Joint DSF/NFC/SRBTC Sea-Run Brook Trout Study Gets Boost from AFFTA
A couple of years ago, the Maine chapter of NFC joined into a partnership with Downeast Salmon Federation and Sea Run Brook trout Coalition, to undertake a study to determine whether brook trout in a multi-stream costal bay environment demonstrated inter-stream movement.
The best place to try to answer this important question is in Cobscook Bay in Downeast Maine, where numerous streams with unimpeded access to the ocean terminate. This is a situation not found in many other places within sea-run brook trout range due to population fragmentation, dams, etc.
The reason it is important to understand if brook trout, and other fish that migrate between freshwater and saltwater, demonstrate inter-stream movement is that much/most of todays management decisions are made at the stream level, not the watershed level.
If brook trout do move between streams, using saltwater as the conduit, what happens in one stream could affect one or more other streams. Therefore, how we treat one stream has a direct impact on how other streams perform.
“The American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) is dedicated to guiding the sustainable growth of the fly fishing industry through both trade development and stewardship.”
Last year, NFC joined AFFTA as a non-profit member. Since then, NFC National Chair, Emily Bastian, has joined their Science & Policy Committee. Emily applied for a competitive Fisheries Fund Grant on behalf of NFC and the sea-run brook trout project, and was awarded $5,000.
With matching grants from our partners, and additional money from the partner orgs, we will be able to purchase the equipment needed to track brook trout throughout the system. This will entail inserting PIT tags in some number of fish from each target stream, adding tagged fish each year to address attrition, and monitoring their movements using fixed and mobile PIT readers.
Additional logistical and equipment support is being provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Passamaquoddy tribe at Pleasant Point.
“The AFFTA Fisheries Fund was established in 2014 as a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit to advance the stewardship and conservation mission of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association. ”