The current Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife policy of stocking thousands of fish over a known reproducing wild brown trout fishery in the upper Deerfield River is just wrong, for several reasons, including overwhelming science. Conservationists, including me, have petitioned the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board to compel MassWildlife staff to stop this ecologically insensitive practice.

Over the last few years, a significant wild trout population was proven to exist in the mainstem of the upper Deerfield River (meaning from the Fife Dam down to the confluence with the Cold River, being approximately 7.5 miles of river). In the Brookfield Power FERC relicensing for their operations on the Deerfield, it also was proven the up and down flows coming from Fife Dam were thwarting the wild brown trout spawning effort in the river, which occurs every fall.

Advocates in the Brookfield FERC process included MassWildlife, MassDEP, the Connecticut River Conservancy, and the Deerfield Trout Unlimited chapter, and I participated in this effort on behalf of the chapter. In this process, we all recognized and agreed on the importance of protecting this upper Deerfield wild trout fishery, with the intention to create a wild trout-only section of the Deerfield (free of stocking). We sought Brookfield to implement, and Brookfield ultimately agreed, to enact expensive adjustments to their winter flows coming from Fife Dam by increasing the winter minimum flows.

This negotiated settlement will undoubtedly enhance spawning success and ultimately increase the wild fish population in this section of the Deerfield. Why would MassWildlife want to continue stocking thousands of fish over a known wild fishery that could become something very special?

The dichotomy of MassWildlife advocating for wild fish in the FERC relicensing process, and now the local MassWildlife staff declining to stop known harmful effects of stocking over this wild fishery, could be considered laughable. Unfortunately, this is not a laughing matter.

MassWildlife staff refuses to budge from a policy that is contrary to overwhelming science, in contravention to its stated conservation mission, and is in direct violation of Gov. Maura Healey’s Biodiversity Mandate to the agency.

MassWildlife staff apparently believe they have the absolute right to continue stocking where they wish without interference. They mistakenly claim their mission is to provide a “fishing experience” for anglers while turning a blind eye to science-based conservation of a wild resource, which is in fact part of the agency’s published mission statement.

Our proposal to stop this environmentally insensitive policy of stocking over a known sustainable wild fishery is based on science, sound conservation principles, and basic common sense. We are hopeful the Wildlife Board will agree and direct MassWildlife staff to immediately stop stocking over this wild fishery in the upper Deerfield. Lets see what Mother Nature can do without human interference.

Kevin D. Parsons, Esq., lives in Shelburne Falls.