include fish and wildlife agencies from 17 states, federal agencies, conservation organizations and academic institutions. The Joint Venture is seeking additional partners and support to assist in the protection and restoration of brook trout habitat.

Brook trout are the only trout native to the streams and rivers of the eastern United States. Once prolific throughout their historical range, brook trout populations have declined as land use changes have altered their habitat. These fish survive in only the coldest and cleanest water, and they serve as excellent indicators of the health of the watersheds they inhabit.

For more information on the range-wide eastern brook trout conservation strategy and state-specific plans, please visit http://www.easternbrooktrout.net.

This press release was sent to me by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

Tom Remington

The Washington Post is reporting that 50,000 white perch died along the lower Potomac River in Maryland. The report claims these fish died of natural causes or at least a natural event. Officials think the fish got trapped in some shallow water and with the onset of cold weather and windy conditions, were exposed to water too cold for them to handle.

Officials ruled out pollution.

Charles Poukish, a environmental program manager with the Maryland Department of the Environment, said investigators had found no evidence that the fish were killed by pollution or a disease. Instead, he said, the fish seem to have died of “thermal shock” while trapped in water colder than they could stand.

“We’re pretty convinced that it was the conditions, the winter conditions,”

The Potomac River watershed area seems to be gathering a lot of attention of late because of troubles with fish and the water. In October I told you about estrogen found in the waters of the Potomac causing male fish to grow female organs, asking what long term effects this was going to have on all fish but more importantly humans.

Let’s hope this is just a “natural” event and not a cover-up of something worse.

Tom Remington

The snakehead or walking fish, was introduced somehow into the Potomac River watershed some time ago. At that time, fish biologists didn’t know what the walking fish would do to other native or not-so-native species. They feared the worst and got something a little less drastic, so far.

National Georgraphic covers the story of the walking fish and how it has affected the Potomac River watershed area. It looks ahead in hopes of learning more about what the future holds for this fish and other competitive species, including the smallmouth bass.

Tom Remington

The state of Maryland is doing a fish promotion. They want people to come to their state and fish so they are providing a little bait of their own. The grand prize is $1 million to anyone who can catch a specially marked fish released into the Chesapeake Bay. There are also several other instant prizes of cash available on other tagged fish plus boats, gear and more.

Read all about the event and how to win by reading this article in the Washington Times.

Tom Remington

Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Last year, biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Chesapeake Bay Field office, collected 30 fish from the South River near Annapolis, Maryland. Those 30 fish were tested and 16 fish had raised, pinkish red lesions around the mouth.

Dr. John Harshbarger, a tumor pathologist with the George Washington University Medical Center, determined the lesions to be tumors. 13 of the 16 fish had invasive carcinomas, the other three had non-invasive skin tumors. In addition to the skin tumors, 6 fish were diagnosed with liver tumors.

In studies over the past 10 years of bullhead species of fish, like the catfish, tumors found in these fish were linked to a class of chemicals known as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons – PAH, found in petroleum, coal and other fossil fuels. These chemicals enter watersheds through runoff and settle into sediment on the bottoms of bodies of water where bullheads live.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists have found high concentrations of PAHs in the watershed areas of the Chesapeake but specifically in the South River, they have not been able to establish that link yet. Further testing may prove this to be the case.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is providing a fact sheet about the studies. You can go here and read it (a pdf file). There is also a full report of the study conducted titled, “Environmental Contaminants“. This is the study that concluded that high levels of PAHs were found in the Chesapeake watershed.

Tom Remington