Eye Opener: Summary of Reading #6: "Trout Are Wildlife, Too!"

This reading is called "Trout Are Wildlife, Too" written by Ted Williams, a full-time writer about environmental issues with special attention to fish and wildlife conservation.

I personally had a very hard time reading and understanding this article because it had a lot of "fish lingo" and this story was just everywhere. So I read it 6+ times. So please bear with me and let me know if you have questions! I think it is important to read the terms and definitions BEFORE reading the summary so you can have a better understanding of what is being discussed!...

TERMS AND DEFINITIONS:

• PMDs-Pale Morning Dun. delicate yellow mayflies that remove their larval skins on the surface. Trout can feed ravenously on duns during peak hatches.
• Cutthroat Trout- Species of freshwater fish 
• Spawning- production or depositing large amounts of eggs into the water 
• Hatchery- facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions
• Fish Stocking- is the practice of raising fish in a hatchery and releasing them into a river, lake, or the ocean to supplement existing populations, or to create a population where none exists. 
• Hybridizing- interbreeding with two different species
• Stockpiling- pile or storage information for bulk materials

SUMMARY: 

This is a multi-dimensional article about trout species in the environment. Trout species such as the rainbow, brown, and cutthroat are being threatened by illegal stockpiling and other activities. There are some programs in place to protect trout species. The dangers for North American trout are greatly ignored by anglers and environmentalists. This article examines the importance of trout to the North American ecosystems and trout protection programs. While many programs want to conserve and protect our trout species, many opposing federations are saying "a trout is a trout". Ted Williams went on to say that a "grape is a grape" and that different types of grapes are used to make different types and qualities of wine. So what's the difference? Many fishermen use imitation PMDs as bait for catching trout, what Ted noticed was that the fish that were eating his PMDs were supposed to be cutthroats but he ended up catching rainbows and brown trouts. The issue here is that browns evolved in Europe and rainbows evolved in the Pacific Northwest. These 2 trout species were unleashed into Yellowstone by managers that were blind to the importance of native ecosystems. The rainbows end up hybridizing with the cutthroats and spawning all over the river tops where the genes get swamped. Of the 14 named and unnamed cutthroat species, 2 are already extinct and the rest are in trouble. Many departments such as the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks support hatcheries, but fish from hatcheries survive only survive in the real world long enough to suppress and displace wild trout. In 1970, Montana stopped stocking hatchery fish (browns and rainbows) in a section of the Madison River. Four years later large fish were up 942%. Cutthroats are fished by bears up to 100 fish a day for one bear and her cubs, Pelicans  get almost all of their nutrients from cutthroats. Cutthroats provide an important food source for at least 28 species of birds and mammals. Ted Williams ends the article by saying, "The trout are priceless works of art that need to be protected for themselves, for the species that need them, and for the people who cherish them for what they are and because they are."

SUMMARY OF DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS: 

Some local anglers call cutthroat trout "stupid, and they fight like slugs". Also, when game and fish departments tried to phase out hatcheries, anglers screamed to their legislators who threaten budget cuts. Anglers and hatcheries believe that stocking was the key to trout abundance. Most of the public are unmoved by the danger of the trout and many see trout genes have no relevance, for which trout is not a part of a native ecosystem, but a slab of meat. Many fishermen's priority  is to preserve the Cherry Creek's alien and mongrel trout, and they thought the fishing was already good- why change species? With a magazine poll, when readers were asked to vote for or against making Cherry Creek a sanctuary for Westlope cutthroats, 98% voiced opposition. Also, water quality protectors are very opposed to the use of rotenone saying "poison has no place in wilderness stewardship." 

ONLINE SOURCES FOR DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT:

• This website talks about how Fish and Wildlife are saying the Rio Grande cutthroat trout does not need federal protection: www.earthjustice.org
  
• This website is a blog that discusses the Wildlife Conservation Groups that oppose the amendment to protect water and conserve wildlife: Click Here
  

QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION:

How important do you think trout are to our ecosystem? Do you think the different trout species should be conserved and restored? or do you think that "a trout is a trout"?

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."  ~Mahatma Gandhi