Brook trout vs cutthroat

[woodenboater]

An interesting story on the Globe's site tonight about a project to kill brook trout in one Alberta lake in an effort to save cutthroat from extinction. Never would have thought of brookies as an invasive species.

 

http://bit.ly/RBNx3V

Edited September 21, 2012 by woodenboater

[GreenCanada]

Gotta say, cutties are one of the most interesting fish species I have had the pleasure of catching. If this plan has a high probability of success then I fundamentally don't have much issue with removing an invasive species. Though, I would need more information before definitively deciding on a course of appropriate action.

 

Native Westslope Cutthroat Trout I caught last fall in the East Kootenay River in British Columbia.

 

[danc]

An interesting story on the Globe's site tonight about an effort to kill brook trout in one Alberta lake in an effort to save cutthroat from extinction. Never would have thought of brookies as an invasive species.

 

http://bit.ly/RBNx3V

 

Without doing any research on this story, I'd say that the Brook Trout are non native. Kill them all and save the Cutthroats. Just another example of man interference going wrong.

[Christopheraaron]

Cutthroat have gotta be tied as the coolest trout along with aurora for me. I say kill the bookies if they're invasive just as long as they all get eaten! But also cutthroats exist in more than 1 lake, they won't be actually extinct.

[BillM]

Lots of cutthroat out west, I don't think they are worried about the species going extinct, just this specific lake.

[danc]

Ok. I did my research via the link that you posted. To no surprise I was right. It's probably too late now, but why did someone decide that moving fish species all over the country was a good idea? I know of a Brook Trout spawning bed on the Nipigon River that has been there for centuries. Now the few Brook Trout that spawn there are crowded by half rotten Salmon that are 4 to 5 times bigger than the Brook Trout. Brook Trout just cant spawn anywhere. They have to spawn on springs to be successful, so their spawning opportunities are limited. But hey!!! There's Salmon in Superior now so that the big shots, who never fish otherwise, can launch their 100 grand boats and brag to their friends about how many mercury filled fish that they caught on a weekend. Sickens me. This planet is done. But in the meantime, lets all pick and choose which fish should be relocated here and there for the benefit of fishermen. And God forbid we let the "invasive" ones in.

[mirogak]

Do not touch the brookies.

[hawk-eye]

I find it hard to protect the Brook trout if they are not native. Id hate to see them removed, but if there presence is having an effect on the natives, then I would say there time is up.

[MJL]

It’s a showdown amongst trout species that’s not just happening in Alberta. Over the last number of years, I’ve been interested in Dr. Robert behnke’s work on saving & establishing native cutthroat trout throughout western North America.

 

Some issues from the article I see

 

1. Catch & kill all brook trout you can. I remember reading one article involving the culling of bull trout/dolly varden char from rivers where coho salmon populations were declining. Payment would be received by the angler for submitting the tail of the fish to the ministry. The result was large-scale mass mis-identification where large numbers of young coho salmon were culled by accident. This catch & kill method can only work if all anglers can correctly identify their catch – In a perfect world we would expect all anglers to know the species of fish they have at the end of the line...How many Brown trout VS Atlantic salmon threads have we seen on this forum?

 

2a. The article states that hybridization between brook trout and cutthroat trout is taking place...If at all possible, wouldn't this hybridization create sterile off-spring considering that brook trout and cutthroats are not all that closely related? The biggest issue with cutthroats is the hybridization between cutthroats & rainbows which are related closely enough to produce fertile offspring.

 

2b. Assuming that the article was incorrectly written, if hybridization of rainbow trout & cutthroat trout is currently taking place, wouldn't you also have to remove the rainbow trout to maintain the pure genetics?

 

2c. Assuming that the current population of cutthroats have hybridized with rainbows (a non-pure strain of cutthroats), wouldn't you also have to remove all the non-pure cutthroats as well from the river/lake before you stock genetically pure cutties?

Edited September 21, 2012 by MJL

[chris.brock]

Instead of spending money trying to rehabilitate something already messed up, I always think the money would be better spent preserving something still in a pristine, natural state.

 

Another example would be the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, spent in Hamilton Harbour and Cootes Paradise, Lasalle and Pier 4 Park look just plain silly, the carp barrier was a failure and it's still just full of alewives, sheephead and carp.

Edited September 21, 2012 by chris.brock

[craigdritchie]

This issue has been raging in Banff for many years - I wrote about it back in the late 90s, when Parks Canada and Trout Unlimited hatched a plan to eradicate book trout from some lake by poisoning it with Rotenone. The intent was to eradicate all life in the lake, then restock it with native cutts from another lake nearby. The problem with their approach is that they would have also wiped out numerous other species of fish and amphibians as well, including some that were considered threatened. Woops. So here we are 12 - 15 years later and nothing's really changed.

 

It is highly unlikely that brook trout and cutthroat trout would successfully interbreed given that cutthroat are spring spawners, and brookies spawn in fall. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's quite unlikely, especially on a widespread scale. On the other hand, as MJL notes evidence of cutthroats and rainbows interbreeding has been widely documented throughout western North America. The resulting hybrids - called 'cutbows' - are indeed fertile. I suspect they aren't nearly as robust as either of their parents though, since there are thousands of waterbodies where both rainbows and cutthroats both exist. If interbreeding were a true threat, the hybrids would have taken over thousands of years ago.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Craig_Ritchie

[BillM]

Just stock Atlantics and the problem will be solved.

[Joeytier]

Without doing any research on this story, I'd say that the Brook Trout are non native. Kill them all and save the Cutthroats. Just another example of man interference going wrong.

'Interference going wrong' isn't exactly correct in this case. Cutties were basically fished out so they filled the void with brook trout successfully, and now they're deciding they want to focus on bringing the cutthroat back instead.

 

Also, where the hell do I sign up to be a part of this project? I'd be the first one on site and the last one to leave each day

[pike slayer]

relocate the brook trout in the lake. they are more then welcome to stock my lake!

[chris.brock]

relocate the brook trout in the lake. they are more then welcome to stock my lake!

yeah, it does seem pretty odd when someone is talking about brook trout as an invasive or nuisance species

[danc]

'Interference going wrong' isn't exactly correct in this case. Cutties were basically fished out so they filled the void with brook trout successfully, and now they're deciding they want to focus on bringing the cutthroat back instead.

 

Also, where the hell do I sign up to be a part of this project? I'd be the first one on site and the last one to leave each day

 

 

I know nothing about Cuttie native territory, but I do know that Brook Trout territory ends in Ontario, or very northern Manitoba in an east west direction. Hence, my support for the Cutties. I'm not a big fan of placing non native fish all over the continent for the benefit of fishermen. There's a reason why the native fish are there to begin with. You guys that beg for stocking or species relocation are just plain wrong.