Trout meeting 2/27/2016 Pequet Hatchery

[Wilson]

Hear the latest information on Trout stocking etc.
Voice your opinion if you want
http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/new...tmeeting16.htm

[AndyS]

Great meeting !!! SRO ! Tons of topics were discussed.

[Delawareriver]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Great meeting !!! SRO ! Tons of topics were discussed.

What's the word, I'm hearing rumors of no more brooks, and no browns for a few years till they establish the new strain and start spawning their own

[Dave B.]

Originally Posted by Delawareriver

What's the word, I'm hearing rumors of no more brooks, and no browns for a few years till they establish the new strain and start spawning their own

Not a rumor. That has been the position of the Div. for nearly 2 years now. No plans to bring in any eggs, fry, fingerlings or broodstock for at least the next 2 years which means no chance of anything but rainbows from F&W for at least the next 5 years.

One very likely source of browns whenever they do decide to move forward is the NY DEC Rome, NY Fish Disease Control Center facility, also known as the 'Rome Lab'. The folks up there have been selectively breeding both browns and brooks for furunculosis resistance for more than 20 years. They maintain their own batch of broodstock fish separate from the rest of the hatchery facility, and they annually expose their broodstock to several strains of A. Salmonicida, the bacteria that causes furunculosis, in order to both ensure they are still resistant and to re-enforce their immune system's resistance, similar to us getting a vaccine that contains some of the germs the vaccine is designed to protect us from by causing our bodies to develop an immune response to the given germ.

There will still be browns and brooks around in some waters that are purchased from private hatcheries and stocked by clubs and other entities. As well there are always the WTS that hold them.

Speaking of the Wild Trout Stream program, Pat H. is investigating several avenues of revamping the current program. These include but are not limited to, adding some additional waters that were sampled within the past 2 years and were shown to contain wild pops adequate to sustain a fishery under the current WTS regs, removing a number of waters currently on the list that showed considerable loss of populations in recent samplings, and investigating avenues of providing improved access to listed waters. There are several other ideas being floated but these seem to be the most prominent at present.

As for the stocking agenda for this spring it's essentially the same as last year with extremely little difference. The fall and winter stockings however are facing some broader changes. Mostly these latter 2 programs are going to see a shift in the designation of certain water bodies from winter stocked lakes to the fall schedule, with the possibility of a few current fall stocked waters moving to the winter list, and/or some additional waters being added to the winter list. The primary impetus behind these changes is that the winter stocked lake program was intended to provide some trout ice fishing opportunities but since many of the ponds/lakes seem not to freeze adequately anymore to support ice fishing most years the Div. is considering moving them to the fall stocking list to provide longer period of angler access to those fish.

Stay tuned to the Div. website for updates and press releases regarding any proposed changes and any public comment periods for them that may arise.