CHARLEMONT — Fish in Rice Brook were shocked when they found themselves in a net Saturday. Literally.
Trout Unlimited’s Deerfield River Watershed Chapter continued its Rice Brook electroshocking campaign to assess the brook trout population. The next step for the organization is to identify where to add wood debris to slow down water flow and reduce erosion, which would enhance the trout’s habitat.
Electroshocking the fish is not as painful as it sounds, according to biologist Mike Hayden, who joined the Trout Unlimited chapter on Saturday. Hayden, said the machine, which was strapped onto his back with positive and negative ends that go in the water, creates an electric field in the brook that stuns the fish by causing their muscles to spasm and allows them to be captured.
“This looks like ‘Ghostbusters,’” Hayden joked. “The mortality (rate) is incredibly low with this.”
Hayden said they were doing a two-pass method, which means they collect one round of fish, measure and count them, and then collect another round of fish and measure those, too. They then put those two numbers into an equation to get an estimate on the abundance of fish in the brook.
The group counted and measured 69 fish in the first pass and 20 in the second pass for a total of 89 in that one 40-meter section of the brook tested Saturday.
The team was also clipping — in a non-harmful way — small pieces of fin off five fish to be sent to a lab for DNA testing, which would determine if the trout in Rice Brook are the same genetic lineage from thousands of years ago or if stocked trout have infiltrated the habitat.
Mike Vito, president of the Deerfield River Watershed Chapter of Trout Unlimited, said he was “very pleased” with the results and they will be analyzing the numbers and other data, such as water temperature, as soon as this week.
“We’ll figure all this out,” Vito said. “We’ll put the puzzle together.”
Vito said the motivation behind this project is to increase the climate resiliency of the brook trout population, which is already falling in other parts of Massachusetts. Rice Brook is “cold, clean water,” which he said is an ideal habitat for brook trout.
“They’re our little canaries in the coal mine,” Vito said. “Their numbers are dwindling.”
He said the local Trout Unlimited chapter was measuring the trout population before adding wood debris to the brook in the fall. They will measure again next year to see if their enhancements made a difference in the trout population. If all goes well, Vito said he would like to see other Trout Unlimited chapters across the state start doing the same.
“One of the big reasons why we’re doing this is because of climate change. … One or two degrees can make all the difference,” Vito said. “We want to do our part and put this together. And hopefully, if we have success, we can do this statewide with other chapters.”
Vito said MassWildlife is predicting a mass extinction of brook trout if the climate continues to warm, and his Trout Unlimited chapter is working with the state to provide these results.
“MassWildlife predicts we could lose 70 percent of the wild trout population, they are our only native trout species,” Vito said. “We are working with Fish and Wildlife, we share all the data that we get. … We’re hoping a lot comes from this.”
With the state’s participation, Vito is hopeful they will be given funding to increase conservation efforts.
“We’re hoping to show that it works,” Vito said, “and hoping that it will open the door with grant funding.”
Paul Beaulieu, former president of the Pioneer Valley Trout Unlimited Chapter, helped measure fish Saturday and said bodies of water like Rice Brook are important to study.
“As the climate continues to warm,” Beaulieu said, “it makes small streams like this even more important.”
Beyond the actual conservation, Vito said measuring fish populations and publishing the data is Trout Unlimited’s way of educating people on the fact that climate change affects Massachusetts, not just far-off lands.
“This is not the Massachusetts I grew up in, that’s for sure,” Vito said. “We read about climate change and we read about the Arctic. There’s changes happening under our noses here.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.