MAINE - Life in the Slow Lane
Bruce let me be the first to appliaud you for posting this. This site needs more of this. Also I changed the link so it will open in a new tab.
Now to the article: First off the author is a Geologist not a bioligist, so I think his thinking is a little narrow and his research is also flawed. Most NH and Maine Hatcheries use streams for the source of water needed to raise the fish and I don't see a lot of problems down stream of these facilities. I do hope more will pipe in on this and after I think about it more I will post agian.
See Yah
Lee
Thanks Lee. I agree that his position seems a bit extreme, but he makes some interesting points. I looked at a link to his website and found he had some other interesting observations about the Zealand River and the Twin Mountain hatchery. Looks like he studies stream geomorphology and spends a lot of time on the water, but it does seem his observations may be skewed to the geologic processes and by his own opinions. Might have to read his book. My initial thought was that he might not have grown up to be as involved with streams and be writing about trout fishing if it weren't in part for some State stocking program where he grew up.
I fished the Charles River south of Boston almost every day in high school after they shut down the laundromat dumping into the river, stabilized the stream bank and built a wastewater plant. They stocked it with brookies, Browns and nice rainbows and it is still to this day some of the finest dry fly fishing I've ever had and is in large part why I'm still interested in it, went into environmental engineering and am teaching Jack to fish. I also spent a lot of time fishing for wild brookies in the White Mountains and Nova Scotia, but it was the stocked Charles River that really hooked me and kept me out of trouble.
I also went on his blog site and made a comment about how the Zealand River fishes, I am hoping to get some response from him on this.
See Yah
Lee
I edited this to add some content. In his Blog he makes these statements about the river;
Today the Zealand River is a muddled scene of destroyed walls, abandoned sections of channel, wide zones dominated by massive deposition of eroded sediments and lots of tangled wire. There is little habitat created my large wood and shade is mostly absent. Fish are not particularly plentiful despite efforts to stock the river. The Zealand River is not a place anyone would want to paint, have a picnic or spend the day fishing. Perhaps, it could be a place where we learn from our mistakes and remember to let rivers behave like rivers, even when they flood.
And my comment to this was:
The Zealand River is one of my favorite small rivers to fish in the White Mountains of NH. It has a great population of wild Brook Trout and some that get to the size of 8 to 9 inches which is very respectable for a small freestone stream in NH. I think your views are very slewed for some reason. Check out these pictures on my site of fishing this river.
http://loonsecho.net/lfp/mediagallery/album.php?aid=109&page=1
Interesting edititorial in the paper this morning. Something to think about.
The Cost of Trout Fishing