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| Bill Elliot Print |
Native fish here in Connecticut that have gone through hell for lack of a better word to describe what these fish have endured. The Atlantic salmon was once so prominent in Connecticut waters that it not only fed many native peoples it also sustained the early settlers. Early industries, clear cutting the forests and dams doomed the Atlantic salmon. A gallant effort on the part of federal, state and local groups tried to bring the salmon back to the Connecticut river watershed. After years, perhaps a quarter century of hard work the effort was cancelled by the US Fish and Wildlife service, soon after the states pulled out and the plan was dead. In Connecticut there are still some programs out there including salmon in the classroom, and broodstock stocking of several waters in the state.
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| James Prosek Print |
The sea-run brook trout also known as a "salter" was a prominent food source in New England. It to suffered the same fate as the Atlantic salmon. With the clear cutting of forests which heated the streams in which these char needed to spawn and the use of dams on almost every running stream made it impossible for these fish to survive.
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| Roger Cruwys Print |
The Eastern Brook Trout, actually it's a char and it's the only native trout to Connecticut. The "brookie" suffered the same issues as did the salmon and salter. Along with those issues it also had to endure years of stocking non native trout, rainbow and browns were heavily stocked as recreational sport fish. This stocking along with the lack of cold clean water forced these wild jewels to retreat to some pretty small streams where they found what they required. The fate of the "brookie" is in our hands. It is still here but needs lots of love from many people. These fish are not like a piece of hardware. Once they're gone they're not coming back.
The down-wing Hornberg. A fly that has taken it's share of all three of the fish above.
Sad post Alan.
ReplyDeletebillp
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Bill it is sad. But on the plus side we have finally realized what we did and are now trying to restore. Dams are now the biggest problem here in CT. If we can do away with the useless ones we could open up so much habitat for our brookie.
A call to action is never a bad thing. While ancient dams in southern New England pose huge habit obstacles, here in the far north it's the logging practices that are unconscionable. I hope everybody takes a look at the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture website for a little inspiration. Beautiful prints, Alan!
ReplyDeletemike
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Mike your are correct in your statement as it relates to logging.
Here are a few other groups that are working for the natives...
https://www.searunbrookie.org/
https://www.asf.ca/
Add burbot, shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon, longnose suckers, banded sunfish, swamp darters, and a few others to a list. So many charismatic native fish that could be gone with a simple rollback of regulations or people forgetting they were ever there... so much to lose.
ReplyDeleteRM Lytle
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You make a good point. On the other hand if the proper people were put into the right positions this issue could be a gain. Now how can we get those people into those positions. A side note I saw a great deal of wild brook trout fry in a stream that has always wild browns. Hope,hope.
Hi Alan,
ReplyDeleteThree cheers for the Hornberg! Some thoughts on the habitat of native brookies. No way to know for sure, but some river systems might have been too warm for them even back in the old days. For example the Westfield in Mass. - it was probably never cold enough for brookies in its lower reaches, only farther upstream nearer its smaller sources. But it was once perfect habitat for Atlantic salmon to spawn. Or the Deerfield River. Shelbourne Falls was once such a prolific salmon harvesting spot that the Native Americans and the English were able to make a treaty to share it.
Warmest wishes to all,
John
Shelburne Falls is a great place to visit. Another prolific salmon harvesting spot was the Vilas bridge gorge on the Connecticut River at Bellows Falls. There are petroglyphs thousands of years old carved in the rocks.
DeleteJohn Strucker
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John your probably right on the temps of some rivers back in those days. I have been to Shelbourne Falls and saw that incredible area. They have a plaque there stating that treaty. There are some fine brookies streams in that area, I love fishing them.
mike, that's some interesting history. I may have to pay it a visit.
DeleteHi Alan, Now that we have essentially given up on Atlantic Salmon perhaps we should consider Pacific salmon such as coho. It has produced a terrific sport fishery at Lake Ontario and might work with the sound and CT rivers. I'm not a biologist but I wonder if it were ever considered.
ReplyDeleteJohn Dornik
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John I think the sound would be a bit to warm. Pacific salmon die after spawning, and that takes in the fall.
What I would like to see is the stocking of landlocked salmon in some of our deep lakes.
Hi Alan
ReplyDeleteThe Atlantic Salmon has suffered the same plight over here with overfishing, industrial pollution and river damming. There is some hope that their plight might be stemmed, with the help of the late Orri Vigfússon highlighting their predicament. Many T & J nets have been mostly bought out, many river trusts are working hard to improve the access and quality of their spawning grounds and several hatcheries are at work to provide broodstock.
I like the look of the Hornberg and have often wondered about its effectiveness over here? Can I see a 'Yorkshire Hornberg' in the jaws of my vice perhaps?
Stay safe
Alistair
Alistair
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It's so hard to bring back what we have lost. Even with modern technology it's probably a 50-50 shot. I hope we have learned from our mistakes and prevent things like this from ever happening again.
Now for the "Yorkshire Hornberg" I would love to see that. You produce one over there and I'll put one together here. When done send me a photo by email and I'll put them on the blog. Anybody else care to join, feel free.