Rainbow Trout Facts

Algal growth: distinguish fact from opinion

SPEECH ALERT
FREEPHONE 0800 327 646 I WEBSITE WWW.FEDFARM.ORG.NZ

29 June 2011

Championing truth to distinguish fact from opinion

Final speech by Lachlan McKenzie as Federated Farmers Dairy Chairperson at Federated Farmers Dairy’s Annual General Meeting at the Distinction Rotorua.

Kia Ora.

Please accept my warm welcome to my home town of Rotorua to our delegates and guests.

This is my final address to you as chairperson of our great industry group, Federated Farmers Dairy.

As is traditional in a final speech and without fear of a voting backlash, I wish to speak on championing truth to distinguish fact from opinion.

In this speech I wish to examine three common statements to establish if they are fact or someone’s opinion.

The first is that , “trout have no effect on our water ways”.

The second is that “we need to control nitrogen loss from farms in order to stop increased nuisance algae or periphyton growth”.

And, finally, “but river water quality is declining”.

I told you, I won’t be pulling my punches.

“Trout have no effect on our water ways” – or are they freshwater stoats?

According to the Invasive Species Specialist Group’s list of the world’s 50 most invasive fish species, Rainbow Trout is number 26 and Brown Trout is number 47.

You may have to look at trout in a whole new light as stoats, by way of comparison, are number 22 on the mammals list. Both trout and stoats are highly successful predators not native to this, the Southern Hemisphere.

While one is hunted as a terrible pest, the other is protected in the RMA and even has a hatchery on Department of Conservation land.

Trout can significantly impact our native fish, amphibians and invertebrates. As trout expand to new streams and rivers, actively aided by one body under statute, they squeeze native species habitat to less preferred areas or water bodies.

When introduced trout are about, native fish, research has shown, struggle.

Native fish are out competed for habitat and for food. As our native fish are out of sight, does that mean they ought to be out of mind too?

When you cannot hunt for your food, eventually it becomes terminal and this can collapse aquatic biodiversity.

Talkin' Trout in Fawnskin

So, as you know by now– GG was up a creek , Grout Creek to be more specific.

And, it was a bit odd that I find that I really don’t know all that much about the fresh water species. Eesh, and these fish are creating such a stir around these parts. People travel from all across the valley to watch them attempt to make it up the falls into the creek in the forest.

In the past, this have proven difficult. Captain John built a ladder to help them one year. However, with all the water and the snow melt, the sediment below the falls near the Fawnskin Post Office has reduced the jumping distance for them and made it possible for them to succeed in following nature’s lure to spawn upstream.

GG has been hiking the creek and crawling up and down the hillside in her quest for rainbow trout pictures but really just spying on them to see just how far they have made it upstream. The official report is that they have made it to the bridge up at Rim of the World.

It is possible they made it further up but I haven’t hiked past that location yet. Wes, Apache & Casey have been patrolling the creek on a regular basis snooping out the action on a regular basis and everyone is sharing the news about the fish around these parts.

Now people have been asking me a lot of questions about the rainbow trout and so have forced me, once again, to provide the breaking news that nobody else seems to cover–or bother with.

Rainbow Trout Facts (Oncorhynchus mykiss) ) originally lived in lakes and streams in the western United States west of the Rocky Mountains from Alaska down to Mexico. They became popular with anglers and so have been transplanted into lakes around the world.

Rainbow trout coloration varies according to three different factors which include habitat, size, and sexual state. You are probably most familiar with those that are silvery with a pinkish or reddish lateral stripe. Sometimes the coloration will include lavender or orange and stretch from the gills down the length of the fish to the tail.

These fish will also have rows of small dark spots sprinkled on the head and sides with spotting on the fins but the underside of the fish is lighter with underside fins becoming a faint pink. Stream residents (and those ready to spawn) tend to darken and their colors become more intense.

In general, those that live in the lake tend to be lighter, brighter, and more silvery. In most cases, this is an adaptation to survival so that they blend better in their surroundings and so are not as vulnerable to predators.

50 Fish to Catch Before You Die

The behavior and ecology of Pacific salmon and trout

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society

Native trout of North America

The World almanac and book of facts