That's interesting since it's different from what we were told the policy was(no stocking over a viable population, with viable defined as being able to state with 95% certainty that the population will be there in 100 years)
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Yep....so if you're in a Northeast stream, and there are still a few remaining Brook trout in it, the stocking is no longer supported by TU. Which, a case could be made for most every healthy trout stream. SO no more stocking, and we all will fish over the 6 brookies per square mile.
In PA, in an effort to save money, I suppose, the Fish Commission, labels many streams self-sustaining. Translated is that they don't have to raise fish to stock them. Most of the fish they do stock are only 7 to 10 inches-- or first year fish. Yes, they sustain 5 and 6 inch brookies and browns that never get any larger than that. Like the fellow above said, you can find about six tiny fish sustaining themselves about every square mile. Now, there are problems the PA Fish Comission has such as no state funding. I guess its only income is from fines and licenses. This year, because fishing license purchases continue to decline, the Commission is giving a dollar off on the license fee. Do you really think a dollar off is going to spur a person to buy a license. I sure don't. What the PA Fish Commission should be discussing is alternate methods of obtaining funding.
Several issues were raised in response to my last post, so let me see if I can address them. First, yes, Whatfly, there is a section of the TU website devoted to policies related to the internal governance of TU Chapters and Councils that has access restricted to those who register on the TU website. Anyone (member ore nonmember) can register on the site and have access to those policies. Second, the TU policy opposing stocking non-native trout relates to only two types of streams -- those currently containing healthy populations of natives and those in which the stream is or will be used to restore an extirpated population of natives. Third, to be clear, while TU generally opposes stocking non-natives on top of a native population, this policy pertains only to the actions of TU Chapters and Councils and has no bearing on what state fisheries agencies chose to do.