MDDNR Gets Money for Trout and Sunfish

Southern Maryland News Net, Grants Awarded to Maryland Department of Natural Resources to Conserve Native Brook Trout and Sunfish and Restore Their Habitat

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have awarded the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) two grants through the Chesapeake Watershed Investment for Landscape Defense (Chesapeake WILD) program.

Grant funds will support comprehensive conservation strategies including targeted reintroduction efforts for two freshwater fish species listed as species of greatest conservation need within Maryland’s State Wildlife Action Plan.

The two species, blackbanded sunfish and eastern brook trout, each require specific habitats with good water quality driven by healthy landscapes. Protecting and restoring the lands and waters these species rely on is critical to their persistence into the future. As part of these two projects, DNR will plant nearly 20,000 trees, which also supports Maryland’s 5 Million Trees initiative.

“Through these Chesapeake WILD-funded projects, DNR and its partners will undertake conservation efforts that reconnect and restore aquatic habitat, while engaging communities directly in creating a healthier future for the Chesapeake Bay watershed,” said Coldwater Fisheries Biologist Matt Lawrence.

Maryland DNR has been awarded $313,800 and will supply $250,400 in matching funds for the following projects: Building Capacity for Rare Freshwater Fish Conservation in the Chesapeake Bay, $86,300 

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and partners seek to prevent the loss of the Chesapeake Bay’s rarest freshwater fish– the blackbanded sunfish – through habitat restoration, fish translocation, captive breeding, and reintroduction.

DNR will add fish to the only known population of blackbanded sunfish remaining within the watershed to improve genetic health. The project will also work to establish a new population by bringing in healthy individuals from neighboring states, establishing two propagation facilities, assessing habitat conditions at ten sites, and engaging eight community organizations in planning sessions.

Partners on this project include The Nature Conservancy, National Aquarium, University of Florida Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Conserving Brook Trout Populations in Maryland, $477,900

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is leveraging established partnerships and forming new ones to conserve and protect eastern brook trout.

DNR will provide long-term reinforcement to Maryland’s most robust native trout population by planting trees and protecting land within the Savage River and adjacent watersheds. Added efforts will improve aquatic organism passage, maintain access to a municipal water supply, and engage underserved youth. Finally, using detailed field assessments, DNR will reintroduce new brook trout populations within viable currently unoccupied coldwater habitats.

OK 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Where My Wolfsbane At? on time and under budget at the Other McCain.

But I Thought the Science was Settled!

Rivers and large streams more important than previously thought for brook trout

Rivers and larger streams are more important than previously thought to brook trout, which are generally assumed to be more associated with small mountain streams, according to research by Penn State.

Under assault from a warming climate, most wild brook trout in the U.S. are now found in those small mountain streams, which stay cold enough year-round to meet their biological need for temperatures below 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

But a genetic analysis of brook trout in streams across the 460-square-mile Loyalsock Creek drainage in northcentral Pennsylvania has shown that the fish are similar genetically, suggesting close relatedness among populations.

The only way that could have happened, according to Shannon White, postdoctoral scholar in the College of Agricultural Sciences, is fish moving between tributaries in the 86-mile-long Loyalsock Creek.

Temperatures in Loyalsock Creek exceed brook trout thermal tolerance from approximately June through September, White pointed out. So fish are believed to inhabit only the bigger river system during the winter.

Although the behavior and survival of brook trout in Loyalsock Creek are not well understood, researchers hypothesize that some brook trout move into the mainstem after spawning in a tributary in October or November and stay until late spring, when some swim up new tributaries.

“It’s pretty simple — if widespread populations are related genetically, it indicates that fish are moving around between those populations,” she explained. “There’s a high degree of genetic connectivity between populations separated by the mainstem, and that indicates that brook trout are swimming into Loyalsock Creek and using it as a movement corridor to connect populations in other tributaries.”

Fish swim? Whoda thunk?

The Wombat delivers Rule 5 Sunday: Park Hye-su as promised.

WuFlu Kills Pennsylvania Trout Opener

Regional opening day for trout fishing no longer on Saturday because of coronavirus

Regardless of anything appearing in the 2020 Summary of Fishing Regulations and Laws, the annual booklet of fishing laws given to each angler purchasing a fishing license, there is no opening day of trout fishing season on Saturday, April 4.

The regional opening day, which previously was scheduled for Saturday in 18 southeastern counties, has been consolidated with the statewide opening day on Saturday, April 18, as part of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The commission also consolidated the regional Mentored Youth Trout Day with the statewide Mentored Youth Trout Day on Saturday, April 11. In the summary booklet, which was printed months ago, before concerns about coronavirus had surfaced, the regional Mentored Youth Trout Day has been scheduled for Saturday, March 28.

The separate, earlier regional mentored youth and opening days will no longer occur in the 18 southeastern counties of Adams, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Philadelphia, Schuylkill and York.

The changes, made by the commission under direction provided by the Centers for Disease Control and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, are intended to reduce large gatherings of people and the number of anglers traveling into the regional area (18 southeastern counties).

Just another closing among many to come.

The Wombat has Rule Five Monday: Honor Blackman, RIP up on time at The Other McCain.

Pennsylvania - A River Runs Through It

The Little Juniata River: From 'open sewer' to Class A trout stream

The Little Juniata—or “Little J”—is a sanctuary for fly fishermen on the East Coast. Little-known to outsiders, it attracts fishermen from across the region who hope to catch brown trout in its cool waters. But just a few decades ago, fishing in the Little Juniata River seemed unthinkable. “Well, the Little Juniata River is not well-known nationally, primarily because it’s only been a trout stream since around 1975,” Anderson says. “The reason being that prior to that it was literally an open sewer.”

A long history of pollution from municipal sources, nearby tanneries and a paper mill had degraded the river into what Anderson calls a “dead stream.” And after a mysterious pollution event in 1997 destroyed much of the waterway’s aquatic insect and invertebrate population—essentially starving the brown trout—the community had had enough. “We never determined the cause. But several local people got together who loved the river and decided that wasn’t going to happen again,” says Anderson, current president of the nonprofit organization that emerged: the Little Juniata River Association (LJRA).

Restoration Spotlight: The Little Juniata from Chesapeake Bay Program on Vimeo.

From the video, I don't really get a sense for what factors they repaired that fixed the river. My own sense is that the increasing de-industrialization of the East Coast in general, and the Clean Water Act in 1972 made most of the difference. Stream bank stabilization is good, but my sense is it won't make that kind of difference. Plenty of trout and salmon out west where the rivers run muddy after a big rain.