(excerpted from Rutland Herald
by Patrick McArdle)
Ongoing efforts to restore the trout population in the Batten Kill seem to be getting positive results, according to Cynthia Browning, the executive director of the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance. Browning was on hand in West Arlington Thursday when members of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department "shocked" sections of the Batten Kill to get a count of the trout population. While she deferred any definitive comment on the results to Southern Vermont Fisheries Biologist Kenneth Cox, she said early indications are promising.
The Batten Kill has long been a favorite site for anglers looking to catch wild trout. After declines in the trout population of about 70 percent, however, the state declared about 20 miles of the river between Dufresne Pond and the New York border as "catch and release" only.
Groups like the Alliance and Trout Unlimited have been working on projects to restore the trout population. Under the theory that the decline was due to the loss of suitable habitat especially for young trout because there was little cover, efforts began in 2006 to restore the kind of vegetation that provides cover.
Similar testing was done last year. Cox said those results showed increases in the kinds of trout the state was hoping to see, specifically the young trout who will grow to be the kind of fish anglers seek. In one area, researchers found a 600 percent increase of young fish. "If we see
similar results over at least two years, that points to the base of a trend," Cox said. The state plans to use the electro-shock method to test the trout population for one more year.
Browning said she was also encouraged by reports from sportsmen including one who said he caught a 23-inch trout and another who said he had caught 10 trout in one night.