A WIN FOR THE TROUT NAZIS!

By Steve Starling

It was singer Joni Mitchell who asked that poignant musical question: "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?" Ain't that the truth!

Through the late 1980s and well into the '90s, a group of mates and I enjoyed at least one trip each year to Lake Eucumbene, in the Snowy Mountains region of NSW, to fish the start of the brown trout spawning run into the lower Eucumbene River during May or early June.

Under a more enlightened administration (one not seen before - or since - in my opinion), NSW Fisheries had finally taken heed of reams of scientific research indicating that this lake's brown trout population was large and dramatically under-utilised by anglers, and that the vast majority of big, old brownies living in there were dying of old-age. In response, they extended the fishing season in the Eucumbene River to allow anglers to tap into this resource, and to hopefully give the system's more readily catch-able rainbow trout population a better chance of spawning successfully.

Our May/June trips became a real high point of the annual fishing calendar, and under the expert guidance of Frank "The Jigmaster" Prokop (still a regular visitor to this site, I'm pleased to say!) we evolved techniques and tackle for 'drift rigging' with tiny jigs and split-shotted flies on ultra-light threadline gear that were innovative, challenging and ultimately extremely effective. We probably weren't helping much with the Fisheries-sanctioned 'cull' of Eucumbene brown trout, as we released a large part of our catch, but we were having a ball, anyway!

Right from the start, this entire scene generated vitriolic sniping from the tweed-and-leather-elbow-patch brigade, and we spent an inordinate amount of time and effort justifying our activities, both publicly and privately, against some surprisingly abusive attacks. In the end, the forces of reactionary conservatism (I used to half-jokingly refer to them as the 'Trout Nazis'!) won the day, even though we had the facts and the law on our side. Fishing the spawn run simply became less and less socially acceptable.

Ultimately, the regulations were also changed to curb the fishery. First, the open season was once again pruned back and tighter bag limits were reduced. The newest of these regulations - and the most recent manifestation of the 'creeping death' now afflicting this once-vibrant fishery - came into force just this season. It takes the form a one fish per day bag limit and a minimum legal length for trout of 50 centimetres for these waters during the month of May (the last month of the open season, these days).

Now, personally, I have no problem whatsoever with this new one-fish-per-day bag limit and 'trophy' size limit of 50 centimetres. I'm not all that fond of eating trout, anyway, and I'm just as happy to let them all go. But obviously these new rules will further curtail some people's enjoyment of the late season, spawn-run trout fishery. More importantly, the new restrictions appear to run completely counter to the original science-based motivation for extending access to spawning stocks in the first place; to 'cull' brown trout populations and give later spawning rainbows a better shot at reproducing.

It's several years since I even bothered going down there in May or June. It all became too hard and too unpleasant. If I want to fish a salmonid spawn run these days, I go to New Zealand's Tongariro, where you're not treated as a social leper for practicing a style of fishing that owes its ancestry to the Atlantic salmon rivers of Europe and the steelhead waters of North America.

If the new 'trophy' status of trout in the Eucumbene and Thredbo rivers is being imposed for social reasons, then fair enough. But this fact should be clearly spelt out. These new regulations shouldn't be launched via press releases that couch the whole thing in terms of 'protection' or 'saving stocks'. The fact remains that the majority of brown trout in these lakes still die of old age. They simply don't need any extra protection. Saying they are in any way over-exploited is simply untrue.

I wondered if I was alone in my confusion over this latest decision until I read the regular column of respected Jindabyne-based trout fishing guide, Steve Williamson, in the May, 2001 edition of "NSW Fishing Monthly" magazine.

I must say, I found Steve's words to be a welcome breath of fresh air in a field that sometimes seems to be dominated by a small handful of pro-trout extremists who are too often able to force their will upon others by incessantly lobbying weak-willed authorities.

Few people depend more directly for their livelihoods on our introduced salmonids than Steve Williamson, and few know their subject better or have a deeper regard for their speckled adversaries than he does. Yet, Steve's view of the entire issue is pragmatic, practical, intelligent and clearly well thought out. Here, in part, is what he had to say in that publication:

"Last winter [2000] was the best spawning run of brown trout in many years, according to NSW Fisheries, and yet there is no annual stocking of brown trout into either Lake Jindabyne or Lake Eucumbene. These trout seem to have no problem breeding… So why the early closure to protect them?

"It seems the protection of brown trout during their spawning run is a very emotive issue among a small group of outspoken anglers… The truth is, that trout and salmon were introduced into Australia so they could be stocked into waterways, therefore allowing anglers the chance to catch a fish and possibly keep it to eat. In other words, to have fun!

"Today we seem to be on the path of calling trout an 'endangered species'. Next thing we will be trying to have them placed on the protected species list!" End of quote.

I certainly couldn't have said it better myself, and I thank Steve Williamson for his incisive, no-nonsense view of an increasingly ludicrous situation. Steve loves (and lives for) his trout fishing, yet he understands better than most that these fish are an imported commodity stocked into Australian waters purely for human benefit and enjoyment.

We could argue until the cows come home (and that imported bovine analogy certainly has interesting connotations!) about the legitimacy of moving flora and fauna around the globe purely to satisfy human needs, but the fact remains that we've done it - for centuries. We eat bread made from 'exotic' wheat grown in Australian soil and dine on lamb from 'exotic' sheep. I doubt if anyone would seriously suggest that wheat ever be declared a protected native grass, nor sheep (even merinos!) an endangered Australian mammal, yet this seems to be exactly the path some of the staunchest of the pro-trout lobbyists are headed down in their efforts to further 'protect' imported trout stocks. Protect them from what? Being caught? But wasn't that why they were introduced in the first place?

It makes you wonder, doesn't it? If we could only generate the same level of passion and energy for genuinely endangered Australian fish like the wonderful trout cod, Macquarie perch and grayling, perhaps we could pull them a little further back from the brink of extinction. But no. Instead we get ourselves in a knot about trout, which were introduced for our exploitation and enjoyment, and which can be bred and re-stocked at will… It sure is a funny old world, don't you think?