Fish Sticks
Well-known member
I was searching to try to find how many hatcheries currently exist in the state of Pennsylvania?
Reason being, in 2008 Mark Hudy Et al. Looked at known and predicted status of brook trout in subwatersheds. Predicted total forest, sulfate and nitrate deposition, percent mixed forest in the water corridor, percent agriculture, and road density were used to predict brook trout distribution and status.
Reason this above question about hatcheries is very relevant is this predictive model ignores one critical factor that factors in heavily into if native brook trout can can persist in a waterway……..groundwater. See below study voicing this concern.
So back to hatcheries, and why am I trying to find out roughly how many in the state?
What do hatcheries need to use? Cold ground water upwellings in most cases. Springs and upwellings that would normally be prime native brook trout spawning habitat/thermal refuge. Anyone familiar with big spring in newville and it’s tragic history for native brook trout is aware of the damage that high jacking some of the best native brook trout habitat in the state can cause.
PA fish and boat has perverted some of the best groundwater upwellings in such a manor on some of the best streams in this state in watersheds with struggling brook trout populations. This steals that spawning habitat/thermal refuge to produce stocked trout that eat, out compete, and restrict gene flow of our native brook trout much like a bad culvert in many cases. This double death blow is also happening with co-op hatcheries, commercial trout farms/pay lakes, sportsman’s club hatcheries, individuals private property, and spring fed farm ponds.
Wether a dammed up spring creates a farm pond with or without raising trout in it, that is still taking away potential spawning thermal refuge from native brook trout if they exist in that subwatershed most likely. Lol how many of those dot the hillsides in every rural town in PA in addition to hatcheries?
My point is for some reason we think of places native brook trout can survive as only perfect undisturbed forests for some reason when there are plenty of spring creeks with agriculture around the state that contain brookies, many unknown because on private farms. Some studies of streams containing brook trout in the driftless region have roughly 70% land use as Ag!!!! I am working to restore a stream right now that is higher percent land use by Ag than that and it contains a healthy population of native brook trout! We often assume brook trout cannot live in these streams, likely falsely I. Some cases. The fact that they are not found in more spring creeks based on Nathaniel hitt(brown trout displace brook trout from thermal refuge making them less tolerant of higher temperatures) and mark kirk’s publications(brook trout 12x more likely to be found if barrier present between nearest brown trout stocking location) below would suggest this is more of a brown trout issue than a stream/habitat issue in some cases.
www.usgs.gov
Back to original question again. 67 counties Multiplied by hatcheries per county
(agency, co-op, sportsman’s, private, commercial, spring farm pond).
1000? 2000? I dunno? Add in all the springs dammed into ponds with no hatchery fish that dot the hillside and create a heat sink with the ponds large surface area that negates the ground waters effect. I don’t know how many thousands or tens of thousands of these there no longer contributing to cold water habitat.
In 2018 I went to an out of state stream at a more southern latitude that had been warm and dirty from ducks/geese causing algae previously from a dammed spring pond on the headwaters. But then the dam had been taken out years ago, brook trout had been introduced back into the stream. I caught a REAL 12” native brook trout. That’s when I realized there are many situations like this that could happen in PA if we weren’t wasting so much of our cold water habitat and blaming the lack of brook trout in existing spring creeks on the streams themselves instead of invasive trout. The above data shared heavily supports:
1. that we don’t have a correct idea of where brook trout can live
2.that we tend to ignore the powerful factors of hydrology(ground water) and harmful invasive trout species and blame just the stream channel/habitat and surrounding riparian areas alone.
Reason being, in 2008 Mark Hudy Et al. Looked at known and predicted status of brook trout in subwatersheds. Predicted total forest, sulfate and nitrate deposition, percent mixed forest in the water corridor, percent agriculture, and road density were used to predict brook trout distribution and status.
Reason this above question about hatcheries is very relevant is this predictive model ignores one critical factor that factors in heavily into if native brook trout can can persist in a waterway……..groundwater. See below study voicing this concern.
Resource Use By Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in a Thermally Complex Environment
Climate change is a pervasive threat to coldwater fish populations, and there r...
afs.confex.com
So back to hatcheries, and why am I trying to find out roughly how many in the state?
What do hatcheries need to use? Cold ground water upwellings in most cases. Springs and upwellings that would normally be prime native brook trout spawning habitat/thermal refuge. Anyone familiar with big spring in newville and it’s tragic history for native brook trout is aware of the damage that high jacking some of the best native brook trout habitat in the state can cause.
PA fish and boat has perverted some of the best groundwater upwellings in such a manor on some of the best streams in this state in watersheds with struggling brook trout populations. This steals that spawning habitat/thermal refuge to produce stocked trout that eat, out compete, and restrict gene flow of our native brook trout much like a bad culvert in many cases. This double death blow is also happening with co-op hatcheries, commercial trout farms/pay lakes, sportsman’s club hatcheries, individuals private property, and spring fed farm ponds.
Wether a dammed up spring creates a farm pond with or without raising trout in it, that is still taking away potential spawning thermal refuge from native brook trout if they exist in that subwatershed most likely. Lol how many of those dot the hillsides in every rural town in PA in addition to hatcheries?
My point is for some reason we think of places native brook trout can survive as only perfect undisturbed forests for some reason when there are plenty of spring creeks with agriculture around the state that contain brookies, many unknown because on private farms. Some studies of streams containing brook trout in the driftless region have roughly 70% land use as Ag!!!! I am working to restore a stream right now that is higher percent land use by Ag than that and it contains a healthy population of native brook trout! We often assume brook trout cannot live in these streams, likely falsely I. Some cases. The fact that they are not found in more spring creeks based on Nathaniel hitt(brown trout displace brook trout from thermal refuge making them less tolerant of higher temperatures) and mark kirk’s publications(brook trout 12x more likely to be found if barrier present between nearest brown trout stocking location) below would suggest this is more of a brown trout issue than a stream/habitat issue in some cases.
USGS Study Reveals Interactive Effects of Climate Change, Invasive Species on Native Fish | U.S. Geological Survey
A new USGS study shows non-native Brown Trout can place a burden on native Brook Trout under the increased water temperatures climate change can cause.
Back to original question again. 67 counties Multiplied by hatcheries per county
(agency, co-op, sportsman’s, private, commercial, spring farm pond).
1000? 2000? I dunno? Add in all the springs dammed into ponds with no hatchery fish that dot the hillside and create a heat sink with the ponds large surface area that negates the ground waters effect. I don’t know how many thousands or tens of thousands of these there no longer contributing to cold water habitat.
In 2018 I went to an out of state stream at a more southern latitude that had been warm and dirty from ducks/geese causing algae previously from a dammed spring pond on the headwaters. But then the dam had been taken out years ago, brook trout had been introduced back into the stream. I caught a REAL 12” native brook trout. That’s when I realized there are many situations like this that could happen in PA if we weren’t wasting so much of our cold water habitat and blaming the lack of brook trout in existing spring creeks on the streams themselves instead of invasive trout. The above data shared heavily supports:
1. that we don’t have a correct idea of where brook trout can live
2.that we tend to ignore the powerful factors of hydrology(ground water) and harmful invasive trout species and blame just the stream channel/habitat and surrounding riparian areas alone.
