Laserfiche WebLink
parts of streams) that hart good habi4~t <br />and good u•out reproduction, and (3) <br />as of 1984, on some of those sn-eants, <br />the setting of especially restrictive an- <br />gling rules, so as to provide for catch <br />(not necessarily creeling) of more fish <br />and larger" Etch. On other w-tld tCOn[ <br />streams, thf: Commission applied the <br />less resrictive statewide trout fishing <br />regulations. The statewide rules were <br />adjusted (a raised size limit and length- <br />ened season) in 1984 to accommodate <br />and promote improved angling values. <br />Results have been gratifiing (Figure <br />1)..~t Fishing Creek, a n-otuitain lime- <br />stone sa•eam, not only was stocking crf <br />brook, brown and rainbow u-outhalted, <br />but "trophy" fishing re}ntlations were <br />applied: nvo fish per day, 14-inch mini- <br />mum length, and artificial lures onh~. <br />Trout abundance began increasing, and <br />this has continued through the latest <br />year sampled, 1991. In Cedar Run, a <br />much less fertile non-limestone stream, <br />where the u-ophv regulations were alai <br />applied, trout abundance more than <br />mainrtined itself after the halt to stoc•k- <br />ing. At Honey Creek, glower-gradient, <br />fertile limestone sn-eam, where state- <br />wide (non-trophy] regulations nclud- <br />ittg bait fishing apply, abundance also <br />increased after stocking stopped. The <br />rise w•~ts about as much percentage-wise <br />as at Fishing Creek, fiat started from a <br />lower pre-wild-trout-management base <br />and did not reach the high absolute <br />levels of thc• other nvo strrr:ams. <br />But anglers don't fish fir biomass f~rr <br />.rP. They fish for size of fish. In that <br />regard, a graph of the biomass density <br />(weight per unit of su•eam length) in <br />the various size groups that exist in the <br />Fishing (:reek brown u-out population <br />depict, what the anglers have available <br />to them (Fi},nu'e ~). By the summers crf <br />1990 itnd 1991, there was much more <br />fish mass available in all parts of the 10- <br />to-finch (~5(~350 millimeter) range <br />than in 1978 and 1982, I~efore stocking <br />was halted and trophy regulations air <br />plied. In Fishing (:reek, notonly did the <br />numbers of ovt:r-l2-inch fish more than <br />double, hot greatly increased numbers <br />ofsmall trout indicated more successful <br />reproduction (Figtn•e ti). <br />Pennsylv.utia's su-eant-tailored wild <br />trout management is producing more <br />trout and larger trout without the high <br />cost of stocking. ~~17rat more could the <br />angler vvan[% `ti'hat more could the eccr <br />nomics-conscious manager, adminisu'a- <br />tor, governor, legislator or citizen want? <br />In the last 1~ to 20 years, manage- <br />ment geared toward wild fish has in- <br />creased in much of the United States, as <br />public and professional ecological lit- <br />eracy has exploded. Many states are <br />increasingly selective about u-here they <br />stock [ish and are establishing non-stock- <br />ing policies for certain kinds of waters. <br />Among these, besides Pennsybania, are <br />Nevv York, Alarylancl, North Carolina, <br />Michigan, Wisconsin, and most states <br />west of the ]Mississippi that have su~- <br />stantial salmonid resources. <br />For example, Michigan's trout stock- <br />ing policy has long tttkc•n into account <br />the capability ofstreams to support natu- <br />ral reproduction, and state biologists <br />propose new fishing regulations in 1993. <br />The proposals continue the trend of <br />official recognition that anglers gener- <br />alh•prefer tocatch large fish and keep a <br />few of them, rather than take home lots <br />of little ones. <br />1Nisconsin has done the same in a <br />more complex scheme, by which stock- <br />ingand fishing regulations are fitted to <br />streams that are classified according to <br />capacities to produce. trout of different <br />species and sizes. So that anglers can <br />catch more fish and bigger fish, ~1'is- <br />consin regulations now often embody <br />relatively high size limits and love creel <br />limits (and long seasons) that would <br />have been unthinkable 30 <br />years ago, h1 addition, its <br />policy of restoring habitat by <br />streamside land acquisition, <br />fencing, and judicious physi- <br />calimprovements has turned <br />hunch-eds of once over- war <br />grazed, mud-banked, silt-bot- <br />tomed streams~ften hardh <br />worth fishing-into superb, <br />lushly vegetated produces of <br />self-sustaining wild trout I know this <br />from biologists' data and from personal, <br />on-site experience. <br />Montana increasingly fought to pro- <br />sect its streams from damming, mining, <br />grazing and other habitat abuse in the <br />1960s and 1970x. So as to best. use this <br />valued resource, it has long adapted its <br />trout fishing regtdatirms to regional and <br />individual characteristics of streams, in <br />addition to haying an all-stream rwn- <br />stocking policy since 1976. <br />In Canada, the wild a"out principles <br />of Alberta, Ontario and British Colum- <br />bia are well knower anti may indicate <br />similar advances in other provinces. <br />TOWARD TRUE MANAGEMENT <br />In the face of traditions to the con- <br />trary after human nature in general, <br />putting wild fish policies and other eco- <br />logical fishery management into action <br />hasn't happened overnight. It's still hap- <br />pening slowly. But the last. two or three <br />decades have shown accelerating <br />progress. Often, as Robert Behnke has <br />pointed out, the advances in salmonid <br />fishery management have been <br />conceived and initiated by anglers and <br />lovver~chelotr biologists, not by admini- <br />strators, Sometimes progressive action <br />doesn't occur until crisis convinces <br />people of the need-by which time it <br />may be, of course, almost too late and <br />more a matter of'salvage and catch-up <br />than advance. One of the crisis-recogni- <br />tion mechanisms h<ts been the Endan- <br />geredSpeciesAct (F.SA).It'salast{litch <br />alarm that things are badly amiss, and it <br />is proving useful in halting natural re- <br />source abuse. But foresight and pro- <br />action remain far preferable to hung <br />on the cliff-edge of the law. <br />Increased awareness of the need to <br />get away from hatchery-driven fishery <br />programs and adopt ecological man- <br />agement is embodied in many official <br />efforts now underway. Besides the wild <br />We need to involve people in the joys of fishing <br />for wild trout, salmon and grnyling in natural <br />ers. People inherently treasure natural <br />beouty and have a sense of owe at Nature. <br />salmonid habitat protection and recto- <br />ration policies and programs of state <br />and federal agencies in the ~'nited <br />States, there arc such Canadian ef~torts <br />as a "Green Program" for restoring pro- <br />ductivity of fire Fraser Kiver in British <br />Columbia and a distinct watershed ori- <br />entation to various prom ams in Ontario. <br />We ^eed to be ecologically smart in <br />management But this alone won't get <br />tts desired abundances of fish or pre- <br />sent extinctions. Also essential is politi- <br />ALiTtibi\ 1941 'PROUT <br />