That is, we select for aggressive predators. “The fish we stock are those that grow rapidly, are highly fecund and are great on the end of the hook,” he says, referring to the trout, bass, northern pike and other game fish that are commonly introduced to U.S. Olden, a University of Washington ecologist working on nonnative fish issues. Hence, it has been government policy since the late 1800s to haul juvenile fish from hatcheries to local lakes and since the 1950s to airlift and release them by the thousands into remote lakes everywhere.īut indiscriminate fish stocking is increasingly looking as if it might just be one of the dumber things people have ever done to the environment, because the introduced fish tend to displace native species. Stocking America's waterways with fish for anglers has a persistent Norman Rockwell kind of appeal, based on the idea that, with a little help, any lake or stream can be a place where your average kid (or grown-up) can toss out a line and just maybe reel in dinner.įish stocking is also the basis for a recreational fishing economy worth $25.7 billion a year, according to a 2011 survey by federal agencies. It's one of the few government programs most taxpayers love.
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