BY DR. WILLIAM O. MCLARNEY
When I first moved to western North Carolina in the early 80’s I was already aware of the unique biological importance of the southern Appalachians. The idea of the Appalachian chain as a long, narrow piece of Canadian ecosystem extending into the South was one of the things which fascinated me. Of course as a fish guy, I was aware that one of the native fish species in the North Carolina Mountains was Salvelinus fontinalis, the only trout native to the eastern United States south of northern New England. I looked forward to getting to know this species I had grown up fishing for in western New York state, and later in Ontario, Maine and Massachusetts and looked forward to fishing for “native brook trout” in the southern mountains.
But when I got here, I was informed by the proverbial “old timers” that what we have here are not brook trout, but something else, usually called speckled trout. Since “speckled trout” is the Canadian name for Salvelinus fontinalis, I was confused. So I just went along, talking about “brook trout” to my northern angler friends, citing Salvelinus fontinalis in scientific circles and sometimes remembering to say speckled trout to locals. Until, in Georgia, I heard about “google-eye trout” and realized that some of the brook/speckled trout I was seeing did seem to have bigger eyes . . .
Long story short, along came modern genetic techniques and essentially proved that the old timers were right and the biologists wrong. There is something different about what some of us are now calling “southern strain” brook trout. Whether they are a different species, subspecies or just “race” remains a matter for scientific debate.
I am one of a minority among biologists who thinks he can visually distinguish southern strain brook trout from their northern kin with a fair (if not scientifically reliable) degree of accuracy. Problem is, they have gotten all mixed up with northerners. Beginning in the late 19th, and on well into the 20th century, having pretty well beaten up most of our streams which adversely impacting trout populations, we bumbling humans started noticing a decline in trout fishing. The “solution” at that time was to stock our streams with trout – brook trout as well as non-native browns and rainbows.
Granted that stocking has resulted in viable trout fisheries in streams too degraded to support brook trout, but it also created new problems, one being that the bigger, more aggressive, and more environmentally tolerant browns and rainbows started to outcompete and displace brook trout of whatever persuasion. The other problem, which nobody realized at the time, was that of hybridization. The southern states did not have fish hatcheries back then, and so many of our streams were stocked with northern strain Salvelinus fontinalis, principally the products of hatcheries in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. So it turned out that some of the brook trout I saw here were in fact cousins to the ones I grew up with, some weren’t, and some were hybrids.
Over the years brook trout have not fared well, and climate change poses new challenges for this epitomally “cold water” fish. Still, some persist in our high mountains, usually above waterfalls which prevent upstream movement of other fishes. Since the 80’s conservationists and anglers have increasingly become interested in conserving and restoring habitat for brook/speckled trout in the southern Appalachians. The species has become rare enough that few of us are going to quibble about northern vs. southern. But . . .
Genetics information allows us to identify and attach particular importance to streams where “our” brook trout persist undiluted. Good news is that genetic determination techniques have improved. The current tendency is to think that the old tests were too conservative – that is, when errors were made they tended to identify some southern strain fish as northern strain; the opposite mistake did not occur.
In the years to come, biologists from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, the US Forest Service, Trout Unlimited and other groups will be reassessing the status of brook trout in western North Carolina. We’re proud to say that LTLT will be involved in that effort in Macon, Jackson and Swain Counties. Our emphasis will be on streams located on private land, where we may have an advantage in working with landowners.
I confess I have a personal goal in this . . . There is one stream in Macon County I helped sample in 1992 where to my eye the fish are perfect southern strain “google eye” brook trout. Genetic analysis based on fin clip samples of these fish said northern strain, but with a question mark appended. We plan to revisit that creek this year, take fin clip samples and (pardon my lack of scientific objectivity) I hope to score a point for me and the old timers.