England Stocking Sterile Brown Trout in Attempt to Protect Wild Fisheries
By Tom Chandler on Apr 23, 2008 in News
Signaling an end to drunken brown trout orgies all over England and Wales, the stocking of fertile brown trout will cease by 2015. In their place, triploid (infertile) brown trout will be stocked in an attempt to "protect" wild fish stocks:
“Our research has shown that inter-breeding between farmed and wild brown trout lowers the ability of the offspring to survive in the wild, and could have serious implications for the future of the wild brown trout. This decision has been made following work with leading authorities on trout fisheries management and research, and an extensive consultation process,” Dafydd Evans, head of fisheries for the Environment Agency, said.
It’s an interesting move, though I suspect stocking infertile brown trout still depresses the wild fish populations because of competition for food and a few other nasty things (like disease).
In other words, it looks like a step in the right direction, but it’s far from the whole journey.
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