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As many of you know, I've been serving as the Chairman of the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Council for the past year. The Council serves as the umbrella organization for the 14 chapters in the two states. It is the entity that allows TU to become involved in issues of statewide significance, and it allows chapters to share information and assist one another.
We are always looking for chapter members to become involved with the business end of TU, which is its core conservation mission: preserve, protect, and restore coldwater fisheries and their habitats in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Over the past several months, the Council has been involved in a self-evaluation process that will allow it to move forward in a more highly focused, and hopefully more effective, manner. At the beginning of the year, I wrote that one of the Council's key goals was enhanced protection for wild trout, particularly wild brook trout in the two states. Over the summer, I received some very exciting news from members of the Southeast Chapter. In concert with Mass Wildlife biologists in the Southeastern District, these TU members went and did surveys of streams flowing into Buzzards Bay. They found more wild sea-run brook trout in the streams they examined. Some of the fish were over 12 inches long, and thick, healthy specimens. They were excited by these results, the state biologist was excited, and so was I.
Earlier in the summer, I fished the Matapedia River in Quebec. Spring was late, and the water was in the low fifties through the end of June. As a result, there were a lot more sea-run trout moving through the river than normal for that time of year. In a week's time, while fishing for Atlantic salmon, I caught a dozen fish up to 12 inches. The locals think nothing of the sea-run trout, and in early spring, they fish hard for them as table fare, filling limits readily. Six hundred miles south, nobody even thinks to look for sea trout any more. People are stunned to discover we too have sea-run trout in our coastal streams. And because nobody has looked hard to discover just how many we do have, they are an unknown commodity at this point. And unprotected.
Because Massachusetts has no closed season on trout any longer, these fish, which are on spawning redds as I write, are vulnerable to intrusion from various sources, including unknowing, or worse, knowing anglers. That is a fact throughout the state. I believe the status quo needs to change. I think this is one of the first steps in protecting our wild trout: getting regulations in place that adequately recognize and protect the fish and the watersheds. That's what we'll be working on over the coming year, or for as long as it takes. Anyone interested in getting involved in these efforts, contact me at 617-244-5126 or PMACDS@aol.com.