<< With a large, voracious, environmentally tolerant top predator like brown
trout you fundamentally alter the trophic web of a system. That's my big
bugaboo; such a predator directly or indirectly alters the abundance and
distribution both of prey, the prey's foods, and competitors for the same
foods. I know that makes me sound like a grim sucker (my father-in-law in NH
still wonders what's wrong with me on the subject of brown trout). On the
other hand, if we're just gonna keep expanding our population, degrading
habitat and generally making a mess of things we should give in to the
inevitable and put brown trout in all of the streams in cooler climates. Jah
knows that browns will survive! >>
Bruce-
What prey species population has the brown trout reduced to the degree of
concern? The brown trout is hardly "environmentally tolerant". All the groups
fucussed on conserving and protecting the trout habitat can tell you that.
Brown trout are near the top of my list for fish that are environmentally
intolerant. If you go up north, say to our upper peninsula, you will find far
more native brook trout than brown trout. To my knowledge, brown trout have
only spread into areas because man put it there, or killed off all the other
fish, then put it there. I stand by my beleif that brown trout do not upset
the ecological balance, fit well into the system they are part of, and have a
vital niche. ___Dan "trout lover" McConnell Marshall, MI
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