Last night’s public meeting with the Vermont Fish and Game Department was heavily attended and drew sharp criticism against a plan to stock the Battenkill river with sterile rainbow trout.

Vermont officials agreed that there is a population of native brook and brown trout in the river but they say the numbers are decreasing each year due to lack of the necessary natural habitat.

The proposal comes at a time when supporters like Orvis, Trout Unlimited, the Battenkill Watershed Alliance and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, are raising funds in efforts to restore the habitat and promote a thriving population of native trout. These groups, along with what seems to be a majority of the public, feel that stocking the river would further damage the restoration efforts and ultimately destroy another of the few remaining bodies of water that holds native fish.

According to a report from the Bennington Banner this morning, secretary of Trout Unlimited, Peter Bellamy, says the river doesn’t need stocking.

“The river doesn’t need (the stocking),” said Peter Bellamy, secretary of Trout Unlimited, which works to conserve and protect trout fisheries. “According to the state biologists, there’s a self-sustaining, self-reproducing population of fish.”

Ken Cox, a biologist with the department, countered that the habitat of the river was such that it will not support a brown trout population.

“The habitat is below the levels needed for refuge from environmental stresses and predators,” said Ken Cox, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Department. “The cover habitat in the Battenkill has deteriorated such that the river is not presently capable of supporting brown trout in the numbers observed prior to the mid-1990s.”

What I found as a breath of fresh air was when “Perk” Perkins, CEO of The Orvis Company, said at the meeting that his company could probably benefit financially if the state did stock the river.

“If we stocked the river, my business would probably do better, but that’s not what this is about,” said Perkins. “I’m very worried that if we stock the trout, it will be a slippery slope. I’m afraid the decision on whether to remove the trout (in the future) will be political, not scientific.”

Looking at the big picture and into the future for our native fish resources is far more important than the immediate dollars and cents. It isn’t often that a company that stands to profit from acts like fish stocking will speak up against it.

Earlier in the week, Orvis, along with the other groups I mentioned, threatened to withdraw their fund raising and financial support should the state opt to stock the Battenkill.

After the meeting, all sides seem to indicate they were pleased with all aspects it. The public responded and voiced their concerns.

*Previous Posts On This Subject*

Orvis And Others Threaten To Stop Fundraising For Battenkill Restoration

Tom Remington

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The Battenkill is one of Vermont’s only native trout streams, something that is becoming as rare a finding an honest politician. It has been in decline over the past decade mainly because of the loss of natural habitat along the waterway.

Efforts are underway to restore that habitat and improve the native trout fishing but Vermont’s fish and game people are contemplating stocking the water with rainbow trout, something that infuriates Orvis people, Trout Unlimited, the Battenkill Watershed Alliance and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. These organizations have been working to raise $100,000 to go toward restoration efforts and they believe that stocking with rainbow trout would be detrimental to their efforts.

A spokesman for Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says they are still receiving public comment on this issue and no decisions have been made. The proposal is part of an overall plan to increase fishing opportunities for license holders.

A public meeting is scheduled this Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester.

Update – 2:05 p.m. Tuesday

James Hathaway from Orvis directed me to a story done by Vermont Public Radio yesterday. You can read the text from the story HERE or listen to the MP3 version of the show HERE.

Tom Remington

So, we’ll let them. Each year about this time, Vermont Fish and Game releases a list of record fish caught during the previous season – in this case 2005.

FISH RECORDS SHOWCASE VERMONT’S HIGH QUALITY FISHING

WATERBURY, VT – We are reminded of Vermont’s great fishing opportunities at this time every year when the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department releases its list of annual record fish caught the previous season.

Below is the list of Vermont’s annual record fish for 2005, the anglers who caught them, and the body of water where the fish was caught:

Brown Trout – 14.35 lbs., Daniel Rosmus, Rutland, VT – Lake St. Catherine
Lake Trout – 18 lbs. 12 ozs., Denny Connolly, Windsor, VT – Little Averill Lake
Whitefish – 2 lbs., 13 ozs., Scott Smith Barre, VT – Lake Champlain
Black Crappie – 3.53 lbs., Francis T. Geoffroy, Sudbury, VT – Lake Hortonia
Walleye – 10.08 lbs., Harrison H. Heist, Hancock, VT – Lake Dunmore
White Perch – 2.17 lbs., Lance M. Lampman, Swanton, VT – Highgage Springs, Lake Champlain
Muskellunge – 38.22 lbs., Chris Beebe, Swanton, VT – Missisquoi River
Northern Pike – 19.67 lbs., Mark O. Prue, Newport, VT – South Bay, Lake Memphremagog
Chain Pickerel – 5.49 lbs., John Davine, Proctor, VT – Lake Champlain

The black crappie, white perch and muskellunge annual records also qualified as “state records,” the largest caught for their species since 1969.

A searchable database of Vermont record fish is now available on the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s website ( www.vtfishandwildlife.com ). Click on “Fishing” and then “Vermont Fish Records.”

Entry cards for Vermont’s fish record program are available from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. Entries must be weighed on market scales, preferably with the weight recorded in 100ths of a pound. The length and girth must be measured, and a photo of the fish must accompany the entry. Two witnesses to the weighing and measuring must sign the entry card.

Tom Remington